What to do when a member of your PCN team wants to leave ( in 2 weeks!)

Even though you suspect things aren’t right, you resist addressing the situation and hope your team member, who clearly wants to leave, hangs in there for a little while longer.

However, on Monday you receive the email. They’re are leaving. They give you their four weeks’ notice, but they are owed two weeks' holiday and they are currently central to a major piece of work.

While there is no exact way to manage this as every situation is different, I believe the following six measures will help make the transition a little more manageable:

1. Talk to them and ask them why they are leaving. We need to learn from this experience in preparation for the next recruit.

2. Make time for a thorough hand over which involves a written document and an in-person meeting. Rush this, and you will be left with many unanswered questions and miscommunication with your stakeholders.

3. Look to distribute tasks across your current team or you may need to appoint a temp, a locum, an interim manager, or consultant if you're missing technical or specialised knowledge, while you hire a long-term replacement.

4. Communicate the upcoming departure to key stakeholders as soon as possible with a plan of action and newly named point of contact. You don’t want to leave anyone with no one to turn to.

5. Don’t forget about the rest of your team. Losing a team member understandably creates uncertainty and distraction so, where possible, try to provide clarity to keep your project moving in the right direction. Also, keep in close communication with your team and don’t forget to show your appreciation, especially if they are going to be taking on more responsibilities.

6. Hand over and don’t dump. When redistributing responsibilities to a new or existing team member, don’t forget that they will need some training and time to get to grips with things.

7. Take a deep breath and tackle one task at a time.

About the author:

With the experience and expertise of leading 11 Training Hubs, supporting 13 Primary Care Networks and 3 GP Federations, I understand and appreciate the complexity of healthcare and what it takes to deliver projects across multiple practices.

I have taken this experience and created over 200 blogs and practical PCN resources. I’m also the host of the Business of Healthcare Podcast which to date has over 130 episodes to share lessons learned and provide frameworks for you to follow.

If you liked this blog, please check our PCN Resources Page for my practical advice to support the role of the PCN Manager.