? TDA Tips ?

Plan your staff meetings in advance!

Each staff meeting should cover certain topics within the practice.

You always need to discuss:
Complaints - if you haven’t had any complaints; what have patients made comments on or had a little moan about? Keep a little book at reception for comments and ask your receptionists to log them to discuss at your next meeting.

Audits - discuss any completed audits that have been completed in the last month and/or delegate audits to staff. I always ask a more senior staff member to suit with a trainee and complete the IPS audit so they can learn.

Significant events - this can be anything good and bad that has happened within the practice. If you haven’t had any events discuss what could be one and what the protocol is to deal with it e.g. loss of electricity - no details of patients from the computers; daylists printed out the evening before.

Medical scenario - discuss a medical emergency as a practice. Who would do what and when?

Policies - discuss two policies per month and any that may have been updated. E.g. RIDDOR reporting, safeguarding, whistleblowing, duty of candour etc
I love a good quiz to test staff knowledge ?

Dental updates - updates guidelines or medical updates that need discussing e.g. coronavirus, antibiotic prescribing, recalls etc

Practice updates - what you want to discuss regarding the practice moving forward or chances

Staff discussions - what the staff want to discuss. Put up a poster in the staff room a week before your meeting so staff members can jot down what they want might want to discuss as a practice.

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This is something that TDA would really like to help practices with each month. We are planning to start doing this from March ? ... See more

? How to set up your Policies & Procedures ?

At TDA we are personally not a fan of policies in every folder. When you have your inspections and your put on the spot to find a policy it’s going to frazzle your brain.

Simplicity is key. File all your policies A-Z either printed in a folder or on your practice server/cloud. Your staff need to be able to allocate a policy as and when they need it without having to ask you for it.

We are all for policies on the computer. We update them so often or there are changes in staff and roles; that it’s just a waste of paper and ink.

Another good tip is making a front sheet of everyone’s roles in the practice so when you look through a policy and see for example practice owner, practice manager, fire Marshall, first aider, RPS - you know who they are. Also we have an A-Z of all policies in our clients policies folders.

All policies should be reviewed annually and you should date ahead when you are next going to review it (a bit like a sterilising pouch ?)

The only policies we duplicate in folders are the complaints and safeguarding policies.

You should also be discussing your policies regularly at staff meetings; especially if there has been an update ?

New starters are also required to read certain policies: these can be signed off on their induction.

? ... See more

? TDA Tips ?

Staying on top of everything once it’s in place is a nuisance. There’s so much to remember and keep an eye on. ?

That’s why at TDA we love a good tracker! ✅

We have trackers in place for:
- Maintenance / Servicing
- Staff files
- Audits
- Risk assessments
- Practice management

You can control and stay on top of your compliance without even going near the folder and having to look through! They tell you when it was last done and when it’s next due.

You can even print them off and have them up in your office. On my practice management tracker I have a log to check all the above as and when.

If this is something you are interested in please get in contact we are happy to help you ?? ... See more

❗️Simple Compliance System❗️

At TDA we believe that less is more but also simple and effective for your staff to follow.

Below is how we set up our folder system:

? Policies & Procedures ?
These can be kept on your practice server or practice cloud e.g. OneDrive or Gmail; or you can print them out if you wish to. File A-Z

⚠️ Audits & Risk Assessments ⚠️
You can either keep on your computer or in a paper file. Section into 2, add as you complete.

? Maintenance/Servicing ?
All your services filed A-Z. I recommend having this in a folder as most engineers will leave the practice and give you a report/service sheet.

? Health & Safety & Cross Infection ?‍♂‍
This folder is guidance for your staff and any logs that you may complete quarterly or 6 monthly e.g. fire drills, quarterly dipslide testing or MHRA alerts as and when they come in. Your ticklists and logs that you complete daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/bi-annually is your health & safety/cross infection. Again this can be kept on the computer.

❌ COSHH ❌
We recommend keeping all MSDS and COSHH sheets on your server/computer/clouds. This means that staff members have instant access to it.

? Complaints & Safeguarding ?
Hopefully folders that you do not need to reach for too often! These can be kept on the computer or in a folder. You can also put up guidance in your staff areas such as a flowchart and/or safeguarding contacts.

✅ Ticklist & Logs ✅
These can be kept in folders e.g. each surgery, decon room. practice (health & safety checks)

? Staff files ?
Folders or on the computer. Please ensure these are locked away at all times.

☢️ Radiation ☢️
folder and/or computer. Its guidance for your staff and risk assessments, HSE certificate etc

??‍♀‍ GDPR ??
folder or computer. There are so many documents that go into GDPR and we have to update them each time a staff member leaves or joins the practice and when we get new equipment etc

Each week we are going to post a guide to setting up each folder ? ... See more

NHS inspection today!
☘️

? EMERADES & EPIPENS ?

These are not compulsory for your medical emergency kit. They are optional.

CQC/RESUS/GDC guidelines state that you MUST have adrenaline present
- adrenaline/epinephrine injection, adrenaline 1 in 1000, (adrenaline 1 mg/mL as acid tartrate), 1 mL amps

Emerades and epipens are optional but if you are stocking them you must stock all doses.
- Emerades 150mg, 300mg and 500mg
- Epipens Adult and Jnr

Adrenaline must always be in your medical emegency kit. If you ever need to use your pens then you must follow up every 10 minutes with adrenaline until an ambulance arrives. Always ensure you have 5 ampoules present in your kit.

? Tip ?
For adrenaline that has expired you could use it at your next staff meeting to practice drawing it up. ... See more

✨ TDA Tips ✨

If your struggling with mop storage for environmental cleaning this may be the solution for you.

We recommend using a steam mop with a removable cloth head. You can purchase 12 reusable (washing machine friendly) cloths heads and rotate them each week. This means that the steam mop body can be stored upright and you just need 4 hooks to store the cloths.

If you are storing mops and buckets please ensure the said mop is hanging upside down above it’s adjacent bucket.

A brilliant steam mop is the Shark Klik n Flip; it literally heats up within 30 seconds and is good to go! ... See more