Downloads & Links

• Click here to access the Induction Checklist
• Click here to access important protocols and policies for new staff to know

Practice Leads

• Doctors: Ramesh Mehay & Sudhir Krishnan
• Admin: Claire Revitt

Date Reviewed

6th July 2016

Date of Next Review

September 2017

Welcome to our practice.   We hope you like working here.   We feel that Ashcroft Surgery provides an environment for staff in which everyone respects and likes one another – where everyone is treated as equal.   We also feel that we are a relaxed bunch of people with a good sense of humour.  Although it can be stressful here at times, we keep each other going.  We work together (collaboratively) to help each other out without having to be asked.  Most importantly, we feel we have a good positive team spirit, which we hope you will be part of too.  

Please read this page carefully.   There’s a lot of information here and you may wish to read bits of it over the next few days to help you understand and remember it better.   If there is anything that you don’t understand, please speak to a colleague or the Assistant/Practice Manager. 

Induction is the process whereby a new member of the practice team, whether staff or partner, acquires sufficient information, knowledge and skills to work effectively within the practice.

There is no specific legislation relating to inducting new staff other than what is in your Contract of Employment, i.e. all employers are required to behave reasonably, to establish and maintain a relationship of trust and confidence and to provide a safe system of work, complying with health and safety legislation.  The Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 requires employers to provide adequate instruction and training to ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities and the practices and procedures required to ensure the health and safety of themselves and others.

However, induction training is crucial to settling in new members of staff and ensuring that they make a contribution to the work of the practice as quickly as possible.  The practice uses an induction checklist to ensure all necessary items are covered (which also serves as a record of the induction).

Purpose of Induction

The purposes of induction are:-

1. to help the you settle in and stay with the practice;
2. to provide you with an understanding of the practice, the main terms and conditions of employment (including health and safety issues) and an awareness of the roles of other team members.
3. to get the most effective performance from you in the shortest possible time;

This process of assimilation does not happen naturally.  Even the most self-confident people experience some form of anxiety during their first few weeks at work.  This anxiety can be focused on the skills and knowledge needed for the new job but, even more importantly, the interpersonal skills required to fit into the new organisation and establish relationships with others.  Your training and emotional needs need to be addressed through a planned induction training programme.   The Practice Manager will help:

1. determine your training and other needs
2. devise a programme and schedule to meet these needs
3. brief and train you up for the job – and much of this may be delegated to key personnel with special expertise
4. you understand the principles of Confidentiality and  take you through our Health and Safety protocol
5. Esnure a trainer (usually the line manager) and mentor are assigned to you
6. Put as much as possible in writing – for example, pointing you to well-written protocols and procedures to ease you into the practice’s systems
7. Explains the training programme to you; this will help allay anxieties and emphasise the importance with which the practice views the quality work and training and the regard in which it holds its staff.

Our Induction Programme

There are no set rules to designing and delivering an effective induction programme.  The content, method, time period and the “trainer” will depend on what the practice needs, your responsibilities and the position of the job.  Your line manager will oversee the whole induction training programme – some of which may be delivered by him or her but other areas delegated to more appropriately trained staff.   Doctors will be inducted by a fellow doctor within the practice.

The basic needs of all new recruits are a familiarity with:-

• the practice team
• the practice buildings and surroundings
• the main responsibilities and tasks of the job
• the terms and conditions of employment (including issues of confidentiality)
• health and safety issues
• the management style and structure of the practice
• the organisation.

THE PRACTICE TEAM

A new organisation is a bewildering place; meeting 15 or 20 new people on the first day may not be helpful.  New colleagues need to be introduced gradually and a formal introduction to each partner will emphasise the team nature of the practice.  Unless it is a small practice, of fewer than three partners, the Practice Manager will appoint a mentor or “buddy” to ease you into the organisation.  Charging an experienced and friendly member of staff to undertake this task during the first few weeks can ease your anxiety.

THE PRACTICE, BUILDING & SURROUNDINGS

You will be give a tour of the buildings and the location of staff room, toilets and first aid box etc on the first day.  Visits to other organisations (e.g. the pharmacy, the PCT), can be arranged if required and deemed appropriate.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE JOB

Before you have started work with the practice, a training programme will have been developed and written down.  All of the main responsibilities of the job need to be broken down into main tasks, and a schedule of competence and an estimated training period for each new task will hopefully be detailed.  The most appropriate person to undertake this job training will be identified and briefed.  From the recruitment and selection procedure, Your immediate and longer-term training needs will hopefully have been identified from recruitment and induction which will then inform the training programme.  The induction process gives the opportunity to communicate the standards of performance and behaviour the practice expects of its staff.  It’s therefore important that you pay attention and respect the induction period – otherwise you may miss things, adopt bad habits and then be viewed with negative attitudes by existing staff.  We are sure you don’t want this to happen.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 all employers are required to provide the written main terms and conditions of employment to new employees within two calendar months of their commencing employment.  The induction period is the most appropriate time to discuss these terms and conditions in detail – please feel free to raise anything with which you have a concern or isn’t clear.  House rules will also be discussed, including any unwritten rules and common practices.  The more familiar you become with these formal and informal terms, conditions, rules and practices, the quicker you will settle in, become productive and have a nice time.

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES

Health and safety training needs to be addressed throughout an individual’s term with the practice.  During your first few days, however, you will need to become familiar with…

1. emergency procedures;
2. the location of the first aid box;
3. the identity of the practice’s first aider (if applicable);
4. health and safety requirements specific to general practice, for example the disposal and handling of needles (very important for practice cleaning staff), the storage and security of poisons etc.

These topics will be reinforced at a later time, together with a thorough knowledge of the practice’s health and safety policy, and in-house procedures established under COSHH and EU Regulations.   It is not enough for us to simply tell you about these things – you must understand them.   Please let us know if you don’t understand something.   Occasionally  we may check staff understanding around these areas with a simple questionnaire.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PRACTICE

Management styles and structures differ between practices.  The management style of our practice will become apparent to you very early on.  Hopefully, you will soon know the answers to questions like

1. Are all staff treated with respect?
2. Are mistakes tolerated and seen as opportunities to learn?
3. Is work properly delegated, or is it dumped on people?
4. How often do staff meet socially?
5. Do the partners organise social occasions for themselves and staff?

These and other patterns of behaviour and events communicate the style of the practice’s management which we hope you will contribute towards.  The culture of an organisation can also be detected from its policies and procedures and the terms and conditions of employment.  For example, if the practice has developed a training policy statement and devises an annual training programme for all staff which is followed and recorded, the new recruit will hopefully receive the message that this practice treats is staff seriously and professionally, and that personal and professional development is high on the practice’s agenda.   Management structures are not always clear to new members of the practice team.  Try and find out  who is responsible for what and to whom: for example, what is the management relationship between the Practice Manager and the practice nurses?  What is the extent of the GP partners’ involvement in managing the practice nurses?

THE ORGANISATION

It is easy to assume that people entering General Practice have a knowledge of primary healthcare and the NHS.  During your first few weeks, there will hopefully be some discussion around this – things like

• General Practice within the NHS
• its relationships with PCTs/Health Boards
• its relationships with bodies such as the Royal College of General Practices (RCGP), the Local Medical Committee (LMC)
• the independent contractual status of general practitioners.

It’s also important to get an idea of things more specific to our practice like…

• basic information about the practice itself – our staff, the services we provide
• our patient population – types of patients we have, the demographics, the local environment
• the practice’s priorities and future plans.