Resources Archive

Constipation in palliative patients
In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast (PCKB) doctors Sara and Lisa talk to locum consultant, Dr Caitriona MacDermott, about assessing and managing constipation in palliative patients
Tips to pass the SCA for GP trainees
This episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast focuses on tips for passing the Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) exam which is the final exam for GP trainees in the UK. The podcast was recorded following requests from GP trainees.
GPs Talk Cancer: Menopausal side effects of cancer treatment
In this bitesize episode of 'GPs Talk Cancer', Dr Liz O'Riordan joins GP hosts Rebecca and Sarah to talk about managing the menopausal symptoms of breast cancer treatment.
COPD in general practice
In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to respiratory physiotherapist, Thomas James, about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Medical Examiner Service
New statutory Medical Examiner Service resources for general practice.
Proactive care – dementia projects
In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to doctors Joanna Bircher, Nikesh Vallabh and Fran Fitton, along with SWAN PCN manager and transformation Lead, Shelley Ryder about proactive care projects focused on dementia care.
2024 polypharmacy summer rewind
Originally released in January 2024, this podcast with guest speaker senior pharmacist Sarah Hafeez focuses on the differences between inappropriate and appropriate polypharmacy.
Palliative care – common questions answered
In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to palliative care consultant, Lesley Henson, and specialty doctor, Caitriona MacDermott, about common issues faced by primary care clinicians when dealing with end of life patients and their families.
Breathlessness in palliative care
In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to palliative care consultant, Lesley Henson, and specialty doctor, Caitriona MacDermott, about breathlessness as a symptom in palliative patients.
Osteoporosis
This episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast (PKCB) focuses on osteoporosis with guest speaker Dr Saadat Ahmed, specialist in geriatrics.

GP partner and other ways of working

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to GPs, Dr Joanna Bircher, Dr Lucy Spurrell and Dr Dario Rydel about their experiences in different roles in general practice, including salaried, partner and locum.

How general practice is funded

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Tim Dalton, a GP in Wigan, and Chair of the Greater Manchester General Practice Provider Board about how general practice is funded.

Non-clinical passport: cultivating non-clinical expertise in general practice

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Satty Boyes, senior programme manager at NHS Greater Manchester and Lorna Laflin, practice manager adviser for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board's GP Excellence Programme to talk about a new platform for the non-clinical workforce in general practice.

Anticipatory prescribing in primary care

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to specialty doctor Caitriona MacDermott about anticipatory prescribing for palliative patients.

Musculoskeletal mini-series: episode three – knee pain

This is the third episode in the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast musculoskeletal (MSK) mini-series. This episode focuses on knee pain.

Musculoskeletal mini-series: episode two – shoulder pain

This is the second episode in the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast musculoskeletal (MSK) mini-series. This episode focuses on shoulder pain.

Musculoskeletal mini-series: episode one – back pain

This is the first episode in a three part musculoskeletal (MSK) mini series which aims to briefly capture important features in history, examination and further investigations of common joint presentations. The first episode focuses on back pain.

Polypharmacy

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to senior pharmacist, Sarah Hafeez, about Polypharmacy.

Heavy menstrual bleeding

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost (PCKB) podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Dr Anne Connolly, a GP specialising in gynaecology.

Greater Manchester Pain Management Resources Hub

Greater Manchester healthcare professionals have collaborated to design the Greater Manchester Pain Management Resources Hub to bring helpful tools and resources together in one accessible location.

Chronic pain

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sara discuss chronic pain with Dr Mahindra Chincholkar, consultant anaesthetist and clinical director at Manchester and Salford Pain Centre (MSPC).

Frailty

Doctors Lisa and Sara discuss frailty with Dr Sadaat Ahmed a trainee geriatrician in Greater Manchester.

Sustainability in general practice

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara discuss sustainability in general practice.

Research in general practice

In this episode doctors Lisa and Sara discuss research in general practice with Dr Imran Ghafoor, GP at Peterloo Medical Centre in Middleton, and Ewa Grzegorska from the National Health and Clinical Research Institute (NIHR).

Dentistry as part of primary care

Doctors Lisa and Sarah find out more about how dentistry works in England, from Greater Manchester Workforce Lead for Dentistry, Mukhtar Ahmad.

Assessing a child or young person with a potential eating disorder

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast, doctors Lisa and Sara talk to senior eating disorder practitioners, Vicky McGee and Rachelle Davies, to get their advice on consulting with children and young people who present with features of an eating disorder.

Workforce and retention issues in general practice

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast, doctors Lisa and Sarah talk to GPs and workforce leads, Dr Nikesh Vallabh and Dr Richard Bircher about workforce issues in general practice.

Hypertension – what’s new?

In this episode doctors Sara and Lisa talk to doctor Aseem Mishra to discuss changes in the guidelines for hypertension.

The art of stuck cases: a framework for managing complexity in primary care

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast doctors Lisa and Sara talk with consultant psychiatrist, doctor Mark Spurrell about a framework that can be applied to the care of complex patients with multiple problems.

Changing access models in general practice

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast doctors Lisa and Sara talk to GP, Dr Adam Cliffe, about how he and his practice went about changing the model by which patients access the practice.

Community optometry explained

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sarah talk to optometrist and chair of Greater Manchester Optometry Provider Board, Dharmesh Patel, to get an understanding of optometry as part of the Primary Care team.

GP accessibility for people living with HIV

In this podcast, Ben Gowland from Ockham Healthcare talks to Kay Keane from Urban Village Medical Practice and Colin Armstead from George House Trust in Manchester about the accessibility of GPs and their understanding regarding individuals living with HIV.

Ovarian cancer

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Charlotte Bădescu about ovarian cancer.

Urban Village Medical Practice – providing primary care services for homeless people

In this podcast, Ben Gowland from Ockham Healthcare talks to Kay Keane, Anthony Verrall and Shaun Jackson from Urban Village Medical Practice about the services they provide to people experiencing homelessness.

Community pharmacy explained

In this episode, doctors Lisa and Sarah are joined by qualified pharmacist, Luvjit Kandula, Director of Pharmacy Transformation and Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Local Pharmacy Committee. She is also Chair of the Community Pharmacy Provider Board in Greater Manchester.

Staff wellbeing – a new QOF indicator

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dominic Anderson, Dr Joanna Bircher and Lorna Laflin about the new QOF indicators around workforce and wellbeing.

Red flags for gynaecological cancers

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Uma Marthi who is a GP with a specialist interest in gynaecology about red flags for gynaecological cancers.

Vertigo

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Consultant Otolaryngologist Emma Stapleton and Clinical Scientist David Jay about Vertigo.

Everything you need to know about GP Appraisals

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Allison Rees about GP appraisals and revalidation.

Angina

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Allison Rees about GP appraisals and revalidation.

Greater Manchester NHSE GP Fellowships

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Mary Cheshire about the NHS England Fellowships for Greater Manchester GPs.

Health Inequalities in General Practice with Dr Laura Neilson

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Laura Neilson, GP and founder of Hope Citadel who is passionate about tackling Health Inequalities.

How can you support sustainability in General Practice?

In this episode of the GP Excellence podcast Dr Joanna Bircher is joined by Dr David McKelvey to speak about the crucial ways you can support sustainability in General Practice.

GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service

In this episode of the GP Excellence podcast we hear about the General Practice Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) a pathway that general practices use to refer patients with minor illness or low acuity conditions to a community pharmacist.

Management of Diabetes Mellitus in Primary Care

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara are joined by Diabetes Lead for Manchester CCG GP Dr Marlon Morais and Diabetes Support Lead and Diabetes Specialist Nurse Nicola Milne to discuss diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus.

Diagnosing Diabetes Mellitus

Easy Bruising and Bleeding

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Consultant Haematologist Dr Chris Gregory about patients that present with bruising and bleeding issues.

Social Prescribing in Primary Care

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard about social prescribing in primary care.

Assertiveness in General Practice

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Dr Rachel Morris, host of the wonderful podcast You Are Not a Frog, to learn about assertiveness in General Practice.

Overactive bladder and continence issues in women

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara speak to Professor Ian Pearce to learn more about overactive bladder and continence issues in women.

Statutory and mandatory elearning

The following statutory and mandatory elearning modules are freely available on elearning for healthcare (eLfH) website at https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk.

ARRS Roles Clinical Supervision – Your Questions Answered

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Judith Dawson about supervising new members of the primary care team employed under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

Dieticians in Primary Care

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Charlotte Cockman who is a Dietician working in Primary Care in South Manchester.

GP Excellence Programme newsletter March 2022

The March issue of the GP Excellence newsletter covers: changes to the GP Excellence Team, the support offer to practices, sustainability in Primary Care, becoming a veteran friendly practice, a spotlight on personal health and wellbeing and much more.

Recurrent UTIs in non-pregnant women

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Ian Pearce, Consultant Urologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary, about recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) in non-pregnant women.

Working with the Marginalised with Dr Austin O’Carroll

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with GP Dr Austin O'Carroll who works in inner-city Dublin with marginalised and homeless / rough sleeping communities.

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Doctors Lisa and Sara talk with Consultant Urologist Dan Burke about Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men.

Working through a quality improvement project example

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Drs Sara and Lisa discuss a weight management Quality Improvement initiative with Dr Varshini Rajakulendran and Dr Joanna Bircher.

Touch 10: My mental wellbeing

In the latest episode of the Health & Wellbeing podcast Janet Castrogiovani is joined by Lynn Marsland to discuss Touch 10 and the Personal Wellbeing Barometer, tools to stimulate conversations to provide a way of tracking your own mental wellbeing.

Nursing Associates in Primary Care

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Sara and Lisa discuss the role of Nursing Associates in Primary Care with Heidi West and Marina Khan.

Perinatal Mental Health

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Sara and Lisa welcome GP and Perinatal Mental Health Champion Dr Carrie Ladd and Perinatal Psychiatrist Dr Sarah Jones to discuss types of mental illness that can be experienced in the perinatal period and the challenges in primary care when helping patients and families.

Cardiology and Gastroenterology advice and guidance

Drs Lisa and Sara are joined by GP Dr Nikesh Vallabh, Consultant Cardiologist Dr Karthikeyan and Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr Bliss to discuss Cardiology and Gastroenterology advice and guidance.

An Introduction to Quality Improvement

In this episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Drs Lisa and Sara welcome Dr Joanna Bircher back to the podcast to speak about an area which she is very passionate about - Quality Improvement.

Trans and Non-Binary Health in General Practice

Drs Lisa and Sara talk to Dr Luke Wookey, Dr Joanna Bircher and Ava Bircher for an introduction to Trans and Non-Binary Health in General Practice.

CQC Clinical Searches Webinar

In this webinar Andy Brand, Interim Head of Inspection, and National Clinical Advisors Dr Tim Ballard and Dr Janet Hall outline how CQC undertakes clinical searches and reviews medical records when they inspect GP and urgent care services.

Pharmacists in Primary Care

In this episode of the podcast Drs Lisa and Sara talk to Vishika Rabadia, a senior pharmacist, about the role of pharmacists working in primary care.

Looking after yourself in General Practice

In this episode of the podcast Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Rachel Morris, GP, coach and host of You are not a Frog Podcast who discusses her top tips for looking after yourself in general practice.

Rethinking navigation for PCNs

Whether you’re a GP, a manager or part of the administration team, you all have a key role to play and the GP Excellence podcast series will help you do your job better.

London General Practice Access Guide and Manual

The London General Practice Access Guide and the supporting London General Practice Access Manual have been created to support general practices manage current access pressures.

Integrated Care Systems: Guidance

These guidance documents published by NHS England and the Local Government Association set out how NHS leaders and organisations will operate with their partners in Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) from April 2022.

Long COVID podcast

Dr Lisa Adams and Dr Sara MacDermott talk to GP and Professor of General Practice Research Carolyn Chew Graham about Long COVID.

Common Gynaecological Presentations in the Young

In this episode of the podcast, Drs Lisa and Sara speak to Dr Uma Marthi (GP with a Special Interest in Gynaecology) to discuss some common gynaecological presentations in young girls up to teenage years.

Headaches

In the latest episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast Lisa and Sara speak to Consultant Neurologist, Dr Matt Jones about headaches.

Guidelines for managing patients with dyspepsia in primary care

Dyspepsia is a term that describes a collection of symptoms that affect the oesophagus (gullet), stomach or duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). This pathway provides guidance on managing patients with dyspepsia in primary care.

Patient information leaflet to support patients with dyspepsia

Dyspepsia is a term that describes a collection of symptoms that affect the oesophagus (gullet), stomach or duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). This leaflet provides information for patients about non-ulcer dyspepsia, the diagnosis given to a patient who has symptoms of dyspepsia when no specific medical cause can be found.

COVID-19 Episode 10: Staff Risk Assessment in General Practice

In the latest episode of the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast GPs Sara and Lisa talk to Greater Manchester based GP Dr Jaweeda Idoo and Practice manager Gina Bird about their experiences of staff risk assessments in general practice at the moment.

Respiratory conditions – Remote consulting tips for GPNs

This document provides guidance for general practices on managing patients with respiratory conditions remotely via either telephone or video consultations.

Diabetes – Remote consulting tips for GPNs

This document provides guidance for general practices on managing patients with diabetes remotely via either telephone or video consultations.

Fibromyalgia Part 2

In this podcast, Lisa and Sara discuss the management of fibromyalgia in general practice with Professor Anthony Jones and Consultant Physiotherapist William Gregory.

Guide to setting up remote working and video consultations

This guidance provides an overview of how to set up remote working and video consultations as part of a wider model of triage first and remote consultations in primary care.

COVID-19: Episode 9: Suspected Cancer During COVID-19

In this podcast Lisa and Sara speak with Dr Sarah Taylor and Dr Viren Mehta about the challenges in general practice at the moment in assessing and investigating patients for suspected cancer symptoms.

Information about COVID-19 for primary care in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership have published information about useful resources related to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in primary care settings across Greater Manchester at https://gmprimarycare.org.uk/coronavirus.

Guidance on home visits during the Coronavirus pandemic

This resource published by the RCGP provides helpful guidance to general practice staff about home visits during the Coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 Episode 7: Research into COVID-19 in Primary Care

In this podcast, Lisa and Sara talk to doctors involved in primary care research to give an overview of what developments are happening in COVID-19 research in the community at the moment.

National Workforce Reporting System

The National Workforce Reporting System is run by NHS Digital to collect and present Primary Care workforce based data. It consists of a data entry module and a reporting module.

Medical appraisal

This online guidance produced by NHS England give an overview of the medical appraisal process and includes information and resources to help medical appraisers carry out their roles effectively and consistently.

COVID-19 Episode 6: Shielding

In this episode of the podcast Drs Sara and Lisa speak to Dr Joanna Bircher and Dr Viren Mehta about shielding and vulnerable patients in primary care.

Covid-19 Time for Care support for general practice

Time for Care for general practice offers fully funded support for practices and PCNs to implement rapid changes in response to COVID-19.

First Contact Physiotherapist job description

This job description published by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy will be helpful for Practice Managers who are looking to recruit a First Contact Physiotherapist.

A guide for GPs considering employing a practice pharmacist

This guide published by the Primary Care Pharmacists Association will be useufl for GPs and Practice Managers considering employing a practice pharmacist.

COVID-19 Episode 5: End of Life Care

Lisa and Sara are joined by Dr Liam Hosie, Dr Adam Firth and Dr Viren Mehta to discuss end of life care during the pandemic.

Physician Associates: A working solution in primary care

This booklet published by the Royal College of Physicians will support general practices to understand the role of Physician Associates, where they fit into general practice and their scope of practice.

Physician Associate person specification

This person specification template published by the Royal College of Physicians will be helpful for any general practice that is considering recruiting a Physician Associate to work as part of their primary care team.

COVID-19 Episode 4: Managing death in the community

The Primary Care Knowledge Boost Podcast: COVID-19 Just released: COVID-19 Episode 4: Managing death in the community (supported by GP Excellence) We have released a second episode this week! Many primary care clinicians have had questions about the changes to death certification in the community, ... Read more

GP Supervisor and Physician Associate Guide

This guide published by the Royal College of Physicians will be helpful for any general practice that has recently recruited or is considering recruiting a Physician Associate to work as part of their primary care team.

Managing COVID-19 in General Practice

In this episode of the podcast Drs Lisa and Sara are joined by GPs Dr Viren Mehta and Dr Joanna Bircher who summarise new guidelines and evidence relevant in primary care this week.

Physician Associate sample job description

This Physician Associates job description published by the Royal College of Physicians will be helpful for any general practice looking to recruit a Physician Associate to work as part of a multidisciplinary primary care team.

Physician Associate job description

This Physician Associates job description will be helpful for any general practice looking to recruit a Physician Associate to work as part of a multidisciplinary primary care team.

Who are Physician Associates?

This leaflet published by the Royal College of Physicians explains the role of Physician Associates, how they work, where they fit into general practice and their scope of practice.

COVID-19 Episode 2: Telephone and video consultation tips

In this, our second of the COVID-19 specific episodes, GPs Lisa and Sara are joined electronically by Dr Dan Bunstone (GP and Clinical Director of Warrington CCG and Chief Medical Officer at Push Doctor) and Dr Joanna Bircher (GP partner, clinical director for GP Excellence and Pandemic Lead for her PCN).

COVID-19 Episode 1: Introductory tips for general practice

Lisa and Sara are joined by GPs Dr Viren Mehta and Dr Joanna Bircher who share tips for general practice on managing during the pandemic.

Inspire, attract and recruit

This interactive toolkit developed by NHS Employers is for HR professionals, recruitment teams and managers in the NHS to help you inspire, attract and recruit your future workforce.

PCN offers from partnership organisations

This brochure outlines support from various partner organisations that is available to Primary Care Networks PCN across Greater Manchester.

Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast

Join Dr Sara MacDermott and Dr Lisa Adams, two GPs in the Greater Manchester area, on the Primary Care Knowledge Boost podcast as they interview specialists from different subject areas with the aim of improving the confidence and knowledge of local primary care clinicians.

Time for Care Quality Improvement for Early Career GPs

The Time for Care programme is offering a fully funded two day quality improvement workshop for early career GPs (ST3 - First-five). The two day programme for the North West region will take place in Manchester on 26 and 27 February 2020.

Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners Services – Implementation Guide

This guide published by Health Education England will help general practices considering recruiting a Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioner as part of a multidisciplinary primary care team.

The paramedic specialist in primary and urgent care core capabilities framework

This framework published by Skills for Health provides standards for paramedics working in the primary and urgent care sectors. It helps define the role of paramedics within general practice and includes job descriptions, supervisory models and education curricula.

Recruitment and development of paramedics in primary care

This guide aims to support general practices to understand the role of paramedics and how they can become part of a multidisciplinary team with wider skill sets, enabling new and exciting models of care to develop.

General Practice Nurse Education Network

The General Practice Nurse Education Network (GPNEN) is dedicated to excellence in General Practice Nursing and Education. The GPNEN website at https://gpnen.org.uk provides one-stop shop of resources to support continuing professional development.

First contact practitioners in musculoskeletal services

This video published by Health Education England demonstrates the efficacy of first contact practitioners in musculoskeletal services both in quality of outcomes as well as efficiency.

Time for Care Quality Improvement for General Practice Nurses

Time for Care Quality Improvement for General Practice Nurses is a two day programme designed for all nurses working in general practice across North West and North East England.

HEE Star

The HEE Star is a tool developed by Health Education England to bring structure and coherence to conversations about workforce challenges and to support workforce transformation.

Personal Professional Development in Public Health or Primary Care

The Personal Professional Development course meets the training needs of health professionals who are either interested in a career in public health or want to develop new skills in a specific area of public health, primary care or research methods.

NICE Chronic Heart Failure Guidelines in Adults 2018

This guideline covers diagnosing and managing chronic heart failure in people aged 18 and over in primary care and the community. It aims to improve diagnosis and treatment to increase the length and quality of life for people with heart failure.

The General Practice podcasts

The General Practice podcasts published by Ockham Healthcare cover a wide range of issues faced by general practitioners and colleuegs in local primary care teams.

RCGP Clinical Toolkits

The RCGP clinical toolkits have been developed in partnership between the RCGP Clinical Innovation and Research Centre (CIRC) and our funding and delivery partners. They can be used to assist in the delivery of safe and effective care to patients.

Time for Care learning in action programme

The Time for Care programme is at the heart of the General Practice Forward View's support for practices to redesign their care and manage demand more sustainably. Using a variety of means this initiative provided by the NHS England Sustainable Improvement team will give every practice in England the chance to learn about proven innovations that release time for care.

Productive General Practice Quick Start

Productive General Practice (PGP) Quick Start is an on-site, hands-on, short term support package for practices that forms part of a local Time for Care programme. Alongside the 10 High Impact Actions the support package provided by NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement team aims to help practices release time for care and build improvement capability.

Diploma in Advanced Primary Care Management

This is a comprehensive diploma for people who are managing primary care and are becoming responsible for creating and running primary care provision at scale including primary care networks, new care models, GP super practices and GP or other primary care federations.

NHS Jobs

NHS Jobs is a dedicated online recruitment service for the NHS. Every NHS organisation within England and Wales advertises their job opportunities with NHS Jobs.

The Coaching Academy

The Coaching Academy developed by the Innovation Agency, the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) for the North West Coast, offers online e-learning courses that are free to health and care colleagues to support innovation and improvement.

Life QI

The Life QI online platform is a project and programme management tool for quality improvement, using quality improvement approaches and techniques.

Spreading the adoption of innovation into practice

In this video published by The King's Fund Liz Mear, Chief Executive of the Innovation Agency, shares her experiences of working with within Academic Health Sceence Networks (AHSNs) to spread the adoption of innovation into practice across the NHS.

A guide for general practice employing a paramedic

This guide published by NHS Fareham and Gosport CCG aims to support general practices to understand the role of paramedics, how they work, where they fit into general practice and their scope of practice.

First Contact Physiotherapy posts in General Practice

This practical guidance will support general practices looking to recruit physiotherapists to work in a multidisciplinary primary care team as the first point of contact for their Musculoskeletal (MSK) patients.

Quality Improvement Project (QIP) Guidance for GP Trainees

The RCGP has produced this guidance for GP Trainees completing a Quality Improvement Project (QIP) as part of their training.

Audit tea breaks – Clinical Audit Awareness Week

HQIP have produced some resources to support organisations holding ‘audit tea breaks’ as part of Clinical Audit Awareness Week. The resources include a poster, an invite for staff, a quiz and conversation tips. The resources are available here.

Embedding a culture of quality improvement

This report published by the King’s Fund explores the factors that have helped organisations to launch a quality improvement strategy, and the key enablers for sustaining a focus on continuous quality improvement.

Atrial fibrillation toolkit

This interactive toolkit aims to help healthcare professionals to improve the detection and treatment of people with Atrial Fibrillation.

Think physio for primary care

This briefing paper published by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy can help general practices understand the benefits of employing physiotherapists to work in primary care to care for patients with Musculoskeletal (MSK) issues.

A ten point action plan for General Practice Nursing

The ten point action plan for General Practice Nursing brings together key actions which aim to meet general practice workforce challenges by attracting new recruits, supporting existing GPNs and encouraging return to practice.

Reporting and Learning from patient safety incidents in general practice

The purpose of this guide is to: • maximise opportunities to learn from patient safety incidents in your practice, and to share learning via organisational or national reporting systems • outline a process for learning from patient safety incidents in your practice. Where appropriate, this guide will signpost existing well-written resources and does not seek to replicate their content.

Sharing practical experiences of Quality Improvement

This webinar hosted by the RCGP on 6 December 2016 gave clinicians a chance to learn about increasing capability using Quality Improvement, and share experiences of what works for them and the challenges they face.

Motivating others to take part in Quality Improvement

This webinar followed 'Sharing practical experiences of Quality Improvement' and provided more information on the new self accreditation and online website, QI Ready, alongside sharing tips on motivating members of your practice in quality improvement.

QI Ready eLearning modules

The RCGP has produced eLearning modules to compliment the QI Ready network and self-accreditation process. There are a suite of three modules that will assist you in better understanding quality improvement methodologies.

Quality and service improvement tools

This resource is a comprehensive collection of proven quality and service improvement tools, theories and techniques that can be applied to a wide variety of situations.

Quality Improvement Hub

The Quality Improvement Hub website provides a range of resources to support organisations to improve the quality of healthcare in Scotland. The tools provided here can support you in your improvement work.

Forcefield analysis

Forcefield analysis is an improvement tool that helps you to list, discuss and evaluate the various forces for and against a proposed change.

Examples of driver diagrams

These examples of driver diagrams from NHS East London Foundation Trust provide an example of what your driver diagrams could look like.

Driver diagram template

A driver diagram illustrates a ‘theory of change’, that can be used to plan improvement project activities. This technique provides a way of systematically laying out aspects of an improvement project so they can be discussed and agreed on collaboratively by the project team.

Context checklist for QI Project

The context checklist breaks down context into nine elements. Consider each in turn and decide whether they are applicable to your situation, and whether any action is required.

RCGP Quick guide: Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach

This RCGP Quick guide introduces the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach, a technique that allows you to test out improvements in a controlled way so that change can occur gradually, with an awareness of unintended consequences.

Guide to managing ethical issues in quality improvement or clinical audit projects

This guide is intended to help those responsible to review and develop arrangements for the effective ethics oversight of QI and clinical audit activities, as required.

National Diabetes Audit (NDA) 2015-16 publication

The National Diabetes Audit has collected data from 2003-04 to the present day. The latest publication reports on care processes and treatment targets for the audit period 1 January 2015 to 31 March 2016.

RCGP Quick guide: Fishbone diagram

This RCGP Quick guide introduces Fishbone diagrams (also called cause and effect analysis) which are used to help to identify and display the root causes of a problem.

RCGP Quick guide: Clinical audit

This RCGP Quick guide provides the standard headings for a clinical audit report and gives tips on how to define and fulfil each section. It attempts to keep the process simple and will satisfy the requirements of General Medical Council (GMC) revalidation.

RCGP Quick guide: Communication strategy

This RCGP Quick guide introduces communication strategy an improvement tool that plans how to spread the news of your improvement project. It includes both who to inform, and how to do so.

National Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Audit: National report

This report details the findings of the CKD audit programme which compared GP practice performance against NICE quality standards.

RCGP Quick guide: Statistical process control charts

This RCGP Quick guide introduces Statistical process control charts, a tool for displaying performance data to check if performance is continuing to be as expected.

RCGP Quick guide: Collaboratives

This RCGP Quick guide introduces quality improvement collaboratives, groups of people meeting together to learn from and motivate one another.

RCGP Quick guide: Theory of Constraints and Flow

This RCGP Quick guide introduces the theory of constraints and flow, a methodology for identifying the most significant limiting factor – the constraint – which stands in the way of the organisation's goal being met.

RCGP Quick guide: Evaluation

This RCGP Quick guide explains how presenting an evaluation of any quality improvement activity undertaken can help share its results.

RCGP Quick guide: Networks

This RCGP Quick guide explains that building networks of people with a common purpose and enthusiasm for positive change is a way of harnessing the power of ‘emergent change’.

RCGP Quick guide: Visual displays

This RCGP Quick guide explains how visual displays can share your improvement data in an accessible format so that everyone involved knows if their improvement efforts are working.

RCGP Quick guide: Gantt Charts

This RCGP Quick guide introduces Gantt charts, a tool that provides a visual representation of your project schedule which helps to identify a realistic timeframe for implementing a project.

RCGP Quick guide: Communication Matrix

This RCGP Quick guide introduces the communication matrix, a systematic way of identifying members of the team and the themes they need to know in carrying out your improvement work.

RCGP Quick guide: Driver Diagrams

This RCGP Quick guide introduces driver diagrams, a tool to help you to organise your improvements in a logical way, so that everyone involved can see how the planned changes will lead to the desired improvement.

RCGP Quick guide: Measurement and Analysis

This RCGP Quick guide explains how measurement and analysis can tell us what we need to improve, then, once we’ve started to make changes, it can tell us if our efforts are making a difference.

RCGP Quick guide: Appreciative Inquiry

This RCGP Quick guide introduces appreciative inquiry, a method that help groups of people working together to learn more from their success and to build on these to generate further improvements.

RCGP Quick guide: Run charts

This RCGP Quick guide introduces Run charts, a tool that allows practices to analyse data, with minimum use of statistical methods, and helps determine if an improvement has been made.

RCGP Quick guide: Externally Sourced Data

This RCGP Quick guide provides a comprehensive list of links to data sources that may be useful when undertaking quality improvement work.

RCGP Quick guide: Model for improvement

The model for improvement ensures that you and your team are very clear and specific about what you want to improve and how you will know if you have been successful.

RCGP Quick guide: Improvement Science

This RCGP Quick guide introduces improvement science, a relatively new academic field that aims to identify the best methods for improving the quality and safety of healthcare.

RCGP Quick guide: Patient Involvement

This RCGP Quick guide helps practitioners to ensure that quality improvement work is designed to improve patients’ experience of care as well as their outcomes.

RCGP Quick guide: Engagement and Behaviorial Change

This RCGP Quick guide helps practitioners to think about creating the right conditions for all the individuals involved in improvement to be motivated and able to contribute to the best of their ability.

RCGP Quick guide: Context and Culture

This RCGP Quick guide helps practitioners to reflect on the context or environment in which a quality improvement intervention is to be introduced.

RCGP Quick guide: Process and Value Stream Mapping

This RCGP Quick guide introduces process and value stream mapping, techniques that creates a visual representation of all the steps in a process.

Safety netting for cancer diagnosis in primary care

This brief guide to safety netting for cancer diagnosis in primary care aims to support healthcare professionals to detect cancers earlier and minimise delayed diagnoses.

Resources for Cancer Significant Event Analysis training sessions

This collection of resources are designed to support general practices to deliver effective Cancer Significant Event Analysis training sessions.

Example cancer singnificant event analyses with thematic analysis

These fictional example cancer singnificant event analyses (SEAs) demonstrate a varying range of quality. Each contains detailed notes showing both positive and negative examples of reflection, subsequent actions, and impacts following a cancer diagnosis.

Training resources for completing an effective cancer significant event analysis

This collection of resources have been developed with a 'train the trainer' approach as a guide to the process involved in completing an effective cancer significant event analysis (SEA).

Whitedboard video: Model for Improvement

In these videos Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces the Model for Improvement, a tool that ensures that you and your team are very clear and specific about what you want to improve and how you will know if you have been successful.

Whitedboard video: Run charts

In these videos Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces Run charts, a tool that allows practices to analyse data, with minimum use of statistical methods, and helps determine if an improvement has been made.

Whitedboard video: Pareto Analysis

In this video Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces Pareto Analysis, a statistical technique in decision-making used for the selection of a limited number of tasks that produce significant overall effect.

RCGP Quick guide: Diagnostic Survey

This RCGP Quick guide introduces diagnostic survey, a frequently used method used to identify the needs of the target group for any improvement work.

Quality improvement and diabetes care

This presentation can be used during a training session to introduce QI tools and methods to the teams who care for patients with diabetes.

Evaluation tools

These evaluation tools can be used to help you to evaluate your quality improvement work, learning what has gone well, what could be improved, and plan the next steps of your work.

Multi practice quality improvement project plan

This Excel spreadsheet tool will help you to plan and monitor the progress of your quality improvement project across several practices.

Model for improvement for diabetes

Do you want to introduce a change to improve diabetes care? If so, the model for improvement for diabetes allows you to plan and test the change.

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership

The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership is an independent organisation aims to improve health outcomes by enabling those who commission, deliver and receive healthcare to measure and improve our healthcare services. The HQIP website offers resources and support to help measure and improve healthcare services, especially in the areas of national clinical audit and quality improvement.

The Edge

The Edge is a free social platform committed to finding, sharing, curating and creating the boldest and most innovative new ideas in health and care.

Significant Event Audit

Significant Event Audit - also called Significant Event Review or Analysis - is an increasingly routine part of general practice. It is a technique to reflect on and learn from individual cases to improve quality of care overall.

QI Ready self-accreditation

QI Ready is a self approval tool to assist you in better understanding quality improvement methodologies. It offers clear examples of QI in practice and will help you to improve your knowledge and skills in this field.

National Clinical Audit of STIs and HIV: Feasibility study report

This one year feasibility study was funded by NHSE, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, and ran from March 2015- March 2016

Data sources useful for QI

A reference sheet detailing using data sources of comparative data.

Process mapping for diabetes

This process map offers a visual representation of all the steps in the process of caring for patients living with diabetes, from diagnosis of diabetes to annual review.

Medical appraisals: tips for sessional GPs

The British Medical Association has produced some tips for sessional GPs about what a medical appraisal is and the stages of the process. The overview includes some information about quality improvement requirements.

Quality improvement posters from RCGP Annual Conference 2016

A number of Quality Improvement abstracts and posters were submitted to the 2016 RCGP Annual Conference. You can view them, and the posters and abstracts from other categories, here.

Does quality improvement improve quality?

This article considers these challenges and proposes four key ways in which QI might itself be improved.

Fishbone diagram for diabetes care

If you are trying to work out why patients don’t turn up for review or why the treatment target for blood pressure is not being met, then the Fishbone diagram for diabetes care can help you.

Rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis: 2nd annual report 2016

The National Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit report was commissioned by HQIP as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcome Programme (NCAPOP) and carried out by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR).

Patients as partners: Building collaborative relationships among professionals, patients, carers and communities

This guide publsihed by the King's Fund explores shared leadership and what helps to build effective collaborative relationships among health and care professionals, patients, service users, carers and communities.

New care models and staff engagement: All aboard

This briefing paper published by the NHS Confederation brings together the experiences of four vanguards which are placing staff at the centre of new care models.

Six principles for engaging people and communities: Definitions, evaluation and measurement

This document is about creating person-centred, community-focussed approaches to health, wellbeing and care. It builds on the proposed new relationship with people and communities set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View

Six principles for engaging people and communities: Putting them into practice

The six principles were developed by the People and Communities Board, in conjunction with the new models of care ‘vanguards’ sites, to give practical support to services as they deliver the ‘new relationship with people and communities;’ set out in NHS England's Five Year Forward View.

An Illustrated Look at Quality Improvement in Health Care

In this video, Dr. Mike Evans, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, starts with a simple question: Why should you care about quality improvement? He presents a brief history of QI, then touches on system design, the Model for Improvement, and the familiar challenge, "What can you do by next Tuesday?" - all in less than nine minutes!

Understanding pressures in general practice

This report published by the King's Fund looks at patient factors, system factors and supply-side issues to see what lies behind the increasing demands and pressure faced by general practice.

Quality improvement – Training for better outcomes

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has drawn together a wide range of stakeholders, to align efforts to implement quality improvement training as a core competence in practice.

RCGP Quick guide: The QI Wheel for Primary Care

This RCGP Quick guide explains the Quality Improvement wheel for primary care, a simple visual representation that illustrates the the main elements to consider in design, delivery and evaluation of a QI project, acting as a guide to the stages involved.

RCGP Quick guide: Significant event analysis

This RCGP Quick guide introduces Significant Event Analysis a technique to reflect on and learn from individual cases to improve quality of care overall.

An introduction to statistics for local clinical audit and improvement

This guide sets out the basics of statistical data analysis and presentation for those involved in local clinical audit and improvement projects.

Context for successful quality improvement

Building on a series of thought pieces published by the Health Foundation in Perspectives on context, this best evidence review combines the ideas of receptive and non-receptive contexts for change, with a psychological perspective and the proposition that social context is the key facilitator of quality improvement.

The habits of an improver

In this paper, Professor Bill Lucas offers a way of viewing the field of improvement from the perspective of the men and women who deliver and co-produce care on the ground – the improvers on whom the NHS depends.

What is clinical audit? And other frequently asked questions

A simple guide covering common FAQs on clinical audit.

Improving GP services: Commissioners and patient choice

The report presents the findings of Monitor's review of how GP services are working for patients, with a specific focus on the role of choice and competition.

Guide to quality improvement methods

The guide brings together twelve quality improvement (QI) methods, providing an overview of each and practical advice on how and when to implement them, with illustrative case examples.

Whitedboard video: Force Field Analysis

In this video Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces Force Field Analysis, a tool that helps you to list, discuss and evaluate the various forces for and against a proposed change.

Whitedboard video: Cause and effect diagrams

In this video Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces cause and effect diagrams, also known as fishbone diagrams, which are used to help to identify and display the root causes of a problem.

Evaluation: What to consider

This guide, by The Health Foundation, is intended to assist those new to evaluation by suggesting methodological and practical considerations and providing resources to support further learning.

Using communications approaches to spread improvement

This guide from The Health Foundation draws on this experience, and empirical evidence, to provide practical information about how communications approaches can be used to spread improvement ideas.

Improving the quality of cancer care in primary care

This toolkit developed by Macmillan Cancer Support aims to support the primary care professionals to develop initiatives and programmes which have a positive impact on the care of people daiagnosed with cancer, their families and carers.

Enhanced Significant Event Analysis

Enhanced Significant Event Analysis is an NHS Education for Scotland innovation which aims to guide health care teams to apply human factors thinking when performing a significant event analysis, particularly where the event has had an emotional impact on staff involved.

Whitedboard video: Control charts

In these videos Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces control charts, also known as Shewhart charts, which are used to display the measure of interest over time with the mean plotted as an X bar.

Skilled for improvement? Learning communities and the skills needed to improve care: an evaluative service development

This report tells the story of the Learning Communities Initiative, in which an experienced research team used an action approach, combining action research and action learning, to study four improvement projects across two sites, while working with participants to facilitate the flow of knowledge and learning.

The quality improvement guide: The improving quality together edition

This guide brings together learning from around Wales – and further afield - to explain how a simple set of techniques can be applied to improve the services provided by NHS Wales.

Cancer Significant Event Audit Peer Review pilot

This joint initiative undertaken by the RCGP, the National Cancer Action Team and Macmillan Cancer Support, offered anonymised external peer assessment of Significant Event Audits of cancer diagnosis.

Whitedboard video: Flowcharts

In these videos Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces flowcharts, a tool used to depict the sequence of movements or actions of people or things involved in a complex system or activity.

Experience-based co-design toolkit

This toolkit published by the King's Fund gives a step-by-step guide to improving patient experience of health care using a technique called experience-based co-design.

Quality improvement made simple: What everyone should know about healthcare quality improvement

This guide, from The Health Foundation, focuses in particular at what are known as organisational or industrial approaches to quality improvement.

Clinical commissioning groups: Supporting improvement in general practice?

The King's Fund and the Nuffield Trust are working together to assess the implementation and impact of CCGs. Between 2012 and 2015, we are following the evolution of clinical commissioning in six case-study sites and will publish the findings annually.

How to change practice: understand, identify and overcome barriers to change

This guide published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence provides practical suggestions based on evidence and experience to help managers and clinicians influence changes in practice.

How to develop a patient-friendly clinical audit report

HQIP's definitive guide to developing clinical audit reports and tools suitable for patients, carers and other lay readers and useful to all involved in clinical audit and quality improvement, featuring guidance, tips, examples and case studies.

The quality improvement guide for educators and students

This guide highlights the key role of educators and students in quality improvement and showcases examples of student improvement projects in Wales.

Whitedboard video: PDSA cycles

In these videos Dr Robert Lloyd from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement introduces the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach, a technique that allows change to be introduced in a considered way but on a small and manageable scale, measuring the ‘before’ and ‘after’ effects of each change, and provides evidence to assist in maintaining the changes that work.