A practice manager from Torbay, Devon has been recognised as Practice Manager of the Year at the annual General Practice Awards.
Stephanie Tedstone, a management partner for Compass House Medical Centres, was nominated in part for bringing about a ‘dramatic improvement’ to her practice over the last year.
The nomination highlighted Ms Tedstone’s work to help staff manage both their workload and wellbeing, establishing regular Q&A sessions with her teams to listen to their concerns.
She also turned a private car park into a nurse triage bay and supported a multi-disciplinary team in setting up a pre-diabetic programme and a lung health programme for COPD patients. She also organised training so teams could identify carers and signpost them to a care support worker.
The chair of the Compass Medical Centres said Ms Tedstone was the reason they took on the job as chair, noting her ‘capacity to recognise the contribution patients can make’ to the surgery.
The accolade was awarded on Friday 10 December, at the 13th annual General Practice Awards, run by Management in Practice’s publisher Cogora.
Receptionist award for vaccine campaign effort
Meanwhile, reception manager Jill Nicholls was awarded Receptionist of the Year for her work during the pandemic, which included learning to vaccinate to deliver Covid jabs.
Ms Nicholls, who has worked at College Lane Surgery in West Yorkshire for 27 years, was nominated for her efforts to train and mentor new staff members, running rotas and managing patients’ Covid and flu queries.
Her practice manager Kirsty Farrar said she had never worked with anyone who gave as much attention to detail, adding that she ‘loves people, works hard and always tries to lift the spirits of those around her’.
Ms Nicholls said: ‘I feel really, really overwhelmed. It’s not me, it’s our team. The year has been difficult in lots of ways, [but] we know we’ve got to go forward. For our patients as well, and we’ve got some lovely patients and I’ve got lovely colleagues. I said to my practice manager, this is not me, it’s not about me, it’s about everybody. I’ve lived and worked in the village all my working life, so I know everybody, and they know me, so that’s helped.
‘Thank you to everybody who’s been behind me and done this. I’m due to retire in two years, but I won’t finish. In two years, I’ll still come back and vaccinate. I’m sure there’ll be flu to do. I just love my job.’
