The Business Planning Tool Kit

A Workbook For The Primary Care Team

Annie Philips

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367452179
• eBook ISBN: 9781000724714
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Management

Although all primary care organisations have to develop business plans at every level, for many this is a new experience. This book will show the reader how., The Business Planning Tool Kit is a practical, comprehensive book that contains all the reader needs to know about business planning in primary care. The book includes topics on what to include in a business plan, personnel, finances, premises and information management. It is an interactive guide including links to websites that have practical templates for the reader to download and use. It takes general practitioners, practice managers, and managers in primary care groups, trusts, and health authorities through the business planning process in a clear, straightforward way., This book provides a whole new way of looking at how general practice can be managed and it does so in the form of a manual which gives whoever takes on the task the tools to do so. The layout of the book is a joy. Every section has sheets on which staff members can write their comments on the issue in hand. Users of this book are likely to find themselves in a healthier practice because of it.' Andrew Polmear, in the Foreword

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1

Why business plan?

Introduction

The NHS Act (1999) offers practices new opportunities to develop their business. By April 2002 it is expected that nearly a third of GPs will be working to a PMS contract: practices will be expected to develop and write business plans, and all practices will now be encouraged to write Practice Professional Development Plans (PPDPs). This interactive workbook has been written with all members of the primary healthcare team in mind – for busy GPs and primary care/practice managers in particular. It aims to guide practices step by step through the process of business planning.

It is not just PMS practices that will benefit from business planning but any practice that is:

• rapidly developing or overloaded

• noting big problems that prevent full-capacity working

• feeling overwhelmed or out of control.

Successful businesses do not focus on maximising profits but minimising losses. This book tells you how to do this by covering all aspects of practice business planning and organisational analysis: the service, finances, premises, the skills of your team.

This workbook looks at the issues you need to consider before embarking on, or developing, your business in general practice. Its aim is to guide the busy practice through the process of business planning. Whatever stage your business is at – your practice may have been established for many years, or you may be considering moving to new premises – it is essential to consider all aspects of the business. In collectively thinking about, then writing the business plan, the practice grounds itself as a business and sets the footings down to grow and broaden and develop in the healthcare business. Practices that are rapidly developing, overloaded, or looking to take up the latest government offers of a Personal Medical Services Contract would find this process invaluable.

This is a book not just for entrepreneurs, self-starters or the opportunist, but it will help if you see yourself as one of these. It is designed for those who want to see their practice not just as a successful business, but as a flourishing one. It is also aimed at those of you who have big problems to solve within the practice; problems that prevent you and others in the team from working to their full capacity. You may feel overwhelmed by events out of your control, or simply feel the business has grown to a point where you no longer feel you are in control. Both the ambitious and cautious will benefit from business planning.

The introduction of continuing professional development (CPD) for all workers in the NHS¹ will encompass the entire workforce, so effective business planning will be essential. The process will need to reflect the global picture, accounting for:

• national service frameworks

• clinical governance initiatives

• national and local priorities.

You need to know:

• how you are doing

• where you are now

• where you want to go

• how you get there.

This clarity is essential to enable personal development plans and learning needs to be linked to outcomes.

The NHS Act 1999 has set new standards, one of which is the Improving Working Lives (IWL) Standard. This means that every member of staff working within the NHS is entitled to belong to an organisation which can prove it is investing in training and development. One of the key objectives is for organisations to conduct annual attitude surveys – asking relevant questions and acting on the key messages. This book shows you how.

This book is designed as an interactive workbook. The reader can complete it, but it will work best if used as a training tool. One person’s view is fine, but to have the whole practice input will be immeasurably useful. Also, one person, however senior in the practice, will not be able to carry through all the changes on her/his own. Big change needs to be understood and owned, not imposed. So use the opportunity to have an away day, or have a series of practice meetings, to look at your business now, and how you want it to be.

Make this book work for you. Dip into it, read it from beginning to end, do the exercises alone to begin with then photocopy relevant bits as questionnaires for the rest of the practice team. I have marked these exercises to assist you.

For the nurses

For the doctors and manager

For the staff

For the whole team

I have marked common problems and their solutions with

• I have used this bullet point for information only

◦ and this one when there is a question for you.

In this first section, we look at some of the thinking behind business planning, and begin to examine what to include in the business plan for your practice. The planning process is important. If, after completing this book, you do not choose to formally write a business plan, the collective effort involving all the practice team is an education in itself. Without such planning, ideas and visions are woolly and impractical, especially if unshared or not agreed by all parties.

However, if you do produce a document it will give you a solid foundation from which to launch your new ideas – these are more likely to succeed if shared, owned and understood by e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• About the author
• The website
• Acknowledgements
• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Index