I’m a GP Practice Manager - AMA

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My background - I am 40 and previously my whole NHS career has been in Community Services, so I am more of a fresh set of eyes in primary care. I started out as a receptionist many years ago.

I will and do answer telephones when the practice is busy, there is no job I won’t ask my staff to do that I wouldn’t do myself.

I deal with a lot of complaints, mostly about frustration with services and commutation. I can advise you how to make a good, effective complaint and how to get the answer you want from your practice.

There is a new contract change this year, with regard to access. I can answer how GMS operates

I can answer general questions people have about primary care, although I understand all practices are run differently so I might not be able to answer something very specific. I am also not a trained clinician so I can’t answer anything medical.

It's a difficult one as I have a review with a nurse coming up and she was reviewing my blood pressure. I don't want a nurse changing what a cardiologist has prescribed and will ask her for a referral to one if that is the case. While a specialist nurse may be excellent on a specific condition they may well be less so on other conditions. I explained to the same nurse that I suffered from Bile Acid Malabsorption and she dismissed it with a "never heard of it'. It is my belief though that your health is your own responsibility and to be assertive with it. You can get excellent health treatment from the NHS if you push for it and I can see the initiatives that my area have introduced in recent years to try to ease people through the system.