Following the success of the first Management in Practice Awards last year, the MiP Awards 2009 will again celebrate and highlight excellence in general practice management across the UK.
Last year, the judges of these awards, which ask practice managers or teams to submit a written overview of a recent project that has helped to improve patient services significantly, were overwhelmed by the quality of the entries.
For instance, there was the Hunter Practice in Craigavon, Northern Ireland – the only GP surgery to be awarded a charter from the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) for improving access and support for their deaf patients. The practice won both the Customer Care Award and the Innovation in Training Award for encouraging staff to learn wide-ranging new skills.
Then there was Polkyth Surgery in Cornwall, where the partners had invested their own money in a total refurbishment of the building’s interior, and the Seven Brooks Medical Centre in Manchester, which conducted a thorough review and screening of its patients to ensure patient data were correctly coded against Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) criteria. The practices won the Design and Facilities Award and the Practice Finance Award respectively.
And practice director Debbie Bodhanya’s surgery won the Practice of the Year Award for improving patient access by creating a robust triage system.
This year, one of the award winners could be you! We’d love to hear your success stories and help publicise the good work that goes on in UK primary care every day, but which rarely gets noticed among negative press headlines and number-crunching government targets.
This year, several of the categories have been revised to reflect the latest trends in general practice. Applications are invited from individual practice managers or practice teams who have undertaken projects in any one of the below areas.
The categories of the Management in Practice Awards 2009 are:
Training and HR Award
Modern general practice is no longer just about the GPs, but demands the input of a cohesive, multidisciplinary practice team. Staff motivation and cultivating a strong team ethic is therefore a vital skill of the successful practice manager. Nominations will be invited from practices and their staff on the creative use of innovative training schemes, as well as examples of sound teambuilding and staff management.
Judges for this award are: Debbie Bodhanya, Executive Director, Limes Medical Practice and winner of the MiP Awards 2008 Practice of the Year Award; Elaine Guy, President of AMSPAR; and Gary Matthews, Head of Client Relations, Investors in People.
Customer Care Award
Today’s focus on “patient choice” means practices are encouraged to speak to their patients, request feedback and work to provide the services that their patients demand. While the QOF looks at the qualitative delivery of care, this award will recognise individual practices that are working towards a complete understanding of their patients’ needs.
Judges: Sonia Clark, Practice Manager and Partner; Wendy Garcarz, Healthcare Management Training Consultant; and Lorraine Hughes, Practice Manager and winner of the MiP 2008 Customer Care and Innovation in Training Awards.
Design and Facilities – Clark Weightman Award
The development of integrated health centres and large partnerships has meant a fall in the number of small, cramped surgeries. Health centres are now increasingly custom-built or renovated to ensure that the building’s facilities can cope with new demands of additional primary care services. This award will recognise the most innovative new build or renovation of a primary care surgery.
Judges: Cathryn Bateman, Practice Manager and Consultant Editor, Management in Practice; Roger Sedgley, Architect; and Andrea Williams, Primary Care Premises Consultant.
Information Management and Technology – iQ Business Award
IT technology has revolutionised general practice. Practice websites, GP2GP, electronic prescriptions and summary care records are just a few developments designed to enhance patient services and the working lives of the practice staff.
More and more practices are now “paper light” and seek enhanced efficiency through computerised notes and records. This award seeks to find the most innovative applications of new technology in a primary care setting.
Judges: Fiona Lawson, IT Training Solutions Director; Barbara Stuttle CBE, National Clinical Lead for Nursing, NHS Connecting for Health; and Lynda Tomlinson, Specialist Clinical IT Trainer and Informatics Professional.
Business Management – Away from my desk Award
In many ways, individual GP practices have developed from small public services to entrepreneurial businesses – this is reflected in the increasing appointments of “business managers” to GP surgeries.
This award, though, is open to all practice managers taking advantage of new opportunities for developing their practice – for instance by providing new services through involvement in practice-based commissioning – and creating new income streams.
Judges: Jane Gamble, Practice Manager; Gloria Middleton, Practice Manager and Immediate Past Chair of the Institute of Healthcare Management’s primary care sector; and Sam Riddell,
Practice Director.
Practice of the Year – Wyeth Award
This award looks for overall success in general practice, and seeks to recognise the practice team that has had the biggest positive impact on all aspects of surgery management, from patient care delivery and systems implementation, to staff motivation and budget management.
Judges: John Chisholm CBE, Member of Council, Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association; Fiona Dalziel, Independent Consultant in Practice Management; Judith Harvey, GP and co-author of the Handbook of Practice Management; and Steve Williams, Independent Healthcare Consultant.
How to enter
Projects will be evaluated on the below criteria:
- Clearly defined objectives for quality improvement within the project.
- Clearly described interventions.
- Robust data collection and analysis, showing measured improvements in patient care, including clinical outcomes.
- The sustainability of the changes observed.
Projects will need to have been completed/implemented during the past 18 months.
We invite all practice managers and teams to enter. The closing date for receipt of all nominations is 22 May 2009.
Applicants are asked to submit a written overview of their project of between 300 and 1,500 words following guidelines available to download at www.managementinpractice.com/awards. Independent panels of judges, as listed above, will review all unnamed projects and select winners according to the individual award criteria. The top five projects will be invited to an interview in person or by conference call with the panel judges.
As well as the opportunity to have your work reviewed by leaders in primary care, the top three projects will also be presented with a certificate of achievement, and the winner of each award will be announced at our awards ceremony taking place at the Management in Practice Birmingham Event at the NEC on 6 October 2009.
For more information on these awards, see www.managementinpractice.com/awards
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