A Day in the Life of a (new) Practice Manager
Diane Anderson, PM, Len Valley Practice

7.45am
I’m not the first here, then. Dr Hagan and Sandra, dispensary manager, have beaten me as usual.

8.00am
There’s heaps of post to sift through it before I take it down to reception for stamping before the patient correspondence gets scanned into their records. Lots for me, too, today - a thank you card from a student who’s spent a couple of days with us observing – always nice to be appreciated; the bank statement – what are all these charges for? – to discuss later at my meeting with the finance administrator - bills, an invitation to the next Practice Managers’ meeting (must attend that one, we’re discussing patient referral coding and it doesn’t mean much to me yet).

8.15am
Let’s have a look at my email in-box – only 23 since yesterday, (things are looking up). Variety is the spice of life, they say – I’ve got all sorts – from a report on the repairs carried out on our drains to the prospectus for the new GP trainee starting in February. Only 150 pages to read (pity Dr Hagan – he’s the trainer and he’s got to grasp all the new rules and regulations in order that he can train him).

8.30am
Mustn’t be late for the Partners’ meeting as I am chairing it. A quick re-scan of the agenda:
Review appointments system
Achieving Choose & Book targets
Locum doctor insurance
Forthcoming meeting with accountants – practice year-end
Staffing budget

10.00am
The doctors go off to start their morning surgeries, having spent the last few minutes discussing management of some of their patients. It’s quickly become apparent to me that, although doctors here don’t have personal patient lists, they all seem to know their patients very well. Grab a coffee en route back to office but first pop into reception and dispensary to check everyone’s ok. Then a quick check on my ‘task’ list shows that another 5 have been added this morning – the first says that the patient toilet is blocked, another says that the outreach physiotherapist is leaving and she cannot be replaced yet as there is an embargo on recruitment at the Primary Care Trust. I’ll take this up with the manager.

11.00am
Meeting with Sandra so that she can familiarise me about how the dispensary functions; I learn a bit about the new VAT rules and decide that, as Sandra is handling this so well, I can safely put this to the back of my mind for the time being. We discuss pressures, annual leave cover, and how medication reviews work.

12.00
I begin my report on staff planning. We are about to advertise for a new health care assistant, so I’ll start with the nursing team. Have we got the staffing levels and hours right? Does the spread of hours work and what duties are they undertaking. What further training is required. Need to discuss further with Karen, Nurse Practitioner. Admin and reception staff are next………..

2.00 pm
My ‘open door’ policy has been put to good use today. Staff have had queries on which labels will fit the new printers, can someone swap duty to accommodate a personal commitment, what changes are there to the doctors’ rota, have we paid the telephone bill, how much should we pay into the tax fund?…… to name a few!

Dr Rao comes in to book study leave for a Women’s Health Update course, followed by Dr Reed who needs my profile for the website. Then Dr Alexander brings me the GP registrar handbook which I’d asked for. I will need to update it in readiness for our next registrar.

4.00 pm
The sandwich I was going to eat at 1 o’clock now looks very dry and unappetising. Oh well, I’ll make do with a cup of tea instead.

I prepare for the Patient Forum meeting this evening. This is my first one so I have to familiarise myself with the work achieved so far.

5.00 pm
Let’s have a look at the doctors’ rota for the next few weeks. Who is covering Harrietsham next Monday, and can I find a couple of hours in there somewhere to discuss finance with Dr Codlin?

6.00 pm
Meeting with the Patient Forum group. It’s good to meet everyone and interesting to hear their views – we talk about difficulties with getting through on the telephone to make appointments and I inform them of the recent improvements. The group is very keen to support the practice and to raise their profile within the community and we discuss ways of achieving this.

7.00 pm
Home beckons……. but not before I slip a couple of sets of meeting minutes into my bag – just some light reading, should I not be able to sleep!