Running an effective GP surgery requires a lot of areas of expertise, and this combines the best of key equipment and supplies with compassionate and professional practice. Any GP surgery wanting to operate successfully, and manage its patients in the best possible way, must have certain supplies and equipment to ensure effective running. This guide covers seven must-haves for any GP surgery, so you can always ensure you have everything you need.
1. The Right Medical Clothing
GP surgeries should always kit out their employees with the relevant medical clothing. This could be extensive protective equipment or simply disposable clothing items to use with every patient. For a running practice, you will need disposable items such as gloves, aprons, and masks to ensure cleanliness with every patient. You may also need more extensive PPE, depending on the nature of appointments or treatments.
2. General Protective Equipment
On top of key disposable items for GP workers to wear, you will also need disposable items to use around the examination rooms and perhaps even the waiting area. This could be disposable sheets for examination tables and chairs, for example, to change after every patient.
3. Medical Furniture
Every good GP practice is going to need the right pieces of furniture, whether it’s in the waiting room, reception area, or examination rooms — but particularly the latter!
Medical furniture is essential for thorough examinations and for providing a certain level of healthcare for patients. Medical furniture can help to keep patients comfortable and secure during examinations, as well as provide key features for GP professionals needing to use furniture which can operate in a certain way.
4. Measuring Equipment
A key part of any GP’s job is to be able to measure a patient’s height and weight in line with the reason for their healthcare visit. With this in mind, measuring equipment like scales has always been a key feature of any operating GP’s office.
Having a dependable measuring system in your office means every patient can feel secure that you have the correct general facilities for their visit.
5. Correct Storage
Having the right range of medical equipment and supplies within a GP surgery isn’t enough; you also need to be able to store it correctly and safely. This helps to maintain the integrity of equipment, as well as keeping certain items safe from being easily accessed, which is crucial in a medical environment.
Correct storage could be cases, medical bags, fridges, or storage cupboards, depending on the item and its needs. It’s therefore always a good idea to kit your GP surgery out with the correct storage facilities, whether it’s inside examination rooms, in storage rooms, or in the reception area behind the desk.
6. Blood Pressure Monitor
No GP surgery would be complete without a trusty blood pressure monitor! It’s always good to have one of these on hand in your GP office for each GP in attendance. It’s a fundamental item for your desk or desk drawer.
Patients visiting your surgery need to feel confident that you have the facilities to measure their blood pressure whenever they need it, as this can often be a key part of a patient visit for many different issues or treatments.
7. Reception Essentials
The waiting area and reception area of a GP surgery can often set the tone for your practice experience. Any patient arriving at your GP surgery will be made to feel a certain way based on their experience with your reception and waiting area.
It’s, therefore, a good idea to kit your reception area out with all it needs for a full patient experience. This can be décor elements that help to put patients at ease, such as comfortable seating, sanitising stations, a television, or wall art. You can then ensure that your reception system has everything it needs, too, for efficient operation, like the right computer system and technology.
Closing Thoughts
Browsing an extensive range of GP surgery supplies will ensure that your practice has everything it needs, whenever it needs it. It’s important to always be familiar with what your GP surgery requires in terms of equipment and offering, but also to stay up to date with new equipment.
This is because GP and medical equipment can evolve and change all the time, so always be sure that your GP surgery has everything it needs and stays on top of the latest trends and information regarding relevant medical equipment and the different options out there.
