We are excited to announce the launch of a new, remotely delivered, Medical/GP Assistant (MA) Training Programme starting in Autumn 2021 for Practices or PCNs across NEL. 
Dear NEL Practices & PCNs,

The MA training programme is an opportunity to invest in, support and further develop enthusiastic members of your existing administrative/reception team and also help reduce the administrative burden placed on clinicians, managers and/or practices in a busy and complex Primary Care landscape.

Please share this information with the senior leadership teams (both clinicians and managers) in your practices/PCNs and any staff members in your team who may be suitable or interested.

The aim of this training is to help equip your administrators with a range of more flexible skills,  a broader knowledge base and a greater degree of insight, confidence and capability to meet the ever-changing demands and complexities of Primary Care so that they can help safely drive non-clinical work away from clinicians and/or support Managers.

Historically training offered to administrators and receptionists has at times been piecemeal, reductive and focused on a narrow range of topic areas, rarely helping them make sense of or deal with  the complexity, uncertainty and change in busy day to day situations.

Administrators are increasingly being expected to step up and into new roles and responsibilities without adequate attention to developing their core skills, attributes or knowledge. Additionally some practices/PCNS struggle to retain enthusiastic team members through the lack of opportunities to invest in their development or broaden their role.

This programme is delivered by experienced Primary Care clinicians and senior educators and is intended to train administrative colleagues in a way that is more in keeping with the complexity and reality of Primary Care. It also aligns with the wider workforce diversification, development and resilience agendas in Primary Care

NEXT STEPs
1. Please read the below flyer with further information & share with others in your practice/PCN:

• Doc 1.1 Course Info has details on background, Attended audience
• Doc 1.2 Shows competencies and programme Schedule

2. Attend the lunchtime Q&A/launch session on Weds 16th June 1-2pm with the lead Course Tutor to get a better idea of what the course involves and ask any questions. This session is open to anyone interested to find out more- including those considering the course, mentors, managers and lead clinicians

3. Following on from the launch, we will be writing out to everyone with a formal application process.

To book your place onto the lunchtime Q&A/Launch session for the NEL MA Programme on Weds 16th June at 1pm CLICK HERE.

Once registered, we will follow this with a calendar invite and email with log in details.

We realise this is a lot of information to absorb so if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Zehra Safdar – zehra.safdar@nhs.net. If you have any particular queries we are very happy to initiate a conversation with the course tutors.

Kind Regards,
NEL Training Hubs