Looking After You – primary care coaching case studies

Chris is a Business Manager, managing a small village practice in Hampshire, covering around 10,000 patients in the local community.

Claire Deare is a Practice Manager for a large practice. Many staff members (including Claire) were in the high-risk category and had to work from home during COVID-19, which meant that she found herself trying to run the practice from a completely different location from the rest of the team.

This dental practitioner works in a community dental service. During COVID-19, they took on some elements of leadership and management within the team, requiring accelerated personal and professional development.

Dr Amit Bharkhada is a GP Partner based in North East Leicestershire. As a doctor, there was an underlying apprehension about COVID-19 transmission due to a professional responsibility to see patients.

Michael is a part-time practice-based pharmacist in Leicester. For Michael, the main impact of COVID-19 was the limited face-to-face interaction with other practice staff and patients.

Natascha is a Practice Manager for a practice in Kent. Practice staff still working during COVID-19 were under increased strain from workload in combination with high levels of anxiety regarding transmission risks.

This salaried GP works in a North London practice. The practice had to transform many of their protocols overnight. This was difficult for them, as they were still new at the practice and had not even met some of the patients they were doing their best to deliver care to.

This social prescriber is based in a large GP practice in the North East of England. With an increased anxiety due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, they were concerned that they would become burnt-out which would have implications on patient care.

The GP Partner works in a medium to large Yorkshire practice. Although they have worked at the practice for a number of years, they became a partner in the past 5 years.

The Salaried GP works part-time in rural Cambridgeshire Practice that serves about 13,000 patients in the local community.

The Salaried GP works in a Practice in North Yorkshire for 3 days a week. They have been a GP for over ten years but have worked in their current Practice for 3 years.

Fiona was a senior partner in a GP Practice in the Southeast of England where she had worked for 23 years. Alongside her clinical duties she held additional roles as a GP trainer and a GP Programme Director.

The Paramedic Practitioner has been working in a GP practice in London since Spring 2020. They had previously worked in an urgent care centre and, prior to that, spent six years working with the London Ambulance Service.

The Salaried GP is a newly qualified part-time GP who has been in their current role for 18 months. They work for two days a week at a practice based in West Yorkshire, serving a predominantly rural, low socioeconomic status community.

This Senior Manager works in a strategic management role for three days a week at a practice based in the South-East where they have worked at for over 16 years.

The Salaried GP currently works as a Senior GP with a portfolio career. They work as a salaried GP for two days a week, and as a Clinical Advisor to their local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for one day a week.

The GP locum currently works half days at a practice in the South of England that covers approximately 16,000 patients.

At the time of the coaching the GP was a long-standing GP Partner at a medium sized practice. As a result of the coaching, they decided to stand down from being a GP Partner and work in the practice part-time (solely clinical sessions).

The participant is a Partner in a GP surgery serving fourteen thousand patients. They work part time, typically working four morning sessions per week, amounting to sixteen and a half hours.

The GP Partner works in a practice with ten Partners. The surgery serves twenty-six thousand patients across a small town and its surrounding villages.

Simon is a lead GP in his practice based in Liverpool, and alongside his clinical duties he also represents his practice in his regional Primary Care Network (PCN), which was the ‘team’ he accessed the Looking After Your Team coaching service about.

Katie is a health and wellbeing coach for four GP practices in her local PCN. She started her role early in 2021, just when the pandemic was in the height of the second wave.

Kirsty is a lead advanced clinical practitioner and leads a large team, including paramedics, physician associates and advanced nurse practitioners. She is based in East Yorkshire and works for a GP partnership which cover four GP practices.

The participant is the Lead Practice Nurse (in their terms, ‘the nominal Lead, as that is was the Senior Partner tells me I am’) in a GP practice based in London. They are part of a small team of practice nurses, and they cover respiratory needs and infection control.

Dr K is a GP Partner in a large, busy practice which is comprised of several staff teams. Dr K likened the working of the practice to a ‘big jigsaw’ where ‘it doesn’t matter whether you are central or peripheral to that jigsaw, the puzzle isn’t complete if all the bits are not working together.’

This Midlands-based manager co-ordinates a team of eight Social Prescribing Link Workers. The service provides support to adults who frequently attend GP surgeries or A&E with both clinical and non-clinical needs (e.g., social support, reducing isolation, debt, mental health, housing).

The GP Senior Partner works in a medium sized practice in South East of England. The practice comprises sub teams including GP Partners, salaried GPs, physician associates, nurse and reception and administrative staff.