How to be a practice manager
overall
managent
responsibility for running a GP practice &
cool
projects
Practice managers have overall responsibility for the running of a GP practice. This includes management of clinicians and other administrative tasks. They ensure that the practice is running smoothly for the deliver of good patient care. They often are responsible for a range of issues ranging from Human Resources, financial and managing projects. You can join our NHS work experience programme to learn more.
Training and qualifications
People enter practice management through a variety of ways. Experience of management is usually required as is Practice managers Vocational Scheme awarded by Institute of healthcare management. or AMSPAR course.
Salary
Terms and conditions vary considerably depending on experience and responsibility. Usually ranges from £30,000 – £50,000 a year.
Skills
A broad skill base is needed for this role, which includes leadership, managing change, communication and Human Resources. This includes delivering practice strategy and increasingly involves working other practices through primary care networks.
Career development
With further training and experience, there are opportunities to work in more senior management roles in primary care networks or the Integrated Care System.
Podcast – practice manager
A day in the life of a practice manager
What we would like to discuss with you is what it’s like to work as a practice manager. We have a few questions to ask: what is it really like being a practice manager? How did you at the age of 17 or 18 decide what you wanted to do? And were there any challenges that you had to overcome?
How did you become a practice manager?
I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was younger. One of the subjects in school I enjoyed was media studies so I just continue with it in college. There was always that expectation to go to university as we didn’t really know much about apprenticeships at that time, so I went to university and I did something to do with design and technology! But I decided to drop out in my second year because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it anymore.
This was where I learnt more about apprenticeships and I was like “oh my god, you get paid while you learn”. So I applied for a business administration apprenticeship and it was a typical interview process after submitting my CV. I applied to a few places and the GP practice was the one who offered me a place but I didn’t really know what to expect. I was offered a job as a receptionist and 10 years on I am still here working as a practice manager.
What does a practice manager do?
I’ll start the day by checking my emails and my calendar so I can prioritise my tasks for the day. I make myself available online so staff can ask me any questions or queries. This could be HR related or questions about clinics and different services. I do get approached a lot about technical issues as well. I also run reports on staff activity. Then I deal with any complaints or feedback from patients or staff and attend any meetings or provide training. I get to work on cool projects and run the social media channels for our practice.
What struggles did you face in deciding your career?
A lot of people have parents that tell them what they want their child to become but my parents just wanted to support me in anything I decided to do, there was no pressure. For me I thought not it was a bit harder because you have to make the choice at such a young age. Other young people may have had an idea from their parents of which route to go down but when you have to decide yourself there’s so many different options, I didn’t know what to go with.
Looking back, I think it’s fine not to know. It’s not like you have to make that choice when you’re 15 or 16 and to stick to it. I know many people that have changed careers down the line.
How do you feel about the future?
Even to this day I don’t have a goal of what I want to achieve. It’s more about taking on different opportunities and just giving things a go. I think the most important thing is to just try things and get out of your comfort zone.
Have there been any challenges in your role?
At Hiyos we have social media channels and get to work on content production. One time we worked really hard and had a great idea for a video. We were confident it would do well but… it didn’t! It took a whole month of team effort to plan and produce the content we thought would go viral but it didn’t work out in the end. The key thing is just to keep going and keep trying. Things don’t always work out as you plan.
I remember when I was doing my GCSE’s in school i failed my science mock exam. I sat wondering “what just happened?”. But you need those things to push you, I pulled through in the end and passed! It’s fine for things not to work out and I think there’s a lot of things you can learn when things haven’t gone the way you planned.
Learn about other job roles in the NHS
You can find more information and job roles in the NHS below, or join our NHS work experience programme.
