How will it work

Distribution of funding

A total fund of £45 million is available over the next five years (2016/17 – 2020/21) to go towards the costs of training and backfill for reception and clerical staff. It will be allocated via CCGs each year. Over the full five years, nearly 80 pence per patient will be allocated, on a non-weighted basis, as follows:

Year National fund total Allocated to CCG for practices (amount per patient, non-weighted)
2016-17 £5 m £0.09
2017-18 £10 m £0.18
2018-19 £10 m £0.18
2019-20 £10 m £0.18
2020-21 £10 m £0.18
Total £45 m £0.79

For 2016-17, funding was allocated in September 2016. In subsequent years, funding will be allocated to CCGs on a non-weighted per-patient basis at the beginning of the financial year. CCGs will be required to report how this fund is spent as part of their wider reporting of GP Forward View activity, to ensure that all money intended for supporting general practice reaches general practice.

Criteria for use of this funding

In liaison with their practices and the LMC, CCGs will agree how best to distribute money for practices. Many CCGs are adding their own investment to the fund, as well as working with practices and other CCGs to arrange training in blocks of practices.

This funding is allocated solely for the purpose of supporting the training of reception and clerical staff in GP practices to undertake active signposting and document management, as specified below. Other training needs for clerical and reception staff (for example, customer service, information governance, understanding Read or Snomed codes, safeguarding) remain the responsibility of the employer, and are not covered by this funding.

The funds may be used for any of the following:

  • The cost of purchasing training
  • Backfill costs for practices to cover staff time spent undertaking training
  • Support in kind for practices for planning this change or undertaking training

The training should cover one or both of the following:

Training staff in active signposting for patients

Active signposting requires the receptionist to be skilled and confident in sensitively ascertaining the nature of the patient’s need and exploring with them safe and appropriate options. These options will usually include sources of advice and support outside the practice as well as within, and will often be drawn from a directory of services.

Essential features to look for:

  • Inclusion of a focus on recognising red flag symptoms which require urgent medical attention.
  • Skills development to ensure staff are confident in communicating available options.
  • Opportunities to hear from receptionists already using active signposting.
  • Support for the practice to develop its own directory of services, including the opportunity to learn from other practices’ examples.

Training staff in document management

Correspondence management involves clerical staff coding incoming clinical correspondence, taking actions where appropriate, including forwarding it to another member of the team, or passing the letter to a GP for action if a clinical decision is required. It is a more advanced task than document processing or coding alone. It requires clerical staff to be skilled and confident to make decisions about how to code a letter and its contents in the patient record, how to use an approved protocol for deciding which letters need to be sent to a GP and with what level of urgency, and when to ask for help.

Essential features to look for:

  • Support for the practice to develop its own internal systems including a safe and appropriate protocol to guide staff, a system of supervision (especially for the early stages of implementation) and regular audits of safety and effectiveness. This should include the opportunity to learn from other practices’ examples.
  • Opportunities for practice managers, GPs and staff to hear from others who are already working in this way.

Other training needs for clerical and reception staff (for example, customer service, information governance, understanding Read or Snomed codes, safeguarding) remain the responsibility of the employer, and are not covered by this funding.

The funds may be used for any of the following:

  • The cost of purchasing training
  • Backfill costs for practices to cover staff time spent undertaking training
  • Support in kind for practices for planning this change or undertaking training