General practice is becoming increasingly complex, competitive and financially orientated. We are obliged to meet numerous targets, engage with the wider health economy and regularly expand and improve our services - often with a limited budget.
At TRS we take the view that clinicians should be just that - clinical specialists who are able to concentrate on medicine, clinical developments and the care of our patients.
For this reason, from April 2010 we have radically redesigned the way in which our practice works.
Our Manager, Val Harvey, now entirely runs the practice on behalf of the clinicians. She is reponsible for 'our business' and has the authority to make managerial and financial decisions on our behalf.
The partners are now a 'Board' which, just as in the commercial world, makes strategic decisions. Val's job is to implement those decisions and run the business efficiently, profitably and in a way that will enhance the experience for our patients and provide a happy and informed workforce.
We have a 'Board Meeting' once a month to review our strategies, report on practice based commissioning activities and for financial updates.
One of the fundamentals of running a successful business is communication. To this end we've tried to improve our systems and have a series of regular meetings for relevant team members. These include:
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Referral Management Meeting (lunchtime, one per month, all GP's)
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Clinical Team Meeting (lunchtime, one per month, all GP's and Nurses)
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Integrated Care Organisation Meeting (lunchtime, one per month, all GP's, Practice Manager, Community team reps., Social Services reps., ICO administrator).
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Nurse Meeting (lunchtime, every week, all Treatment Room Team)
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Reception Meeting (early morning, every week, all Reception Team)
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Secretarial Meeting (lunchtime, every fortnight, all Secretaries)
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Managers (lunchtime, every week, all Managers)
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Dispensary (lunchtime, every month, Dispensary Team, Practice Manager, Dispensary Consultant & Dr. Cartledge)
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Team Training (all day, every quarter, everyone who works at TRS)
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Board Meeting (evening, every month, all Partners and Practice Manager).
The minutes from all the meetings are available to every member of the practice team.