An Overview of Requirements
Welcome to Wellbeing de la vie, where our mission is to empower General Practice (GP) Practice Managers in cultivating a culture of staff wellbeing within their healthcare environments. In today’s dynamic healthcare landscape, prioritising the welfare of our staff is fundamental to delivering exceptional care and fostering a resilient workforce.
As Practice Managers, it’s essential to demonstrate compliance in key areas that directly impact staff wellbeing. These areas include:
- Compliance with Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- Understanding the CQC Quality Statement on Workforce Wellbeing and Enablement
- An Overview of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) Quality Improvement (QI) Module
1. Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 18
Sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled, and experienced persons must be deployed in order to meet the requirements of this Part.
Persons employed by the service provider in the provision of a regulated activity must:
a. Receive such appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisal as is necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform.
b. Be enabled where appropriate to obtain further qualifications appropriate to the work they perform.
c. Where such persons are health care professionals, social workers, or other professionals registered with a health care or social care regulator, be enabled to provide evidence to the regulator in question demonstrating, where it is possible to do so, that they continue to meet the professional standards which are a condition of their ability to practise or a requirement of their role.
2. CQC Quality Statement - Workforce wellbeing and enablement
The CQC Quality Statement on Workforce Wellbeing and Enablement highlights the importance of supporting staff wellbeing and empowerment through a positive work environment, skill development, and work-life balance, ensuring high-quality care and job satisfaction.
Your responsibilities towards your staff based on the CQC requirement for workforce wellbeing and enablement are:
- Ensuring that the wellbeing of your staff is prioritised and promoted.
- Providing necessary resources and facilities for safe working, including regular breaks and rest areas.
- Creating an environment where staff feel comfortable providing feedback, raising concerns, and suggesting improvements.
- Responding promptly and thoughtfully to any feedback or concerns raised by staff.
- Cultivating a culture that normalises good wellbeing through inclusivity, active listening, and open conversations.
- Providing support to staff who may be struggling at work, which positively impacts the care they deliver.
- Offering personalised support that acknowledges the diversity of the workforce and includes both proactive and reactive measures.
- Ensuring that staff feel valued by their leaders and colleagues, fostering a sense of belonging and enabling them to contribute to decision-making processes.
3. Overview of the QI module
General Practice teams are facing extreme pressures, and staff morale is low. In 2022, more than eight out of ten GPs reported experiencing considerable or high pressure from increasing workloads and increased demands from patients, and over a third said they were considering leaving ‘direct patient care’ within five years. The pandemic put further strain on the general practice workforce. This module aims to provide practices with the means and resources to evaluate their staff wellbeing and put practices in place to counter the issues.
The Quality Improvement domain aims to support practices and their staff to improve patient care and quality of life by developing and implementing a quality improvement plan and sharing of learning across their network.
The focus of the indicators is on contractor engagement and participation in quality improvement activity, both in the practice and through sharing of learning across their network.
Practices are expected to undertake quality improvement activity to improve the wellbeing of their practice team.