Considered Health    Brentnalls Health Newsletter - Issue 23 - February 2021

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Inside This Edition High Performing Practices Leading Your Winning Practice Team Practice Nurses - A Valuable Practice Resource Roll-Out of COVID-19 Vaccines   Print Newsletter Follow us on LinkedIn

Quote "Lean into your strengths and find people to cover your weaknesses. I don't believe it's necessary to become good at every part of business to succeed in business." ~Jordan Walsh~

High Performing Practices - How healthy is your practice?

What is a High Performing Practice?

High Performing Practices think and act strategically, are well governed and managed, engage high quality and talented people, and operate efficiently while delivering high quality services while ensuring the business's financial viability.

Most practices work in isolation having little insight into how other practices operate. Brentnalls Health have the privilege and opportunity through our work to see how many different practices operate. Through this experience, we have gained an understanding of the key factors that distinguish a High Performing Practice.

These are the key attributes that we see in successful practices that gives them a competitive advantage:

Think and Act Strategically	Planning for success Constantly scanning and aware of the changing healthcare environment Being proactive, with a forward-thinking approach
Well Governed and Managed	The ability to make effective decisions and implement them Disciplined management structures in place
Financially Profitable	Sustainable financial growth over time Strong financial fundamentals and financial disciplines
Talented People	Highly functioning teams Focused on evidence-based practice The ability to convert quality care into profitability
Operate Efficiently	Streamlined and efficient systems Shared approach across the entire team

Questions:

Are you running a High Performing Practice? 
If not, what do you need to do to convert your practice into a High Performing Practice? 
What aspects of your practice could you improve to improve the performance of the practice?

Brentnalls Health offer a suite of practice assessment services that enable practices to identify the areas for opportunity and growth.

• Practice Snapshot Lite
• Practice Snapshot Assessment
• Full Practice Assessment

 

Leading Your Winning Practice Team

Congratulations to everyone leading and working in a healthcare practice team and the incredible work you have done to keep the practice doors open and ensure the safety of your practitioners, patients and your team itself. Your capacity to take on the additional work that 2020 bought with it and to bring the practice team together as you worked towards a common purpose, was simply amazing.

Wouldn't it be great to keep the winning team feeling going in 2021?   
Does your team need to get back on track or does it need a little maintenance?

Team effectiveness can be broken down into a 4-step process.

Step One: STRATEGY & ORGANISATIONAL PURPOSE Leadership team to define the strategy & purpose of the organisation Communicate this to your team and invite their feedback   Step Two: CONNECT YOUR TEAM TO THE ORGANISATIONAL PURPOSE & VALUES Align your team's values with those of the organisation and the leadership team Empower your team to model the organisations values and bring them to life   Step Three: TALENT & PRODUCTIVITY Identify talent within your team Set a culture of quality improvement with team ownership with responsibility for their work   Step Four: MAINTAIN YOUR WINNING TEAM Follow up on issues, concerns or problems your team raises with you by having direct, honest and timely conversations Be a role model and celebrate the little wins & milestones together

The main aim is to assemble a team who is talented, productive and measured. Ensure you provide them with resources to do their job, training to do their job, leadership to follow; all in a safe, supported workplace environment. If you're not getting the performance you'd like from your team, we offer a range of education and training services tailor made for your team as well as mentoring support for managers and practice leaders.

Practice Nurses - A Valuable Practice Resource

It has been said that our practice nurses are the heart and the sole of a medical practice. They provide patients of the practice a familiar face, empathy and trusted support.  Over the years their role has broadened due to acknowledgement of their increased scope of practice and the introduction of Government incentive programs; Practice Nurse Incentive Payment (PNIP) now Workforce Incentive Program (WIP).  Retention of your practice nurses is vital to the care and health outcomes of your patients as well as contributing to the revenue generation of your practice.    However, a recent survey by the University of Wollongong found one in five of the practice nurses surveyed would like to leave general practice nursing.  How do we retain our valuable general practice nurses?

Employment

• Employment contract outlining conditions of employment and pay.
• Ensuring employment conditions of nursing staff are in-line with Fair Work Australia – Nurses Award http://awardviewer.fwo.gov.au/award/show/MA000034
• Job descriptions clearly defining the role, the roles responsibilities and how work performance will be measured, and feedback provided.

Registration, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Professional Development & Competency Standards, Clinical Mentoring

• Actively engage and support nursing staff in PD activities required to meet registration and competency standards. 
• Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation provides a Toolkit for general practice nurses that includes a self-assessment template against  the ANMF National Standards and a PD planning template. http://www.anmf.org.au/documents/ANMF_National_Toolkit_for_Nurses_in_General_Practice.pdf 

Practice Team Values, Leadership and Planning

• Inclusive engagement of nursing staff in practice strategic planning activities, team events and opportunities for promotion to a leadership role provides a framework for job progression and on-going job satisfaction. 

Practice nurses are large contributors to a high performing practice across the financial, clinical operational and business success of the practice. More information:   Practice Assessment Business Performance Practice Development Service

Roll-Out of COVID-19 Vaccines

Priority Populations

SOURCE:

https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/getting-vaccinated-for-covid-19/who-will-get-the-vaccines

Additional Resources:

We are all conscious of the imminent roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines. Below are some links to the websites that provide accurate and up to date sources of information.

The Australian COVID-19 Vaccination Policy has been released and can assist you and your practice staff by providing timely information as you plan for how your team will deliver the most important vaccination program of our time.

https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/12/australian-covid-19-vaccination-policy.pdf 

The Australian Government Department of Health provide regularly updated information on the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines here:

https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines 

National Roll-Out Strategy COVID-19 Vaccine Roadmap will prove to be a helpful resource for your practice staff & patients: 

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/australias-covid-19-vaccine-and-treatment-strategy

Australian Practice Nurses Association-https://www.apna.asn.au/

Australian Association of Practice Management-https://www.aapm.org.au/

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