The Irish College of GPs Managing and Leading a General Practice course is a highly interactive, blended learning programme designed to provide the participant (general practitioners, practice managers and other staff) with management competencies that are relevant and applicable to their everyday practice.
The modular approach provides participants with an option to complete the entire course or to choose specific modules during the year.
General practice operates within a uniquely complex environment, combining continuity of patient centred clinical care with the responsibilities of running a sustainable business. GPs and practice managers must balance competing demands: delivering safe, high quality care to a diverse patient population while ensuring sound governance, financial viability, regulatory compliance and workforce wellbeing.
Managing and Leading a General Practice is designed specifically for the general practice context. The course recognises that management and leadership in general practice are not generic business functions, but are deeply shaped by professional ethics, contractual obligations, and population health needs.
Drawing on evidence based healthcare management principles, the programme equips participants to make informed, transparent and defensible management decisions that support both patient outcomes and business sustainability. Throughout the course, management theory is translated into practical application through general practice specific examples, scenarios and case studies, reflecting the everyday decisions faced by GPs and practice managers.
Each module integrates leadership, governance and operational considerations with the clinical mission of general practice, ensuring participants develop the confidence and capability to lead practices that are both clinically excellent and organisationally robust.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the unique organisational and professional context of general practice, including its financial, contractual and regulatory responsibilities.
- Critically apply evidence based management and leadership principles to decision making within general practice settings.
- Balance the dual responsibilities of patient care and practice viability, recognising how financial, workforce and governance decisions directly influence clinical quality and patient experience.
- Lead and manage multidisciplinary general practice teams effectively, fostering engagement, accountability, performance and wellbeing across clinical and non clinical roles.
- Analyse and respond to common management challenges in general practice, using real world case studies such as staffing pressures, capacity constraints, regulatory change and service development scenarios.
- Implement structured approaches to planning, performance monitoring and quality improvement that align operational management with clinical priorities and continuous improvement.
Strengthen personal leadership capability within the specific cultural and professional environment of general practice, including partnership working and shared leadership models.