Recently, I had the pleasure of providing one to one training to a GP Practice Secretary. The training was to help increase her knowledge of state claims, to ensure that the Practice was claiming all of their entitlements and to support her in her role in what was an extremely busy GP practice.
This Secretary’s day to day role is an extremely busy one, often working on her own while busy dealing with the day to day demands of General Practice. Aside from dealing with patients coming to the desk, checking in and making appointments and answering calls, she supports the GP’s with the many associated admin tasks involved in caring for their patients. In this very unique role, practice staff have to continually multi-task while dealing with occasional emergencies, aggression and more often, people who are vulnerable.
From my experience in General Practice, this is a picture that is replicated across many practices in Ireland with GP’s working so hard in caring for their patients with receptionists/secretaries in the frontline often firefighting and trying to manage the ever increasing demands for appointments.
The consultation with the patient only forms part of their care. There are many tasks that may arise from seeing a patient such as referrals to a specialist or for further tests, following up on results, appointments and getting back in touch with patients for follow up.
During the course of this particular staff training, I identified a substantial amount of income that had not been claimed over a 2 year period. This for me was a recognition of the demands of working in this busy environment along with the fact that this is a task that would generally be completed by a Practice Manager where there is one in place, However, this is a luxury that most GP’s do not have access to.
The other main problem in General Practice from my own vast experience working in this area is lack of time as the pressures of increased patient workload and associated demands continue to increase. This along with significant cuts in subsidies along with new legislation such as GDPR only adds to the increasing workload.
So often due to the demands of working in GP Surgeries, there is little time to complete these very important tasks which generate income in what is a business that needs to survive like all others. At that particular training session, it was not within my remit to carry out an audit on other aspects of Practice Income, however, on evidence to date, this is a worthwhile exercise that all GP Surgeries should consider.
In my experience in working with GP’s, thousands of euros are left unclaimed in many GP Surgeries each year. Hiring an external consultant can provide any Practice with great value. Asumpta Gallagher, Owner of Best Practice has over 17 Years experience of Management of General Practice and can easily identify areas that are not being claimed as well as helping you to put systems in place to ensure that you are maximising on your income.
Having this audit carried out by a consultant who knows where to look and what to look for saves you both time and money. You can arrange a FREE initial consultation with Asumpta to discuss your current systems & whether they are working for you. Asumpta can also help you identify and training needs within your practice to help your current to upskill in different aspects of the Practice,
Training can be carried out in-house which is in many cases carries the most value as it is tailored to your staff’s individual needs and the knowledge can also be applied at that time and systems can be put in place immediately to suit you and your practice. Best Practice also offers options for external training workshops which are constantly being developed. Please contact Asumpta for further details to find out how she help you save time and money in your Practice.
