Workload and Staffing

Policy

Our practice has variable hours to meet the needs of our patients. The levels and skill mix of clinical and administrative staffing are regularly reviewed and feedback is gathered from patient waiting times, staff, and patients themselves.

All staff are appropriately trained and credentialled for their scope of practice. A clinician and nurse certified in advanced cardiac life support are rostered on at all times during the opening hours of the practice. If any clinical staff are absent, their duties and responsibilities are covered by another appropriately trained member of staff.

The medical director, Dr XXX (FRNZCGP, FRNZCUC) delegates responsibility for urgent care clinical management to an appropriately-trained colleague if absent for more than 1 week.

Responsibility

The practice management team assess staffing levels, skill mix, and capacity to cope with demand at management meetings. If any problems are identified, the management team amend staffing levels as needed.

Process

1. The practice management team establishes the staffing levels required for the practice.
2. The nurse manager manages staff rostering for the nurses and organises any temporary short-term cover.
3. The practice manager manages staff rostering for reception, admin staff, and clinicians, organising clinician locums and temporary short-term cover when necessary.
4. The practice management team monitors staffing levels to ensure adequate coverage, taking wait time data and feedback from patients and staff into account. Any concerns are discussed at regular management meetings.

Overload management

The management of patients within the practice is covered under the triage policy.

If patient numbers and waiting time exceed what is acceptable, reception staff advise walk-in patients how long the waiting time is and divert less-urgent patients to later or next-day appointments (on nurse's recommendation). If staff are unable to triage the waiting patients within an acceptable timeframe, an extra nurse assists with triage.

If the volume of patients remains at overload level, the practice management team investigate additional staffing resources.

If the practice will be understaffed due to sickness or other circumstances, see our Business Continuity and Emergency Response plans.