GP Partners Must Think Like Business Managers To Help Practices Succeed

Does the modern day General Practice partner need a business head to succeed or can practices rely solely on clinical excellence?

GP partners have additional responsibilities beyond seeing patients and completing paperwork, for example they will be charged with managing budgets and given responsibility over staff.  In the GP practice their role is vital but is this role becoming more managerial than clinical?  

Recent NHS reforms overhauled the system with the aim of tackling issues such as an ageing population, the cost of new treatments and the expectations of what a health service should deliver.  Despite the scale of this transformation many GP practices are finding it hard to balance income squeezes with rising costs.

General practice funding has been decreasing year on year for some time now but the GP contract changes imposed recently by the Department of Health, which removed £164m in funding from the organisational domain and introduced new indicators recommended by NICE, had a huge impact on many general practices. 

Whilst expenses are continuing to rise, GPs practices are facing a decrease in income, which has led to cash flow issues for many small practices.  Add to this the fact that many GP partners have had a significant pay squeeze to bring their pay in line with salaried GPs, despite their larger workload and you can start to see why GP partners must now assume the role of business manager.

The GP partner will be involved on a day to day basis with managing the budget of the practice and deciding where to allocate funds.  In the light of the recent reforms, this practice management needs to evolve and change for the practice to thrive.  There are new opportunities out there and practices need to look outside the primary care box and seek collaborative partnerships in order to develop their income. 

Practices will undoubtedly look to their GP partners for this business orientation, so GP partners must be prepared and put their very best business head on if they are to help their practice succeed.  Some practices have been setting an example by merging with other practices to share costs such as training and accountancy to take advantage of supplier discounts, where others have been going back to the drawing board and developing business plans and strategies that will help them reach their goals.

It seems the clinically led practice must now take a back seat as the GP partner assumes the role of business leader.  Practice managers and GP partners will need to work together to develop their own business skills and embrace this fast-changing world or they will surely get left behind. 

GPs may be interested to find out about working as a locum, further details can be found at the Locum Select website.