Practice Managers

There is no set profile or background for the role of Practice Manager. Some post-holders are highly qualified managers with experience in other sectors, other people started out as receptionists and worked their way up. NHS careers offers some useful commentary on the role.

Find out about the  Thames Valley and Wessex Leadership Academy Practice Manager Leadership Programme. This five day programme is designed to help Practice Managers and deputy PMs to deliver more effective leadership within their practices and the wider NHS System. You can read the evaluation of a recent course here, and contact  Maggie Woods (Maggie.Woods@hee.nhs.uk) for more information.

Read about the  trainee practice manager programme developed by City & Hackney GP Federation.

Resources for Practice managers
  • The Quality improvement for General Practice from the RCGP includes essential information about a select range of approaches and tools you are likely to be able to use time and again to the benefit of your practice and patients.
  • AMSPAR Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists. A professional membership body that works with City & Guilds to provide qualifications suitable for full or part time study. Services include a legal helpline, guidelines on healthcare and employment.
  • The Practice Index eLearning Hub provides training resources for GP Practice Managers at medical practices throughout the UK  free of charge.
  • First Practice Management (FPM) Principally a subscription service providing information and guidance (including on legislation) plus recruitment, consultancy, training and website services. FPM maintains a list of useful websites for PMs. The freely available knowledge base spans general administration and salaries. FPM also run an  Introduction to Practice Management Training Course covering key areas: HR, finance, IT, business planning, health and safety, change management etc.
  • The RCGP provides a range of training programmes for all members of the primary care team including Practice Manager masterclasses.
  • Practice Index  is an on line resource which includes an elearning HUB for practice managers, opportunities to share best practice and exchange help on practice management matters. With on-line forums, documents, recruitment pages, links to medical supplies.
  • Management in Practice. Register to receive this Journal which aims to promotes best practice and offers commentary and analysis of the issues facing PMs.
  • Wessex LMC Practice Managers – information about appraisals, coaching and mentoring, training events and guidance for PMs across the Wessex Region.
Qualifications and Competencies
Networks
  • Practice management network. Run by practice managers – offering support and opportunities to share, develop, and influence.
  • Practice Index – a member organisation which aims to keep its members up to date with the latest legislation, support and valuable time-saving resources.
Employment matters

ACAS Learning OnLine  offers a range of free  online courses and resources for individuals and different sizes of employers to refresh and learn more about employee relations such as people management, conflict resolution, disciplinary matters and equality.

NHS Employers – This website has a vast amount of blogs, articles, apps and toolkits to help NHS organisations perform more effectively and share best practice whilst supporting them to put patients first. You can watch webinars of past events on topics of interest to NHS employers here.

HR practices

Data from the NHS Staff Survey (Ref1) shows that developing an organisational culture that nurtures strong staff engagement has a powerful influence on the quality and safety of care that patients receive.

Effective people management practices such as appraisals, training and personal development plans, all contribute to greater staff engagement and have a direct impact on outcomes – including patient mortality, infection rates, patient satisfaction, staff absenteeism and staff turnover.

The staff survey showed that a well‐structured appraisal and a personal development plan both led to higher engagement levels. Other research has shown a direct correlation between the quality of the appraisal system and patient outcomes.  (Ref2)

Ref 1 NHS Staff Management and Health Service Quality, West MA et al. Department of Health, 2011
Ref 2 West, MA.  et al. The link between the management of employees and patient mortality in acute hospitals. International Journal of Human Resource Management (2002) 13: 8, 1299- 1310.

The CPD Zone is brought to you by the GP schools of Health Education England working across Thames Valley and Wessex, in association with Oxford Health FT Library.​

Page last reviewed: 27 November, 2020