“This is Manchester, we do things differently here”, how often in recent months has that quote by Tony Wilson been referenced? But when it comes to supporting General Practice in Greater Manchester it definitely applies.
Nationally the GP Forward View committed to supporting failing practices through GP resilience funding. In Greater Manchester we recognise that all practices face challenges irrespective of their size or demographic. Some of these challenges are identified externally, for example when the practice is inspected by the Care Quality Commission. However, often they cannot be seen from the outside, but within the practice the team are aware that things are difficult. Those difficulties don’t always mean doom and gloom, but they can have a negative impact and hold the practice back from being the best that it can be!
It is for this reason that in Greater Manchester we have the vision of aspiring to excellence in all of our general practices and with this mind we have established the GP Excellence Programme; coordinating and delivering support which can be accessed by any practice in Greater Manchester.
This aligns exactly to the objective of the Royal College “To encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in general practice”. The aspiration of the programme is therefore to assist practices to journey along the road whatever your starting point.
Rescue => Resilience => Improvement => Excellence
Please use the form on the self referral page to self refer your practice to the GP Excellence programme for support.
Ben Squires, Greater Manchester Head of Primary Care Operations
Dr Joanna Bircher, Clinical Director of GP Excellence Programme
