ABSTRACT
The National Health Service (NHS) Act offers practices new opportunities to develop their business. This chapter looks at some of the thinking behind business planning, and examines what to include in the business plan for practice. Normally, prior to launching a business, the prospective entrepreneur would write a business plan to be issued to their professional advisors. A business plan enables the practice to take a strategic view of events, rather than being reactive. The business plan discussed could still be issued to all the practice’s professional advisors: the bank manager and the accountant. Controllable issues are internal, usually generated by the business owners and the business itself. The manager needs to be actively involved in clinical management. He/she needs to be able to develop and deliver strategically, and manage the general practitioners, helping them clarify where they want to take their business, when and how.
