Meet your 2023 General Practice Award Winners

Last week, the 2023 General Practice Awards were held at the Novotel London West. We welcomed over 500 guests from across primary care and the community as well as the healthcare industry for a fantastic night celebrating the very best in patient care.

The 2023 General Practice Awards highlighted the innovation, dedication, and passion of teams and individuals working across the UK.

Group Editor at Cogora, Gemma Collins, gave the opening presentation at the 2023 General Practice Awards:

“We may say every year how truly valuable it is to have a night like tonight where we recognise those who have gone above and beyond, but I think in the current climate, these words have never been more appropriate.  I was lucky enough to be one of the judges on the panel for the Extended Team of the Year category which seeks to recognise those outside of the traditional role in general practice. Whether it be a social prescribing link worker or a community care coordinator, I came across so many individuals playing a major part in improving patient care.

I was impressed to read about the leadership and innovation but what struck me the most was what fantastic collaboration is going on across multi-professional teams within general practice.

From reading some of the shortlist entries across all the categories I can see how much general practice is evolving and that collaboration is key. From those within the practice to those leading PCNs who are working together with public health, secondary care, councils and third sector organisations.  

Everyone is working in unison with one united aim – to deliver the best care possible for their patients.”

Without further ado, here are the winners from the 2023 General Practice Awards:

Practice Manager of the Year
WINNER: Caitlin Clarke, Business Manager – Castle Partnership; Managing Partner – Fleggburgh Surgery
Sponsored by X-on Health
Responsible for overhauling the practice’s appointment system, Caitlin introduced an urgent care team model that utilised the skills of a multi-disciplinary team for signposting, support and supervision. A particular success of the new system saw telephone queues decrease from 30 minutes to 4 minutes. Staff wellbeing improved due to Cailtin’s efforts including the introduction of a free staff gym. She introduced flexible working and protected learning time.

Reception Team of the Year
WINNER: Richmond Road Medical Centre Reception Team
Sponsored by THINK Healthcare
Richmond Road Medical Centre’s Receptionist Team played a pivotal role in transforming the practice into a centre of health, wellbeing, opportunity and belonging for patients. Developing new reception roles to enhance efficiencies, the practice has one of the lowest utilisations of A&E/111 across London and the highest levels of patient satisfaction across the borough. Initiatives they have set up include Peppa Pig Flu Clinics and Teddy Bear GP Clinics.

HCP Programme Provider of the Year
WINNER: Staffordshire Training Hub
Staffordshire Training Hub commissions training courses for 147 Practices across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, addressing two key issues – transgender patients and patients with hearing loss. They commissioned local Charity, Deaflinks, to deliver courses and encouraged practices to advertise that they were ‘deaf-aware’.
Transgender patients are also affected by health inequality, so STH delivered clinically and non-clinical courses, addressing not just the hormonal treatment options, but also the increased mental health problems within the transgender community.

Clinical Improvement Award: Long Term Conditions
WINNER: The Greenhouse Practice and Driving for Change Teams
This initiative uniquely addresses the complex, long-term healthcare needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in Hackney. This innovative model centres on personalised care delivered via refurbished London buses. It prioritises proactive health screenings and check-ups, facilitating better management of long-term conditions and over-reliance on crisis services.

Clinical Improvement Award: Long Term Conditions
WINNER: Virtual Multi-disciplinary Team (vMDT) platform & pathway implementation for heart failure in Lincolnshire ICB
This process was introduced for heart failure patients needing optimisation of treatment and specialist input within the PCN. The virtual MDT enables the team to document discussions and create actions for individual team members that are visible and transparent ensuring rapid completion relating to patient care plans. Data from the virtual MDT platform helped to plan for wider transformation.

Clinical Improvement Award: Mental Health
WINNER: Stort Valley and Villages PCN waiting well with suspected Autism Pathway – Stort Valley and Villages PCN Children and Young People Social Prescribing and Occupational Therapy team
Stort Valley and Villages PCN set out to address the needs of children presenting with autistic traits and their families. Led by an Occupational Therapist with a specialist mental health background, the service is supported by the wider social prescribing and care coordination team. Resulting in relieved workload for the wider team and an improved success rate in onward referrals being accepted. The service has changed lives by intervening earlier in the process of assessment.

Clinical Improvement Award: Mental Health
WINNER: NHS Practitioner Health
Over the past 15 years, this service has treated more than 25,000 practitioners and is the largest publicly funded provider of its kind globally. Led by general practitioners, and supported by psychiatrists, mental health professionals and administrators, the service offers assessments, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, case management and support to return to work or training. 95% of patients have demonstrated significant improvement and 75% of patients return to work after treatment.

Clinical Improvement Award: Public Health & Prevention
WINNER: Vulnerable Adult Service at The Inclusion Health Hub in Norwich
The patients supported by the vulnerable adult service are often homeless or living in hostels; the hub also has an outreach asylum seeker health care team. Aiming to share their learnings more widely across the UK, the team impressed our judges with their work on providing safe places for vulnerable adults to receive healthcare and support in order to get their lives back on track. The service targeted the most deprived 20% of the population in their area, identified individuals with poorer-than-average health access experience and dedicated time to those in the maternity system. Outcomes include reduced early deaths, prevention of avoidable deaths, prevention of patients falling through the cracks, reducing unnecessary A&E attendance.

Digital Solutions Provider of the Year
WINNER: LocumDeck by NASGP

Since 2020, NASGP has provided exceptional support, guidance, and service to BOB Integrated Care Board, addressing their challenges in recruiting and retaining GP locums. Thier innovative
platform, LocumDeck, has enabled seamless communication and booking processes between practices and GP locums, resulting in cost savings, improved patient access, better patient outcomes,
and enhanced peer support among GP locums.

GP Trainee/Rising Star Award
WINNER: Dr Ratan Singh Randhawa GP Trainee, East Twickenham PCN, Committee Member, Hounslow Healthwatch
With a work ethic built on advocating for patients, supporting colleagues and promoting excellence in clinical practice, Dr Randhawa greatly impressed the judges. His compliance work has been escalated to the ICB and EMIS as a potential national issue. He has created a website for his VTS scheme and peers to improve their experience on the teaching programme as well as running a session on how to pass the RCA.

Pharmacist/Pharmacy Team of the Year
WINNER: Gareth Evans MRPharmS, BPharm(hons) – Community Pharmacist Wansford Pharmacy

Focusing on the evidence that sleep apnoea is a vastly undervalued condition to screen for and treat, the team established a patient-funded sleep apnoea screening and testing service. They collaborated with patients’ GPs to fast-track patients to appropriate treatment. A hugely positive impact was seen both in terms of the pharmacy-GP relationship but also for patients and their quality of life, morbidity and health risk reduction. Staff have been trained to initialise conversations on sleep issues and the service has received rave reviews bolstering staff morale in challenging times.

Medical Supplier of the Year
WINNER: Dene Healthcare
Due to the current climate putting financial constraints on GP practices, Dene Healthcare have re-worked their systems and focus, to collaborate specifically with individual Practices on a case-by-case basis, creating real tangible and lasting savings in the procurement process as a whole!  Their methodology and procedures are now redefined, to represent the value of the entire procurement process.

Extended Practice Team Member of the Year
WINNER: Farida Laeeq – Care Coordinator for Asylum, Refugee & BAME community
Farida has gone above and beyond to support her patients, ensuring they receive the care and support they need to integrate safely into the community. The judges were impressed with her work creating a dedicated clinic to support asylum seekers and refugees coming to the city. The service offers a full health assessment and signposts to organisations offering psychosocial support. This has also been offered to the central Liverpool PCN.

Staffing/Recruitment Agency of the Year
WINNER: Integrated Care Specialists Group Ltd

Integrated Care Specialists Group Ltd was formed in January 2022 to do things differently. There are three directors, one is a partner in a Liverpool GP practice and two are the very best time served medical recruitment specialists. In the first 18 months they have grown from a team of three to seven. In that time, they have helped over 250 clients and over 200 locums to improve access and outcomes for patients covering over 9000 days of clinical expertise within Primary Care.

Nurse/Nursing Team of the Year Award
WINNER: Birley Health Centre – Nursing and Health Care Team/ Superheroes

This group of nursing superheroes really do go the extra mile. Running extra covid clinics for their patients and those of other practices struggling with capacity and using a council bus to arrange for patients to get to practice; they have had their best ever year at QOF, smashing all their targets. The team is led by Nurse Lead Dawn, a local legend. Dawn hosts wellbeing chats, organises schedules to fit the person and the business, and stands out due to her community work.

The General Practitioner of the Year
WINNER: Dr Mohammed Jiva MBE, General Practitioner, CEO Rochdale and Bury Local Medical Committee, CEO Rochdale Health Alliance, GP Federation, Clinical Director, Middleton Primary Care Network
Sponsored by Medical Defense Society

As the CEO of Rochdale and Bury LMC for the past 15 years, Dr Jiva is an asset across the boroughs. He had a major impact through the COVID-19 pandemic converting national policies into diagrammatic form to support practices. He has supported PCNs and implemented pathways and policies resulting in over 60 ARRS staff employed. He opened the first PCN venue offering patient services in a shopping centre which brings sexual health and HIV testing to the public.

PCN of the Year
WINNER: Cheltenham Central PCN
Sponsored by Hill Dickinson

This PCN transformed 6 individual practices working in silo into a mature PCN with collaborative working and innovative practice. New services were introduced via an advanced pharmacy team, social prescribing link workers, care coordinators, paramedics, trainee nurse associates and a mental health practitioner. The introduction of a novel PCN Lead Nurse role to support nurses across the practices enabled more peer networking, standardised protocols and training. The PCN co-developed a be-friending scheme using community volunteers and work with local schools to identify children and young people at risk of future negative consequences. The team are passionate about sustainability and are supporting practices to reach net zero.

Telecoms Provider of the Year
WINNER:
Voice Connect Ltd
Patient Partner is a unique and innovative offering from Voice Connect Ltd that allows direct appointment booking, review, and cancellation into the clinical system. Its integration sets it apart from other market offerings, ensuring a seamless user experience. The service has the ability to handle dictated medication queries via email, contributing to increased efficiency in managing patient inquiries and aligning with the NHS’s emphasis on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and deliver better patient outcomes.

Vaccination Service of the Year
WINNER: Healthy Hyde PCN

Working beyond PCN borders and collaborating with local voluntary organisations, Healthy Hyde PCN covers 77,000 people, over 60% of whom live in the most deprived postcodes in England. The team developed a drive-thru vaccination centre to provide vaccines at scale in a safe and effective way. They delivered the most vaccinations per day in Greater Manchester. They also offer co-administration of flu and covid vaccination. The team run PCN-led English lessons for asylum seekers and refugees at food banks – a complex care nurse attended sessions with a translator and delivered 70 vaccines in the autumn/winter programme. They ran educational sessions on using healthcare, vaccines and BLS training.

Professional Services Provider of the Year
WINNER: Menlo Park Recruitment

General Practice continues to face a huge range of challenges but there’s no bigger ongoing challenge than being able to attract GPs, Nurses and Allied Health to work in primary care. Menlo Park have worked with nearly 1,000 practices in the past year in order to ease their recruitment pain, because when a practice doesn’t have clinicians the whole service stops. They work proactively with practices, using our network, to attract candidates that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to engage themselves.

GP Team of the Year
WINNER: Urban Village Medical Practice
Sponsored by Prescribing Care Direct

A unique GP practice serving 12,000 patients across Ancoats, Manchester and specialist care to 1,000 people in the city who are experiencing homelessness. Working with kindness and compassion the team always go the extra mile. During the pandemic the partners obtained a loan to purchase a van and converted it into a mobile consulting room to deliver services to the hardest to reach patients.

The General Practice Awards will be back in 2024 with new categories, a new host, and lots of opportunities for you and your team to shine! To stay updated, click here to sign up to our mailing list.

The Pharmacist survey

The Pharmacist recently conducted a survey to our community of pharmacists, to gain an insight into the current mood within the sector.

Based on nearly 200 responses from community and practice-based pharmacists across the UK, we revealed that more than half of our respondents would consider strike action or withdrawing their services, 71% thought pay was inadequate and three-quarters said they experienced abuse from patients at least once or twice a month.

Meanwhile, half of community pharmacist respondents reported working overtime every week or nearly every week.

We also asked respondents about their capacity to deliver Pharmacy First, before the launch date and details were announced.

More than six in 10 community pharmacists responding to our survey said that they would have the capacity to deliver a common conditions service in England this winter.

And with increasing numbers of pharmacists training as prescribers, including all newly qualified pharmacists from 2026, our survey also highlighted that independent prescribing training for the existing workforce is one of the biggest challenges facing the profession, with respondents ranking it above workforce challenges, medicines shortages, funding and training the next generation of community pharmacists.

Stories from The Pharmacist survey were based on 187 responses in total:

  • 81% from England, 9% from Scotland, 4% from Wales, 6% from Northern Ireland
  • 19% (36 respondents) were community pharmacy owners, 35% (65) were employed community pharmacists, 21% (39) were locum community pharmacists, 12% (22) were pharmacists working in both community and general practice, and 12% (23) were practice or PCN-based pharmacists.

Leaders from across the sector also provided commentary on our findings.

The Pharmacist delivers the latest daily political, business, and clinical news in the pharmacy sector; with blogs and clinical and professional features on key topics affecting pharmacists. For more information about advertising to our audience of community, practice and PCN pharmacists, please contact us today.

Sponsored content partnerships

We are pleased to announce a new digital offering from our media brands – Sponsored content partnerships.

Sponsored content partnerships are available to companies and brands who wish to supply thought leadership pieces to reach and engage with our powerful audience of healthcare professionals.

Thought leadership pieces allow for company CEOs and sector leaders to demonstrate and articulate their expertise in a relevant area and allow immediate engagement with our audience.

Working with our Editor, your thought leadership article (exclusive to Cogora) will be edited, reviewed, and hosted within the Sponsored tab. The article will then be promoted via the website homepage, relevant zone, our editorial newsletters and via our social media channels.  

Covering primary and secondary care markets globally, our portfolio of market-leading brands reach unrivalled numbers of HCPs. We listen to what they tell us and take notice of what they respond to, allowing us to communicate effectively with your target audience.

This new offering is currently available via Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Management in Practice, Healthcare Leader, Hospital Pharmacy Europe, or Hospital Healthcare Europe. For more information about content partnerships, please contact us today.

Senior Reporter wins a PPA Next Gen Award 2023

Jess Hacker, Senior Reporter for Pulse PCN and Healthcare Leader, has won a PPA Next Gen Award 2023 which champions 30 of the most exciting rising stars in UK specialist media.

Jess Hackers’ string of exclusive stories investigating unspent general practice funding and the NHS competing with major international retailers for staff caught the judges’ eyes making Jess a worthy winner of the award which celebrates individuals whose achievements and skills are shaping the future of UK specialist media.

Jess Hacker started working at Cogora in February 2021 on media brands Healthcare Leader and Management in Practice, and moved to a role on award winning Pulse PCN in March 2022.

Healthcare Leader offers the latest news, interviews, features, roundtables and case studies focused on primary care at a system level in Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and their places.

Pulse PCN delivers news, views and analysis specifically for PCN clinical directors.

Jess trained in journalism at City, University of London and has previous experience at Exeter Medical School.

Formerly the PPA 30 Under 30, the newly rebranded PPA Next Gen Award, will host an event for winners on October 12.

The Pharmacist: Community and In Practice

The Pharmacist website has had a relaunch, enhancing the content, structure, and usability of the site for both Practice and Community audiences – reflecting growth and joint professional working in the pharmacy community, across primary care networks (PCNs), general practice and community pharmacy.

The new In Practice tab will feature news and analysis for pharmacists working in general practice and in PCNs. This follows the launch of our In Practice newsletter in 2022, bringing regular news, updates and CPD to the growing general practice pharmacy sector.

These updates reflect the increasing value that pharmacists bring to the general practice team, with the number of pharmacist roles being rapidly expanded by NHS funding. Over 5,000 pharmacists in PCNs and general practice in England now work closely with GPs – bringing their specialist knowledge of medicines, side effects, cost effective prescribing and the support of patients with their medication and long-term conditions.

The Pharmacist has a long track record in delivering news and information to community pharmacy, championing the information needs of independent pharmacy teams. The value of the profession has only been reinforced during the Covid pandemic.

The Pharmacist delivers the latest daily political, business, and clinical news in the pharmacy sector; with blogs and clinical and professional features on key topics affecting pharmacists. Our clinical updates span a wide variety of therapy areas relevant to primary care, such as: cancer, dermatology, diabetes, gastroenterology, immunology & vaccination, mental health, respiratory, sexual health, smoking cessation and travel health.

For sponsorship opportunities to our Community or In Practice audience of pharmacists, please contact us today.

Pulse PCN Autumn 2023

Pulse PCN Autumn 2023 takes a look at the fabled integrated neighbourhood team – what they are, what they should be, and who’s running them.

Those leading the charge at NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland talk to Pulse PCN about how they’ve formed their PCNs into neighbourhood teams, and why the integrated care board has decided to lead on PCNs’ futures.

Clinical directors speak in Pulse PCN Autumn 2023 about how their integrated neighbourhood teams – or lack thereof – are coming together without any formal blueprint.

Elsewhere, the National Academy for Social Prescribing’s chief executive, Charlotte Osborn-Forde, speaks about the evidence behind this popular addition to the GP practice workforce.

Six PCN leads from across the country came together for the roundtable to discuss progress on enhanced health in care homes and the measures which have improved the lives of clinicians, carers and patients in a lively discussion about the future of the service.

And a PCN in Northumberland details its ongoing pilot to help its fisherman population access healthcare as they are often offshore during practice opening hours.

To catch up with the latest PCN news and hear from clinical directors across England read the full issue here.

Brought to you via Pulse, the Pulse PCN hub contains news, views and analysis specifically for primary care network clinical directors.

Pulse: How NHS ‘direction of travel’ will affect GPs

The September issue of Pulse magazine, ‘How NHS ‘direction of travel’ will affect GPs’, includes a mini redesign following feedback from readers, with easier to read and more accessible features.

This month, Pulse have an exclusive interview with the most senior GP in NHS England, national director for primary care Dr Amanda Doyle – ‘How NHS ‘direction of travel’ will affect GPs’. She reveals that next year’s contract is likely to be a stop gap, that PCNs are ‘going nowhere’ and that the five-year contract has made things ‘tighter’ for practices in England.

We also take an in-depth look at the NHS workforce plan and ask how the Government is going to provide the training capacity needed in general practice to fulfil its commitments to increase the number of GP trainees and medical students.

Our new ‘Big Questions’ feature asks what is going on at the BMA’s GP Committee England, and where it all went wrong for Babylon while we look behind the headlines at a GP’s claim in the Daily Mail that GPs enjoy ‘remarkable privileges’.

In the clinical section, we answer key questions on MS, provide advice on referring to urology and provide a therapeutics update on depression. We also provide advice on running group consultations.

Pulse offers GPs a daily dose of politics and financial news, CPD, cutting-edge investigations, clinical updates, thought provoking debate, and practical business advice, along with updates delivered via regular newsletters and a magazine. Please contact us for more details on our available advertising packages to our community of GPs.

HCM Academy 2023 primary care series

The HCM Academy 2023 primary care webinar series concluded this month.

Brought to you by PCM Scientific, our CME division, the series benefitted from the input of six expert faculty from the US and Europe who lead the field in treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

The aim of the HCM Academy 2023 primary care series was to raise overall awareness of HCM in professionals who work outside the cardiology setting and highlight how the presence of HCM can impact other areas of patient care that are relevant in the primary care setting.

The topics covered included identification of HCM and how it might present in a primary care setting, the role of HCM in development of arrhythmias and how treatment of arrhythmias can impact other treatment decisions, and the impact of HCM on patient ability to exercise and how HCM can impact on pregnancy.

All live webinars from the HCM Academy 2023 primary care series were delivered twice to allow attendees the opportunity to join at a time convenient to their time zone.

The programme was available to primary audiences including GPs and nurses, across the United States, Canada, and Europe, including the United Kingdom. Marketing was done via the HCM Academy, and our media brands, Pulse and Nursing in Practice

The feedback from learners has been overwhelmingly positive, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.9 out of 5, and many positive reviews of the content.

“Excellent presentation with easy to understand and remember the key messages”,

“Excellent webinar, relatable and enjoyable. Case studies always help put things into focus”.

Results so far show significant improvements from pre-learning assessment scores to post-learning assessment scores, with an average gain in competence of 27% and an average gain in knowledge of 33%.

The complete HCM Academy primary care series is now available on-demand on the HCM Academy website and healthcare professionals can gain three CME credits for completing the series.

Pulse nominated at the MJA Awards

Pulse have been shortlisted for Feature of the Year at the Medical Journalists’ Association (MJA) Awards.

Shortlisted for the ‘Lost Practices’ investigation in 2022, the MJA Award judges noted it to be ‘a thorough, detailed, and well-crafted examination of an important social issue. It tackles a vital issue in medicine today. Well researched and constructed into a powerful narrative’.

The September 2022 issue of Pulse magazine featured a major investigation on GP practice closures – Lost Practices. This revealed that 474 surgeries across the UK have closed in the past nine years without being replaced, with small practices on lower funding in more deprived areas most likely to be affected.

The investigation was picked up across the national press – including the Times, the Telegraph, ITV news, the Daily Mail, Channel 5 News, the Daily Express, and the Sun. Pulse Editor Jaimie Kaffash was also on LBC Radio to discuss the findings.

Previous investigations by Pulse and other groups have looked at the number of practices where GP partners have handed their contracts back, or closed branch surgeries, but this investigation was the first to focus only on those where a surgery has not been replaced in the same postcode.

With a membership of over 450 health and medical writers, broadcasters and editors, the MJA seeks promotes excellence in journalism.

Winners will be announced at the MJA Awards ceremony on September 13th 2023 in London.

Pulse in the Press: third of practices forced to stop appointments 

A Pulse survey revealing that almost a third of GP practices have been forced to stop routine care in the past year due to overwhelming demand, has been picked up by the national press.

The survey of 400 GP partners surveyed found that 30% have had to stop taking bookings for routine appointments at any point from June 2022 to June 2023. The GPs, from across the UK, said this was due to staff shortages and excess demand across general practice, while some said it resulted in abuse from patients.

The story has appeared across a number of different titles including Lorraine, The Times, The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and the Evening Standard.

The number of appointments carried out in general practice in England increased from 25.9 million in June 2022 to 29.4 million in June 2023. This compares with 23.8 million in June 2019, before the Covid pandemic began.

Meanwhile, the number of permanent fully qualified GPs in England decreased from 26,859 in June 2022, to 26,521 in June 2023 – and this is way down on the 29,364 in September 2016.  

In July, another Pulse survey, revealing that GPs would consider taking collective action if funding is not significantly increased, was also picked up across the national press.

Management in Practice’s Salary Survey 2023

Management in Practice’s newly launched Salary Survey 2023 has revealed the extensive level of responsibilities GP practice managers hold – and the size of the budgets they control.

More than half (51%) of Management in Practice’s Salary Survey’s 975 respondents said they are responsible for practice budgets exceeding £1 million, while 18% are in charge of budgets of more than £2 million.

Just under a tenth (8%) look after budgets bigger than £2.5 million, initial findings from the 2023 Practice Manager Salary Survey have shown.

Practice managers also reported having a very broad job remit, with responsibilities that encompass decisions on purchasing; growing practice revenue; shaping business strategy; and managing teams.

Practice manager respondents reported their main responsibilities as including:

  • line management and supervision of the practice’s non-clinical team (74%)
  • maximising finances and funding streams (73%)
  • setting policies and procedures (71%)
  • recruitment (68%)
  • HR policy and admin (67%)
  • CQC inspection preparation (66%)
  • meeting QOF targets (62%)
  • generating new or non-NHS incomes (62%)
  • line management of clinical teams, including GP partners (54%)
  • procurement of professional services (such as accounting, legal etc. (52%)
  • purchasing office consumables (46%)
  • purchasing IT business platforms, systems and software (45%)
  • purchasing medical supplies, including drugs, instruments and vaccines (43%).

Our survey results also highlighted the size of surgeries practice managers are working in. The biggest group (42%) are in practices with a patient list size of between 10,001 and 20,000. A total of 39% are in practices with a list size of between 5,001 and 10,000. And 10% work in surgeries with a list size of between 20,001 and 30,001.

Meanwhile, 37% manage multi-site practices. Of those respondents, 53% manage between 2 and 4 sites. A total of 15% manage 11 to 15 sites, 16% manage 8 to 10 sites and 3% manage 16 to 20 sites.

More results from Management in Practice’s Salary Survey, including on practice manager salary levels and job satisfaction will be released shortly.

Management in Practice is a free-to-use site for practice managers, GPs and healthcare professionals working in primary care, that carries essential news updates, blogs and business information for GP surgeries.

About the survey:

An online survey was carried out among Management in Practice readers based in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland between 13 June and 16 July 2023, and had 975 respondents. Only non-partner practice managers based in permanent roles (part-time or full-time) were allowed to participate.

Nursing in Practice 365 – what’s it all about?

Nursing in Practice 365 – our education platform for UK primary care and community nurses, brought to you by Nursing in Practice – what’s it all about?

Launched earlier this year, it is designed to give easy access to the best CPD and professional educational content in a variety of formats. Nursing in Practice 365 allows nurses to learn anytime, anywhere – as illustrated in our new promotional video for users.

A mix of bite-sized, interactive and longer-form content spans over 27 clinical areas, meeting users’ preferences and time available. Relevant and constantly updated, content is presented in a variety of formats: CPD modules, virtual seminars, on-demand sessions, and in-person events; with tools to help nurses to plan their engagement throughout the year: ‘save favourites’, ‘track progress’, ‘add to calendar’, and more.

With almost 14,000 subscribers, Nursing in Practice 365 offers clients a unique way to target a large pool of UK based primary care nurses.

If you would like to find out more about sponsoring a module, or about any other sponsorship opportunities, please get in touch with us.

Pulse PCN Events

Pulse PCN Events are the source of practical information for PCN Clinical Directors. Intimate, small-scale discussion forums – the events have been specifically created for PCN Clinical Directors, PCN Managers, and senior staff.

The aim of the Pulse PCN Events is to provide an environment in which the challenges facing PCNs can be discussed and debated by those working at the frontline of population health management and service development.  

We have welcomed over 170 PCN Clinical Directors, PCN Managers, and other senior PCN staff to events this year in Leeds, Birmingham and London. Popular topics so far include: 

  • Population health: A clinician’s perspective 
  • Where are we going? The future of PCNs and navigating the IIF 
  • Sharing excellence in practice and working together as an MDT 

A brilliant panel of experts have presided over the talks, encouraging our attendees to share their views and experiences of working in a PCN. The nature of the events is to allow everyone’s voice to be heard. 

As well as hearing from leaders in primary and secondary care, attendees have enjoyed networking with an exclusive array of relevant service providers, medical providers and pharmaceutical companies who are on hand at Pulse PCN to inform and update the audience on the latest products and services that can aid in improving patient care and streamlining processes.  

The feedback for the events speaks for itself: 

“Good networking, interesting debates and like-minded people” 

 “All of the sessions I attended were very well presented and the information useful food for thought” 

100% of our London attendees would recommend the event to a colleague, and with a second London event planned for November as well as a date in Manchester in October, we are confident of ending the year with great attendance and engagement.  

If you want to know more about sponsor and exhibitor opportunities, please contact us.

Pulse in the Press: GPs would consider week-long closure over funding

A Pulse survey, revealing that GPs would consider taking collective action if funding is not significantly increased, has been picked up across the national press.

Nearly a third (31%) of GP partners in England would consider taking collective action in the form of shutting routine services for a week if funding is not significantly increased for 2024/25, a Pulse survey has revealed.

The Pulse survey of 362 partners in England reveals that there is an appetite among GPs to follow the leads of consultants and junior doctors in taking some form of action.

The survey revealed:

  • 54% of GPs would consider shutting routine services for a day;
  • 51% would consider lowering thresholds for referring to secondary care;
  • 46% would consider undated resignations;
  • 61% would consider diverting all on-the-day/urgent cases to 111 or A&E.

The story has been picked up by the Times and Daily Mail. Pulse Editor Jaimie Kaffash also appeared on Times Radio and LBC to discuss the findings.

Pulse offers GPs a daily dose of politics and financial news, CPD, cutting-edge investigations, clinical updates, thought provoking debate, and practical business advice, along with updates delivered via regular newsletters and a magazine. Please contact us for more details on our available advertising packages to our community of GPs.

Pulse: The five stages of GP

Pulse launches an investigation into GP recruitment, analysing each stage of the GP career. We scrutinise efforts to improve training recruitment, and how many trainees end up as full-time equivalent fully trained GPs.

Pulse asks why GPs in the early stages of their career are leaving the profession and reducing hours. And we look at retirement numbers, and the potential timebomb of an ageing workforce. We then ask how the Government’s recruitment plan will support efforts to increase the number of GPs.

We also examine the issue of IT outages, and how it affects GP practices and patient care. We hear stories about how GPs have had to resort to pen and paper for days at a time, or been unable to access patient records with vital information around prescriptions.

Elsewhere, we have a casebook on skin care in the elderly, clinical clangers on ulcer swabs and a therapeutics update on continuous glucose monitoring. We also give tips on recording GP appointment data.

There is also the latest in our Art of Diagnosis series – can you spot the clues in a self portrait as to how the painter died?

Great Place to Work-Certified™

We are thrilled to announce that Cogora has been certified as a Great Place to Work™!

85% of our employees named Cogora as a Great Place to Work™, this recognition is a testament to the dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm of our exceptional team.

Great Place to Work™ is a global authority that assesses workplace cultures and identifies organisations that create an outstanding employee experience. Through their rigorous evaluation process, they measure employee satisfaction, trust, camaraderie, and other key factors that contribute to a positive work environment. We are honoured to have received this prestigious distinction.

Creating a supportive and fulfilling workplace is crucial not only for our team, but also for clients. It directly translates into better collaboration, enhanced creativity, and exceptional service delivery. We have always strived to foster an environment that promotes open communications, encourages innovation, and fosters personal and professional growth, allowing employees to achieve their fullest potential.

The results from our employee survey showcase our values of collaboration, innovation, transparency, celebration of success and growth.

  • Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work – 85% agreed
  • When I look at what we accomplish, I feel a sense of pride – 86% agreed
  • Our customers would rate the service we deliver as ‘excellent’ – 86% agreed
  • I feel I make a difference here – 89% agreed
  • When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome – 94% agreed
  • People here are treated fairly, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender – 96% agreed
  • I can be myself here – 82% agreed

What is unique or unusual about Cogora that makes it a great place to work?

  • ‘We are nimble and are always looking for growth opportunities’
  • ‘The company responds quickly to trends and conditions, and respectfully treats staff and colleagues as grownups’
  • ‘Good team spirit with colleagues who are also friends’
  • ‘I feel like I am the manager of my own time. I am often encouraged to attend webinars/events during work hours for self-improvement/ to explore new innovative ideas’
  • ‘I am trusted to work as independently as I want to whilst also being given support’
  • ‘Everyone is super friendly and approachable’
  • ‘New members are welcomed and integrated into team almost instantly. It feels like we’ve been working for years even though we might only be working together for few months’
  • ‘I like how flexible the company is, ability to work remotely/hybrid is a huge positive’
  • ‘People genuinely care about one another and take pride in celebrating other’s accomplishments and achievements. You are encouraged to collaborate in a healthy way with all members of your team, no one is too busy to help or listen’
  • ‘Everyone is valued for the unique role they play within the company, and this makes it a really lovely place to work’

Nursing in Practice: How can we solve the puzzle of social care?

The Nursing in Practice summer issue looks at how nursing provision in care homes has been hit by funding issues, poor pay and negative perceptions of the sector. But those working in social care are piecing together promising solutions.

The Covid pandemic was a clear reminder of just how important social care is, with nurses and other staff looking after the elderly and society’s most vulnerable, often under difficult circumstances.

The sector continues to be under stress, with government funding for places reduced, and an increasing number of providers in the sector making the decision that costly nursing care is something they no longer are able to offer. There is concern that the number of nurses working in care homes is dropping to a worrying level, with continuing issues with recruitment and pay.

In Nursing in Practice’s summer issue, England’s chief nurse for social care, Professor Deborah Sturdy, tells us about work to ‘shine a light’ on nursing in the social care sector and to raise its profile. However, ‘It’s about long-term investment,’ she says.

Rather than struggling to recruit, the adult social care sector needs to attract and retain and attract the most highly skilled nurses, for roles that are complex and highly demanding.

Our cover feature ‘Solving the social care puzzle’ argues that nursing in social care requires a unique skill set, and that issues around nurse recruitment and other issues for the sector, urgently need attention.

In Nursing in Practice’s summer issue, we also look at boosting child immunisation uptake, how nurses can help counter the rise in eating disorder, and key actions for chronic disease management and QOF in general practice.

We also examine how primary care can be more inclusive to transgender patients. A nurse lecturer and past general practice nurse says: ‘In our profession, for trans people to receive the best standards of health and social care, nurses and other clinicians must be properly informed.. my main advice is to treat everyone equally and without judgement.’

Articles in a busy summer edition also include a profile of the experience of an advanced nurse practitioner working as a homelessness outreach nurse, operating from a mobile van in Stoke-on-Trent. She tells us: ‘We’ll see people for a variety of reasons, from a simple chat to needle exchange or treatments… we’re all ANPs, so we can use electronic prescribing where appropriate’.

And in our Lessons in Leadership series, a lead nurse in a Primary Care Network shares her unique experience of advocating for general practice nursing through her place on a Local Medical Committee board. She has strong views on what needs to be discussed. ‘I think there is a lack of understanding about what general practice nurses do,’ she says. ‘There needs to be a greater appreciation of the value of these roles.’

More content from Nursing in Practice can be found at nursinginpractice.com, via the Nursing in Practice app, and on social media.

Pfizer educational handbook

In collaboration with two KOLs, Cogora: The Agency researched and developed two Pfizer educational handbooks, tailored specifically to GPs and community pharmacists.

Funded by a corporate sponsorship from Pfizer (Pfizer had no involvement and received no input into the content), the content addressed the current landscape relating to Covid-19 antiviral medicines, patient eligibility criteria, access to treatment, patient considerations, and the future role of primary care.

Cogora enabled the communication of educational and product-centred messaging, through the creation of a visually appealing A5 handbook: written by and designed by Cogora: The Agency.

For optimum reach, the Pfizer educational handbooks were distributed in print and digitally via Pulse and The Pharmacist and hosted online for six months, to help educate our GP and pharmacist audiences on Covid-19 antiviral treatments.

Included in the hosting were two email sends, reaching 20,000+ healthcare professionals and generating a 54% open rate to the digital handbook, compared to a benchmark of 28%. These emails were written and designed in-house.

Organic traffic drivers were also put in place to help HCPs access and engage with the sponsored content. The handbook was promoted via our editorial newsletters, on the relevant website homepage and within the respiratory clinical zones.

This resulted in over 1,700 handbook downloads via Pulse and The Pharmacist in two months.

Please contact us to discuss Cogora handbook sponsorship opportunities.

Pulse PCN’s roundtable hub launches

Pulse PCN’s latest roundtable launches today bringing clinical directors and pharmacists together to discuss structured medication reviews (SMRs).  

Pulse PCN’s roundtables examine the core tasks PCNs must deliver as part of the PCN Network DES and the challenges and opportunities this work brings.

Explore 10 thought-provoking roundtables covering topics such as covid vaccination, population health management and early cancer diagnosis, highlighting the thoughts of clinical directors from across England.

In this latest roundtable, sponsored by GSK, clinical directors and pharmacists from PCNs in Gloucestershire, Manchester, Warrington, Cheshire, London and Hampshire give their opinions on SMRs, their recent removal from the impact and investment fund (IIF) incentive scheme and of the wider role of PCN clinical pharmacists.

Editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘The tensions between community and PCN pharmacy are an issue at the moment, so it was really interesting to hear how this is playing out at a PCN level.

‘Clearly the SMRs and their now former targets leave a lot to be desired and GPs and pharmacists detail their concerns in this topical discussion.

‘This is another great read as part of our roundtable series giving readers and leaders direct insight into the thoughts of those clinicians running PCNs.’

Pulse PCN’s roundtable series is part of our comprehensive offering for our community of primary care network (PCN) clinical directors and their teams. And they are now hosted on a new Pulse PCN roundtable hub making it easier to access these great clinician-led debates.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across 1250 PCNs through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us.

IOTOD Conference 2023

The annual Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) conference returned for its 21st year on 17th and 18th May 2023, with an exciting educational agenda including interactive seminars, thought-provoking talks, satellite symposia, and expert-led panel discussions.

Delivered by our CME division PCM Scientific, the IOTOD conference 2023 aims to provide high quality, CME-accredited education for primary and secondary care healthcare professionals across the globe, to improve patient outcomes in the treatment of opioid dependence.

Working with world leading experts in opioid dependence, the virtual conference, tackled the latest challenges, innovations, research and insights in opioid dependence management and treatment.

Utilising our virtual event platform, the conference was held virtually with live talks, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions from fifteen returning and new international experts across seven sessions.

Content was translated live into German and Spanish, and all sessions were recorded and made available on-demand for 30 days post-event.

Recruitment to the conference was driven via our primary and secondary care media brands Pulse, Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Hospital Healthcare Europe, and Hospital Pharmacy Europe, as well as our existing IOTOD community.

Attendees included general practitioners, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, addiction specialists, pain specialists, psychiatrists, social workers, hospital pharmacists, and hospital nurses.

95% of attendees rated the quality/relevance of the content as excellent/good and 98% rated the speakers and organisation of the event as excellent/good.

Find out more in our case study.

Next CIO UK

We’re thrilled to announce that Jim Wilson, Cogora’s Head of Technology, has been named as a rising star of the UK IT industry by Next CIO.

Next CIO recognises and celebrates the biggest rising stars in the UK IT sector. It is an annual awards and mentoring programme to help aspiring IT leaders develop their careers, build their network and improve their skillsets.

As part of the Next CIO programme, Jim Wilson, Cogora’s Head of Technology, will gain exclusive access to mentoring sessions from some of the UK’s leading digital, data and technology professionals, and will also become a mentor to other professionals in the field.

Pulse: The abuse epidemic

The June issue of Pulse, The abuse epidemic, focuses on the growing levels of abuse faced by GP practices and their staff.

The cover feature, The abuse epidemic, looks at data received from police forces that show violent crime, harassment and racially motivated abuse increasing since pre-pandemic. And we speak to a number of GPs and practice staff about their own experiences, and how the abuse they have faced has led to them changing the way they practise.

We also provide a deep analysis of NHS England’s GP Recovery Plan, looking at the stipulations around access, workforce and pharmacists providing more items without the need of a GP prescription.

Alongside this, we scrutinise Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson’s ‘seven point plan’ for general practice, and feature some of the best entries we received for our Writing Competition.

In our clinical section, we have key questions on kidney disease, we look at diabetes in pregnancy, a clinical clanger around blood pressure and a great new feature where we invite readers to consider pathology involved in works of art, starting with the most famous, the Mona Lisa.

IOTOD 2023 virtual conference

The annual Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) conference returned for its 21st year on 17th and 18th May 2022. 

The IOTOD 2023 virtual conference is an educational initiative, run by PCM Scientific, and was held virtually for the fourth year running, covering advanced topics in the treatment of opioid dependence.

The IOTOD initiative brings together healthcare professionals from across the globe to share and discuss best practice in the field of opioid dependence. The two-day live event covered several topics delivered by experts on opioid dependency, prevention and treatment, viral hepatitis, pain management among other thought-provoking subjects.

The event utilised Cogora’s virtual event platform, HCP Connect, and comprised of seven educational sessions, 15 expert international speakers, two sponsored satellite sessions, and five scientific posters with live German and Spanish translation.

Overall feedback has been very positive surrounding the IOTOD 2023 virtual conference. Following our initial survey, 90% of the attendees rated the quality of the content presented as excellent/good, 95% rated speakers as excellent/good and 100% said that there was no bias during the educational programme.

All live sessions were recorded and are available on-demand for 30 days post event, to enable delegates to access sessions they may have missed at their convenience. Marketing of the live and on-demand content has been to our community of primary and secondary care healthcare professionals via our media brands, as well as the well-established IOTOD community and faculty. The audiences includes addiction specialists, GPs, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, psychiatrists, as well as other healthcare professionals interested in the management of opioid use disorder across the UK and Europe.

The IOTOD Spring webinar, the first IOTOD event of the year, is now also available to watch on-demand.  

Healthcare Leader’s first roundtable launches

Healthcare Leader’s first roundtable has now launched, bringing together system leaders and experts to discuss the urgent matter of creating a sustainable workforce.

Healthcare Leader’s roundtables look at the core issues facing the new NHS leaders at integrated care boards (ICBs), the challenges they face, the solutions they’ve found and their plans for the future.

Leaders from Somerset and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICBs discuss competing with large employers such as Amazon and Lidl for staff and actions they’ve taken to address the workforce challenge, such as setting up training hubs and courses.

Editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘These roundtables will provide a valuable insight into the work of the ICBs which are not yet a year old and are often not yet well understood by the wider NHS.

‘In this workforce roundtable, NHS leaders articulate their aims and solutions to the NHS workforce challenge, which has never been so acute given the strikes from both nurses and junior doctors and competition for staff from retail chains.

‘Leaders explain that sitting at a system level and working in partnership with local authorities and the voluntary sector means they can look at health and care staff across a whole area and work strategically to plan their future populations.’

Healthcare Leader’s roundtable series broadens the intelligence offering for integrated care boards, including news, views, features and reports.

The roundtables also feature on our new ICB Hub, which highlights the latest developments in each NHS region along with key ICB facts. The next roundtable will cover tackling health inequalities.

In July last year, clinical commissioning groups were dissolved, and their staff were transferred into ICBs. This change was made to shift the way of working from competition to collaboration and bring health and care together. The ICB aims are better health for everyone, better care for all, efficient use of NHS resources, and to enhance the NHS contribution to social and economic regeneration.

ICBs represent the NHS in the wider integrated care partnerships as part of the integrated care systems.

Healthcare Leader aims to support NHS system leaders in taking forward their strategies for the future of health and social care in their places and neighbourhoods.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across NHS integrated care systems (ICSs), including ICB leaders, through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us.