Practice managers in England have been invited to express their interest in mentoring and coaching support offered by NHS England.
The support is funded through the practice manager development programme. As of June 2018, £1m of the £6m that was in 2016 committed to the programme over a three-year period has been spent.
NHS England announced that practice managers who register their interest will receive mentoring and coaching through three complimentary 90-minute sessions.
The sessions, which can be carried out face-to-face or be virtual, are expected to run from later this month until April.
Provider Beyond Coaching has been commissioned to offer the sessions, which are designed to help practice mangers work through challenges and make the most of opportunities.
How will this programme support you?
NHS England said the one-to-one coaching and mentoring support sessions are likely to start this month.
The sessions aim to help practice managers:
- Create time and space to think
- Work on new skills to help them fulfil their potential
- Further develop their awareness when it comes to making decisions
- Enhance understanding of how to move forward
- Boost confidence and resilience
- Learn techniques and models to help them achieve their targets
Lesley Thompson, founder and director at Beyond Coach told Management in Practice that they have already worked with NHS England for some time, supporting practice managers and GPs over the past five years.
Ms Thompson said: ‘Our programme is very much about supporting practice managers’ development. It’s focused on their agenda; there’s a whole range of areas that they might bring to the coaching and mentoring sessions.
‘The agenda is driven by the practice managers, so they will bring their opportunities and challenges that they want to work on. We might cover leadership or relationship development, mergers, work-life balance, or resilience development, for instance.’
How can you apply?
You can submit your interest online on NHS England’s website until Monday 21 January.
Ms Thompson said they have been asked by NHS England to support around 700 practice managers throughout England, so places are limited.
Although the application form specifies that practice managers who did not receive coaching and mentoring via their LMC in the last year may be prioritised, all PMs in England are invited to apply.
Ms Thompson said Beyond Coaching is expecting the sceheme to be oversubscribed.
NHS England said that Beyond Coaching will also undertake anonymised data analysis for the organisation, to evaluate the impact of coaching.
