Improving Resilience
Core Team
The Core Team founded General Practice Supporters Limited to provide support for improving the resilience of General Practice. Our team comprises 2 General Practitioners, 2 Practice Managers and 1 Operations Manager. We are all experienced in working within General Practice and supporting Practices. Between us, we have over 100 years of NHS experience. We are passionate about the NHS and in particular General Practice. It is not easy providing primary care services and Practices have barely enough staff to maintain services, let alone work on improvement projects. That is our raison d'etre; helping to improve General Practice and in so doing become more resilient.
The Difference that Makes the Difference
Each of us brings different strengths to the team and we use those strengths to good effect. For example, when we provide practice management support we do not just put one person in the Practice for the role. We interchange depending on where the focus needs to be. If it's finance, pensions, or income then Carolyn would help. The following week we may need to focus on strategy, structure and efficiency and so Colin would take the role. When we need to look at reception, workflow and rotas then Vicki would take over. When we look at coding, consultation structure and clinical delivery then Catherine or Dhani would step in
In addition to our Core Team, we have a number of Associates who work with us. We have GPs, Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists and Practice Management / Administrative support. The company also works with 2 trusted locum agencies. The largest project we have delivered comprised of 7 GPs, 6 Clinical Pharmacists, 3 Nurses, 1 Operations Manager, 1 Practice Manager and 2 Administrators. We take pride that we can find resources.
Profiles of Core Team Members
Colin Wilson - Strategic Operational Consultant
BSc(Hons); C.Eng; MIET; FISM
Colin is an experienced and multi-skilled Manager. He is able to determine what needs doing, then design how to do it, and then get it done. Colin’s mix of customer-facing, NHS, finance and operational skills is a unique combination developed over many years.
Colin has been a Practice Manager of a Practice as small as 4,000 patients and the largest was a multi-site Practice with 23,000 patients. He has been a PCN board member and has been managing special primary care projects for, what was Clinical Commissioning Groups. He has also worked with over 20 Secondary Care Trusts. With his NHS work, Colin has worked extensively with the CQC as well as the Performers List Regulator and the NHS Fraud Team.
Prior to working in General Practice, Colin has worked in a number of different industries such as engineering, aerospace, nuclear, pharmaceutical, chemical, mining, tobacco, broadcasting, outsourcing, food, brewing, information technology, telecoms, software, consulting, local government, central government, military and healthcare.
During his career, Colin has consulted with some of the largest organisations in the world such as Rhone Poulenc, Pfizer, Glaxo Smith Kline, South African Breweries, National Chemical products, Ministry of Defence, Dell, Apple, British American Tobacco, Huawei, Samsung, BBC, British Telecom, Kraft General Foods and Bass Breweries.
Colin has been the General Manager of an American software company in South Africa. He’s been the Global VP of Sales for the world leader in digital dictation solutions to healthcare. He was also a management consultant with KPMG. He’s worked in Sweden, America, Canada, South Africa, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands & Belgium. In terms of regulators, he’s worked with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Medical Devices Directive, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, The Food Standards Agency, Nuclear Regulation Authority and the British Standards Institution to name just a few.
The largest project within General Practice that Colin has led lasted over 2 years and Colin assembled a team of 6 GPs, 6 Clinical Pharmacists, 3 Nurses, a Clinical Lead, an Operations Manager and 2 Administrators.
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Dr Catherine Bayliss - Clinical Operational Consultant
BM DCH DRCOG DFSRH MRCGP
Dr Bayliss graduated from The University of Southampton Medical School in 2000 and completed her GP training in North Hampshire in 2004, passing both her JCPTGP certificate and her (optional at that time) MRCGP that year. She went straight into Partnership in a Basingstoke practice where she worked for 12 years. During that time she covered various leadership roles including Nursing and Staff lead, Practice Based Commissioning Lead, Retainer GP supervisor, Safeguarding lead and Managing/Business Partner.
In 2016 Dr Bayliss left Partnership to explore a new portfolio of work and this involved working as a locum GP and also as Governance Lead for the North Hampshire Alliance which was the GP Federation in Basingstoke. During her time there she co-wrote the successful bid for the NHSE pilot for the Clinical Pharmacy project and was the mentor for the lead Pharmacist overseeing the team. She also authored the review for the Board structure document which led to the re-structuring of the Board in 2018. She was also the CQC Nominated Individual for the Federation.
In 2018, Wessex LMC set up a GP supporter scheme which ran until 2021. This involved going in and supporting practices that had approached the LMC for support. She supported practices throughout the Wessex LMC area and this work kindled her passion for supporting Primary Care in this way.
Most recently, from March 2021 to January 2023, Dr Bayliss worked as part of a team of GPs, Clinical Pharmacists, Nurses, HCAs, Administrators and Management who were tasked with addressing the Section 31 CQC conditions that had been imposed on the partnership of a Hampshire Practice. She was brought in by the Project Lead, Colin Wilson, as the Clinical Lead for the project. The Team addressed the safety concerns of the CQC by reviewing and updating the care of 5,500 patients. She co-authored the subsequent report and several of the processes/protocols that were used during the project.
Carolyn Hill - Finance Operational Consultant
Carolyn has over 25 years of experience as a Practice Manager and over 20 years as a partner. She has been with the same Practice throughout that time. Every year she has increased both revenue and profits. The Practice accountants state that the Practice is a consistently high-earning Practice. They also have one of the largest workforces for their size of Practice. Carolyn also manages the PCN finance function.
Carolyn has in-depth knowledge of running a Practice. She enjoys all aspects of finance, income generation, procurement and partner-owned property. GP pensions and working with PCSE are second nature. She finds and understands where every penny of the claims are made - FP34, QOF, DES, LES. As the Practice Manager, she runs the finance function including the payroll. She is very adept at checking all income statements and will know if the CQRS extraction has not captured all patients and will drill down via the Enquiry Manager in EMIS to fix the problem. Carolyn is also very focused on coding for income claiming and ensures her team fully understands the codes and their application.
Having Carolyn complete a finance audit will pay dividends. She finds missing income, income opportunities, pension issues and procurement overspending.
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Dr Dhani Virik - Clinical Operational Consultant
BMBS BSc MRCGP (2017)
Dhani is a General Practitioner with primary care experience across a wide range of demographics and populations. He has a strong focus on quality improvement within primary care, with an award-winning background in this area and has progressed to working on projects alongside Clinical Commissioning Groups(Integrated Care Boards).
Dhani is experienced at looking at clinical processes and how these can be improved and is enthusiastic about utilising technology to help ease the workload of clinicians whilst improving patient care. He is a strong advocate for the role of primary care within the NHS but also for the need for resilience and sustainability of its workforce.
Most recently, from June 2021 to December 2022, Dhani worked as part of a team of GPs, Clinical Pharmacists, Nurses, HCAs, Administrators and Management who were tasked with addressing the Section 31 CQC conditions that had been imposed on the partnership of a Hampshire Practice. The Team addressed the safety concerns of the CQC by reviewing and updating the care of 5,500 patients. He contributed to the subsequent report and several of the processes/protocols that were used during the project.
Vicki Dennison - Practice Operational Consultant
Vicki has worked in General Practice since 2003 starting as a Medical Receptionist/Medical Secretary and learning all areas of General Practice including scanning, workflow, IT, QOF and finally Operational Management. While working at the Practice, she completed her Practice Managers Diploma and became the Deputy Practice /Operations Manager. The Practice joined forces with 2 other Practices which was similar to a PCN. The 3 Practices subsequently became a PCN. Working closely with the PCN when Covid started she became the Health & Safety lead for all three Practices putting in procedures to keep both staff and patients safe.
Vicki left her role there in 2021 to relocate to Devon but the Covid Pandemic put a halt on the move and Vicki started working with Colin Wilson helping a Practice which had CQC Section 31 conditions. The Partner of this practice had planned to hand back the contract and Colin and Vicki then began the process of closing the Practice and relocating the patients to neighbouring Practices with the aid of the CCG. After the project was completed, Vicki, moved to her next project which also involved a Practice with CQC Section 31 Conditions. She was asked to take the role of Operations Manager of a Team of GPs, Clinicians and Admin who were working on a project. This was a large project which involved putting 5,500 patients through a process of making sure they had received all the correct medical care and treatment.
During this time, Vicki has found a great passion for helping develop processes and fixing practices. Reception is the first point of contact in a Practice for the patients and getting this area right makes such a difference to the patient journey and equally helps the clinicians.
Outside of work, Vicki's main passions are her two horses and her two White Swiss Shepherd dogs whom she spends time with having fun and showing.
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