Name: Dr Leslie Borrill
Age: 41
Location: Leicester
Hours worked per week: 55
Year qualified as a GP: 2000
Best thing about the job: Supporting GPs
Worst thing about the job: Having my targets changed frequently
My top tip for clinical leads: Own a tablet PC and have a colour-coded to-do list
I am the clinical lead for the Practice PLC in Leicester but since graduating in 1996, I have worked as a partner, a salaried GP, an out-of-hours doctor and an LMC committee member as well as a prison doctor, but that was only for three months in the Australian outback. I work six sessions clinically but today is an non-clinical day.
6.00am
I like to start my day early and get fifteen minutes of meditation in before checking on the tablet PC for my daily agenda and task list for the day (red and amber). It looks like a busy day with some interesting meetings.
6.30am
Breakfast is my family’s main time together for the day, so I must get it right and on the table for 7.00am. I balance my tablet PC on the work-top to catch-up on the World Service news, whilst I prepare scrambled eggs on toast.
7.45am
I am a podcast addict and again my tablet PC comes into its own. This morning whilst driving to work, it’s Dr Porter and Inside Health. For me, my morning will start with shooting some GP educational videos with local consultants from the acute trust. I arrive with half an hour to spare, so after finding a decent coffee shop, it’s time for a decaf and some free wi-fi to catch-up on emails via my tablet PC: ten already!
9.00am
Shooting video chats with local consultants is not only great fun, but also a great chance to catch-up on local and national guidelines. Before leaving, I check my trusty Blackberry: already up to fifteen emails, two texts and one voicemail!
11.00am
Now it’s time for some comedy, so whilst dashing across town for a locality meeting, I enjoy the ‘Now Show’ podcast. The Leicester locality consists of six surgeries and managing them clinically requires some co-ordination. I don’t do this alone. I have a business manager and locality lead nurse to help with this and we meet every two weeks or so to review progress. Today’s agenda is busy as we need to go over our notes for an NHS England meeting this afternoon and we have a guest coming to talk about new research opportunities.
13.00
Lunch-time is a key time to stop and rest and take a breath - however, I am a GP, so it’s a quick salad whilst catching up with the BBC news podcast and you’ve guessed it, my emails (of which I’m currently faced with 22 unread). The voicemail is from an appraiser with concerns about an appraisal; I call his mobile and offer him support in resolving the issues. One of the emails is a complaint about a clinical issue with a GP. This requires a clinical review of the incident, so the task is added to my list for the day (red list).
14.00
Next, the big meeting of the day with NHS England to discuss key performance indicators across the locality sites. We discuss and debate the challenges of delivering 21st century medicine to inner city practices. Luckily, my next meeting is in the same building. I use my lap-top and a virtual private network (VPN) links me to my surgery’s clinical system. After sending a variety of instant messages to see how everyone back at the ranch is doing, I read through the notes of the GP with the complaint and make my formal report on the incident and my recommendations - one less on the red list.
17.00
The associate appraiser meeting is monthly and this month we get our ‘summer gifts’: a series of appraisal Form 4s to quality check. There goes the next few Saturday evenings… Luckily, this meeting comes with food, so at least dinner is covered.
19.00
There’s little traffic at this time of the day, so a quick drive home and a great chance to unwind to an audio book: ‘A Seaside Practice’. Home at last, just in time for a hot cup of green tea and my 10-year-old’s bedtime story: ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’. Nothing beats Lemony Snicket after a hard day’s work.
20.00
Unfortunately, my work isn’t finished yet, so with my emails now well over 40, it’s back to the laptop and a quick Skype chat via tablet PC with my business manager regarding some tasks. With tomorrow being a clinical day, I need to start the day running, so I log onto my clinical system to clear any outstanding pathology for the day. Before resting genuinely for the night, I make sure the red to-do list is complete and I prepare tomorrow’s red list.
22.00
Now the fun begins: I sit down with my two teenage boys for an episode of ‘The Big-Bang Theory’.
22.30
With the children now asleep, my wife and I have a chance to catch-up on the day’s events.
