The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) have introduced a vocational qualification in practice management.
The healthcare institutions are aiming to create an opportunity for practice managers to develop their skills and to recognising the role they play in primary care.
The RSPH Level 4 IHM Certificate in Practice Management is offered over eight or 12 weeks, comprising four two- or three-week sections.
The programme is based both in taught courses and self-directed learning with a focus on everyday tasks, competencies and behaviours of management at work.
In addition, the programme has an introductory day, one study day per section and a programme completion day.
The course is also underpinned by IHM’s Professional Practice Framework (PPF), which aims to give managers a clear picture of what a well-managed practice looks like.
In providing practice managers with a new way to learn and apply their learning situations in specific to practice managers, the programme has five targets.
These include explaining the role of the manager and the contexts in which they operate and how to build and deliver high quality, safe and effective healthcare services.
The course will also explain the organisational, social and policy environments in which healthcare planning takes place, and the implications of this for governance, accountability and resource capacity.
Heather Davison, development director at RSPH, said: “Practice managers are a group of professionals whose importance remains largely unrecognised.
“They come from very varied backgrounds and rarely has investment been made in their development as managers and leaders.
“This new training programme is an important step in providing them with the recognition they deserve and in preparing them for the leadership role they will be playing in transforming and improving the delivery of primary healthcare services.”
