And can be the difference between keeping and losing them. I spoke to a bright, highly competent New Zealand Emergency Department doctor yesterday. He was UK trained but had gone to New Zealand 4 years ago and had found the experience of being a doctor there unbelievably better than in the NHS. So, what was … Read more
So, you have found out the Needs of the people you want to attract. What do you do next? How do you get them to notice you? 1) What is special about your Practice? What do you have that others don’t? How does that special thing meet the Needs of your staff? 2) What things … Read more
You can create the best job in the world, but you won’t recruit anyone if they don’t notice. The problem all practices face is how to attract the best doctors and nurses with limited funding. And that is where Marketing comes in. Marketing lets you communicate what you can offer clinicians and why they should … Read more
So why is funding only going into huge neighbourhood teams? For the past 15 years we have been telling NHS managers that GP partnerships are more effective and less costly than the alternatives, but they have tried again and again to introduce centralised solutions. We have been soldiering on, looking after patients, expecting that as … Read more
Behind any failing GP practice is a failure to retain skilled clinical staff to look after the pateints. What key things should practices do? Rule 1: Prioritise their wellbeing. Make time to keep in touch with them so that they feel cared about and act to sort out their problems. As the organisation grows make … Read more
Patients don’t increase practice income by using more appointments and they have no power over how much is spent on their care. In fact, GP practices are more like “buying groups” to purchase care for patients and the only choice patients get is to switch buying group. Encouraging them to behave as demanding consumers can … Read more
Somewhere between “Not in my Lifetime”, “We’re all Doomed” and “Unicorns and Rainbows” lies a viable strategy. Tactic 1: Focus on in-person activity. AI will fairly easily replace text, voice and even video consultations, but until there are realistic robots, face-to-face will need humans. Tactic 2: Be a person who actually cares. People want to … Read more
This isn’t a comfy truth to hear, but we are doomed if we mindlessly stick to how we have always done things or just follow the herd without thinking. Rule 1: Lean into what makes you special. Surprise! This is different for every single practice. No one else has your exact mix of people, place … Read more
We are sinking The NHS is haemorrhaging talent – to retirement, emigration, the private sector and leaving medicine entirely. General Practice is perhaps worst hit with 40% of GPs planning to leave in the next 5 years and the shortage of GPs making it insanely difficult to access GP care. And a 2.1% annual uplift … Read more
The NHS has many strengths and has been a remarkably resilient organisation since it was founded in 1948. But if we want it to continue, we need to be aware of its weaknesses and what to guard against. So, what would someone who deliberately wanted to wreck the NHS do? Encourage patients to overuse NHS … Read more