Practice manager training programme to launch in Wales

A bespoke training programme for practice managers in Wales will commence in March next year, it has been announced.
 
Funded by the Primary Care Division of Public Health Wales, the programme will comprise three cohorts, with the first two starting in March 2019, according to a spokesperson for Public Health Wales.
 
The programme aims to equip practice managers with the skills and knowledge to be confident and successful in their roles.
 
Public Health Wales acknowledges that the challenges GP practices face – such as recruitment difficulties and financial pressures – require new models of working in order to enable them to deliver the Government’s 10 year plan for health and social care in Wales.
 
The programme will launch three cohorts next year, with the first two starting in south Wales in March and the third to take place in mid or north Wales in 2019.
 
A maximum of 20 practice managers will be able to join each cohort. The programme will run for around nine months and will consist of six sessions delivered every eight weeks.
 
The breaks between the sessions will allow practice managers to reflect on what they have learned or continuing to study in their own time, according to the Public Health England spokesperson.
 
The spokesperson added that although there are no formal prerequisites for practice managers to join, places are limited.
 
As part of the application, practice managers will be asked to explain why they would like to sign up to the programme and ‘how it links to their professional and personal learning objectives’, the spokesperson said.
 
Practice managers in Wales have until 11 January to submit their applications.
 
Gareth Thomas, business manager at Risca and North Celynen Practice in Newport said: ‘This is very welcome news for practice managers across Wales.
 
‘The role of the practice manager is changing; our workload, workforce and other pressures are increasing and we are finding ourselves unable to sustain the practice in its existing form.
 
‘We need the tools to help lay the foundations to lead the new models of care.
 
‘The confident practice managers course will help support us to look at new ways to deliver our local services in order to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.’