Dr Sonali Kinra is our ICS lead for GP Retention. This is her monthly blog series where she gives an insight into her role and more.
As I write my 13th blog I am acutely aware that Nottinghamshire is entering into Tier3 restrictions on Friday 30th October at 00:01. The number of cases within population and workforce continue to rise with massive impact on services across all sectors. Thank you to the entire #TeamGP who continue to work tirelessly through weekends, half term and festive season providing care for their patients during very challenging circumstances. Everyone is feeling close to burn out- please remember to take some time for yourself to recuperate and recharge-there are lots of wellbeing resources on Nottinghamshire LMC
I chaired Primary care Workforce group meeting receiving updates from various stakeholders (Regional team at NHSE, HEE, Federations, Phoenix Programme and Nottinghamshire Alliance Training Hubs. While we have made progress on GPN leadership development and support for clinical pharmacists, progress on New to practice fellowships and other GP retention schemes has been frustratingly slow and I apologise for that. Not all of this has been under our control- it has primarily been linked to the delay in flow of funding and clarity either from the region or through the system and I continue to push for that. I sincerely hope that we will have this resolved as soon as possible.
In better news we are making progress on applications for Trailblazer programme, GP Mentorship scheme and New to Partnership programme- for further information on these please get in touch with Phoenix Programme
I also had the opportunity to celebrate with our nursing colleagues the half way mark of CARE programme. The first half of the programme focused on developing their leadership skills within the team. Nurses have been engaged and active participants and understand self- responsibility. Some of the words used in the feedback after the programmes have been- “confident, fearless, capable, activated, eager and I can make difference”. Thank you to their team leaders and line managers who have facilitated and released nurses from their clinical duties to attend these modules and hope will continue to do so going forward. We also used this as an opportunity to build a networking space for GPN leaders- if you are interested in becoming part of this forum please contact Nottinghamshire Alliance Training Hubs. Also you can now sign up to their monthly newsletter.
I took part in a discussion on flexible working in General practice with colleagues and NHSE- there are various models in place in different parts of the country and due consideration needs to be given to the ever increasing workload and morale of the workforce- more on this later.
To our Practice managers, I appreciate how hard you have been working providing leadership and support to the entire team- Thank You. NHS Digital will be collecting NWRS(National workforce reporting system) submissions on a monthly basis for practices. I would hope that this workload will reduce with time but your assistance in accurate and updated workforce records on NWRS will give us a true picture of our workforce trends.
I attended Modality all partners meeting on a Saturday while baking on the side- fascinating to hear from Nigel Hart Minal Bakhai and Becky Malby- check out Becky’s blogs- especially on asset based approach and purpose As you maybe aware Nottinghamshire ICS held its first Racial Equity and Diversity Symposium in September. Following on from feedback we have worked on an action plan for the system- I have had initial discussion with the Primary care Recovery Cell on this as well as implementation of Local People Plan within primary care and will report back to you in due course. In the meantime if you wish to partake in conversations around Primary care Racial Equity and Diversity please join us on MS Teams – everyone is welcome to join and share how we can support each other and be better allies.
I held a Q and A panel with colleagues of African heritage working in General Practice in Nottingham for Black history month. Watch it here– it was the most honest, courageous and heartening conversations with our current and future leaders sharing their journey, racial discrimination and moving together forward. We wish to continue these conversations every month exploring the diverse heritage within General Practice- please get in touch with me with ideas and if you wish to be part of the planning group. If you wish to read something different but very pertinent read this blog on Reframing imposter phenomenon by Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan. She talks about Testimonial injustice which occurs when the listener discounts the credibility of the speaker’s word due to prejudice about their social identity, and is often associated with gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality or religion
I am a firm believer in informal networks/forum. We have a group of retention/ training hub leads across the country- this allows us to share our challenges, friendly uplifting banter and also raise a collective voice to the powers that be- I could not recommend this enough. Wherever you are in your career or feeling isolated and wish to be part of forums to stay connected and receive support- get in touch with me- I am happy to put you in touch with multiple supportive groups in Nottingham
This Remembrance Day we remember all those who fought and died in the line of duty. We also remember friends, colleagues and our patients who we have unfortunately lost during this pandemic “Lest We Forget”
Life throws challenges and every challenges comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it- Shubh Diwali to everyone celebrating
As always
Sonali
@SonaliKinra