General Practice Assistant

Why study this subject?

GP Assistants (GPA) support doctors in the smooth running of their surgery by handling the routine administration and some basic clinical duties enabling the GP to focus on the patient.

It is an interesting and exciting role with the possibility to advance and gain critical skills needed for the smooth operation of GPs, which are a vital part of our community and wider society.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

This course is unique to BNU and developed in cooperation with local partners. With expert lecturers and teaching methods informed by employer needs, BNU can prepare you for your future career and further study if you choose to do so.

With many years of delivering courses in healthcare, interventions, professional practice, we are confident we can help you gain extra insight and confidence as evidenced by many years of successful graduate outcomes in these courses.  

This is a part time, work based course designed to fit in with your current employment and provide some flexibility inline with your schedule.

What facilities can I use?

You will have access to the university facilities as a student of BNU, which entitles you to some benefits, such as access to our 24/7 library with free study space and free laptop loans. We have our AppsAnywhere service which provides you online access to the software you need to complete the course.

As a student of BNU you will have access to our student union, with free trips, societies and events for you to get involved in. We also have support services such as counselling, cost of living support, free laptop loans and CV writing. Our new restaurant serves food with a discounted rate and is only open to students and staff.

What will I study?

This course delivers you the skills, knowledge and competencies expected of a GPA, according to the recommendations in the General practice competency framework. The framework specifies a range of core capabilities expected of the general practice assistant working within general practice/primary care. 

The framework covers 5 domains (2 clinical and 3 non-clinical):

• care certificate (clinical)
• clinical (clinical)
• communications (non-clinical)
• administration (non-clinical)
• managing health records (non-clinical)

Within the domains are a total of 58 core skills or otherwise known as capabilities. The capabilities are numbered for ease of reference; this does not indicate a prescribed process or hierarchy of importance. 

Further guidance to support GP practices and GPAs can be made available, upon request.

How will I be taught and assessed?

To further support GP practices in identifying and reviewing capabilities, specific assessment criteria has also been included in the general practice framework. This will help you to build a portfolio of evidence and demonstrate the required knowledge, skills and behaviours essential to the GPA role. 

Since this is a distance learning course, you can expect to spend a number of hours online, and the rest of the time working. 

This is a work-based, part-time course.

• completion over a 6-month period
• gain a dedicated, named GP mentor who can provide mentorship, guidance and supervision and sign off your submitted work
• a secondary ‘non-clinical’ mentor is possible
• online portal ‘learning assistant’ for working from home or elsewhere
• each learner has one day protected learning time (½ day self-learning, ½ day mentor supervision)
• mandatory evaluation process in the programme for both learner and mentors
• you’ll write up and present evidence for the GP mentor to mark and sign off