Thoughts will soon turn to your GP practice year end and performance for the year. But what should you be thinking about in order to plan an effective year end?

Specialist medical accountants Simpkins Edwards will provide guidance on what GP practices should be aiming for at this time, during a webinar hosted by Kernow LMC on Tuesday, 24 February, from 1-2pm, including:

• How to plan to make the year end process as painless as possible.
• The importance of your cloud packages being up to date.
• Why the most effective practices are constantly reviewing their financial position.
• Making sure your Primary Care Network position is up to date – and does not hold up your own accounts.
• Planning the timing of expenses for tax efficiencies.
• Ensuring your partners’ pension contributions are appropriate to balance cashflow and tax relief.

The webinar costs £20 per person. To register and receive the Teams meeting link, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk by noon on Tuesday, 17 February.

The LMC is delighted to be hosting a webinar on Top Tips for your GP Practice Premises.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, 25 February, from 1-2pm, and will be delivered by Will Ellis, from BW Healthcare Surveyors. It will cover:

• Why 89% of UK GP practices are underfunded for notional rent reimbursement.
• How to simplify CMR1 form submissions.
• How to maximise the value of your premises.
• How are the new Premises Cost Directions effecting GP Practices.
• How sale and leaseback can help fund improvements and expansions.
• The importance of using an NHS-approved GP Surgery lease.
• Retaining reimbursed rent for external repairs and maintenance.

The webinar costs £20 per person. To register and receive the Teams meeting link, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk by noon on Wednesday, 18 February.

Balancing career and family life has always been a challenge for GPs. Flexible working is a popular solution to achieving a healthy work-life balance, particularly when looking to reduce hours for a better quality of life. There are huge benefits to working less hours. It is, of course, a balancing act and the single biggest question for those looking to work less than full time is: ‘Can I afford the pay cut?’

The LMC is delighted to host a lunchtime webinar with financial experts Chase de Vere on Tuesday, 3 March, from 1-2pm, to offer help, guidance and advice.

Chase de Vere will explain the impact of working less hours, covering:

*How to plan for a reduction in pay.

*The impact and implications of working less hours.

*The affect it could have on your pension and work benefits.

*How you can still achieve your future financial goals.

The webinar costs £20 per person. To register and receive the Teams meeting link, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk by noon on Tuesday, 24 February.

Are you an early-career GP navigating the unique challenges of your career? From physical risks and mental health stressors to the financial strain of student debt and irregular income, securing your financial future is more crucial than ever.

The LMC is delighted to host a lunchtime webinar with financial experts Chase de Vere on Tuesday, 21 April, from 1-2pm to offer help, guidance and advice for early-career doctors, where we’ll discuss:

•            Career risks: Managing physical, mental, and financial challenges.

•            Employer & State benefits: What’s available and the gaps you need to bridge.

•            Comprehensive financial protection: The essential role of life insurance, critical illness cover, and income protection.

•            Actionable steps: How to secure affordable coverage that grows with your career.

The webinar will help you understand the specific financial risks GPs face and how to navigate them effectively. You’ll learn how to tailor financial protection plans to meet your unique needs and gain expert advice on securing comprehensive coverage at affordable rates, ensuring your financial future is safeguarded.

Don’t wait for life’s uncertainties to catch up. Protect your future today!

The webinar costs £20 per person. To register and receive the Teams meeting link, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk by noon on Tuesday, 14 April.

Aim of the course: A key part of the Reception role in General Practice is receiving and making telephone calls. The aim of this course is to provide practical call handling training teaching delegates techniques and skills to confidently answer calls and constructively respond to enquiries ensuring information received and given is complete and correct. The course will also look at what to do when a caller becomes angry or aggressive.

Key objectives: 

• Answer and make telephone calls in a professional manner.
• Learn techniques to efficiently respond to queries ensuring information received and given is complete and correct.
• Build up a rapport with the caller and satisfy their needs quickly.
• Handle concerns with empathy and understanding.
• Dealing with angry or aggressive callers.

Course overview:

• The Importance of Professional telephone skills.
  • Importance of professional telephone techniques to the practice
  • Benefits of professional telephone etiquette
• Telephone communication challenges
  • Challenges of telephone communication
  • Role of non-verbal communication
  • Building rapport and gathering information
• Answering the telephone
  • Telephone guidelines when handling a call
  • The verbal handshake
  • Putting callers on hold & transferring calls
• Communication Skills to handle enquiries
  • Effective listening techniques
  • Questioning techniques
  • Recording information
  • Using positive language and taking ownership
  • Closing the call
• Communicating with customers with different communication styles 
  • Recognising different communication challenges
  • Main characteristics of communication styles
  • Recognising your own communication preferences
  • Adjusting to other styles of communication
• When the call goes wrong!
  • Handling emotional responses
  • Responding to the complainant
  • Escalating the complaint
  • Handling the angry/aggressive caller

To register, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk

Aim of the Course: For delegates to understand the role of a supervisor, the responsibilities and the skills required to be effective in supporting a team to achieve the organisation's goals.

Key objectives:

• Understand the role of the Supervisor, where it fits in the organisation and how it differs from being a manager.
• How to utilise your skills to avoid mistakes and become an effective Supervisor long term.
• Discover strategies to manage your own workload and wellbeing whilst supporting others.

Agenda:

1. ROLE OF A SUPERVISOR
   • Main responsibilities
   • Basic skills
   • Difference between a Supervisor and a Manager
   • Setting & Maintaining work performance standards
2. LEADING THE TEAM
   • Leadership Pipeline
   • Common mistakes to avoid
   • What do the most successful supervisors do differently?
   • Become a more effective Supervisor long term
3. ORGANISATION
   • Time/workload & personal organisation
   • The art of delegation
   • How to become an email Ninja
   • Personal wellbeing
   • Celebrate success

Workshop overview: This webinar allows delegates to get a feel for what is expected of a supervisor and what skills they need to develop to be successful in the role. We discuss the pitfalls and how to avoid them, especially if promoted from within the team. Delegates will explore how to set and maintain work performance standards and look at strategies to manage their own workload as well as that of the team they are supporting. Rounding off with a section on how to look after their own wellbeing and celebrate successes.

Delegates will receive a certificate of attendance and a copy of the presentation.

To register, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk

Aim of the course:

This webinar provides operational front line primary care staff with the skills and understanding to safely and confidently deal with any aggressive behaviour they may experience in their roles. The webinar also allows time for delegates to have some personal reflection as well as peer to peer learning and support.

Key objectives:

• Greater awareness to help identify and understand conflict and potential conflict.
• Increased understanding of how to manage conflict and difficult behaviour.

Course overview: 

This webinar will provide delegates with a greater awareness of conflict and how to better handle difficult and aggressive behaviour.

All delegates will receive:

• A copy of the workshop presentation.
• A certificate of attendance.

To register, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk

Aim of the course:

This webinar provides operational front line primary care staff with the skills and understanding to safely and confidently deal with any aggressive behaviour they may experience in their roles. The classroom workshop also allows time for delegates to have some personal reflection as well as peer to peer learning and support.

Key objectives:

• Greater awareness to help identify and understand conflict and potential conflict.
• Increased understanding of how to manage conflict and difficult behaviour.

Course overview: 

This webinar will provide delegates with a greater awareness of conflict and how to better handle difficult and aggressive behaviour.

All delegates will receive:

• A copy of the workshop presentation.
• A certificate of attendance.

To register, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk

Aim of the course:

To provide delegates with the knowledge and understanding of how to summarise a medical record, understanding the importance of an accurate historical record. They will be guided through the process of how to organise the medical record being confident they are summarising correctly and in line with the Good Practice Guidelines for Electronic Patient Records, V4, 2011.

Objectives/agenda:

• What is meant by “summarising” – its significance and purpose in primary care.
• A suggested guide to the summarising process.
• Common pitfalls when summarising.
• Quality assurance.

Course overview: 

This webinar will look at what we mean by ‘summarising’ – its significance and purpose in primary care. A suggested guide to the process of summarising will be covered by the session, enabling best practice to be achieved. The session will also look at some of the common pitfalls when summarising and offer various hints and tips as to how to achieve high quality standards and produce data fit for sharing.  The course will help to raise awareness of the importance of accuracy along with the legal and professional requirements to have an accurate historical patient record. We will look at how delegates can put in place quality assurance measures to give confidence to the summarisers, especially when new to the role.

Delegates will be given:

• A detailed guide to summarising.
• A summarising process crib sheet.
• Certificate of attendance.
• Copy of the workshop presentation.

To register, please email: rich@kernowlmc.co.uk

Aim of the Course:  By the end of this webinar delegates should have improved their understanding of medical terminology and the systems within the body. They should be able to use this knowledge at work to enhance their understanding of terms and abbreviations which in turn will increase effectiveness and job satisfaction.