Shaun Chadwick

A resident of the city of Leicester in the United Kingdom, Shaun Chadwick is the Senior Managing Partner of General Practice Solutions, a support network for healthcare practices. The company, which is considered a one-stop shop for general medical practice support, strives to provide the highest level of professional expertise to resolve a variety of issues faced by general practice providers throughout the United Kingdom. General Practice Solutions is proud of the reputation it has earned for versatility and adapting to the needs of its clients whatever they may be, and supporting primary care networks of all sizes, all the while strategically optimizing operations.

At the age of 14, Shaun Chadwick began a village newsletter to keep elderly and isolated community members informed of local events. The next year, at 15, he led a conservation group aimed at restoring a derelict park in order to provide a much-needed amenity to his community, specifically to those same elderly and isolated members, as well as indigenous wildlife. When he was 18 years old, Shaun enrolled in De Montfort University, choosing to major in Nursing Studies. He excelled in the subject, completing a placement in Palliative Care. Later, he transferred his credits to Healthcare and Business Management. By age 23, he had become a Practice Manager and gained recognition across the local health economy, receiving offers from multiple organizations. In 2015, Shaun became a Specialist Advisor for the Care Quality Commission, assisting in over 350 primary medical service inspections.

In early 2020, Shaun Chadwick purchased a medical center, gaining, among other things, genuine insight into the laws that govern general medical practices. He learned that these practices are expected to comply with the same regulations as exceptionally large corporations, and that the funds required to stay in compliance make it difficult for a practitioner to thrive from a business standpoint. After recognizing this issue, Shaun was inspired to provide solutions to assist general practitioners across the United Kingdom. From that point on, he made sure that General Practice Solution’s roster of clients had access to specialists, directorates, and departments at a fraction of their former cost, which is possible because the company operates at an economy of scale.

Shaun Chadwick remains actively involved in his community and local fundraising events, much in the same way he did when he was a teenager. He is also currently learning to fly, and in the process of obtaining his light aircraft pilot’s license. When not working, Shaun enjoys traveling the world and playing tennis to relieve stress.

What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?

I wake up, make myself some breakfast, and look at my diary, which contains all the appointments, meetings, and tasks I have set up for each day. I review all the things that I have to accomplish, as well as the meetings I have to attend, and then I will start working and not stop until everything has been done on my list. Of course, there are also times when I can’t quite get to everything and I have to add a reminder to my calendar to go back and revisit items at a later date.

How do you bring ideas to life?

When I first began my company, I developed a comprehensive business plan which is regularly reviewed, and I routinely collaborate with my regional directors to track our progress on that plan and discuss new strategies. We sit down on a weekly basis and discuss our progress for each client. We discuss how to deliver the best services, what we’re already doing well, and which areas might need improvement. Once we’ve identified any problem areas, we brainstorm solutions, and if one or two ideas seem feasible, we do our best to take them out of the conceptual stage and bring them into reality.

What’s one trend that excites you?

A trend that excites me is making our business successful and making our clients happy. When we do that, it makes it easier for them to treat their patients, keeping them happy, as well. I enjoy watching that process unfold. When our clients approach us, they’re usually struggling, whether it be in a financial sense, a regulatory sense, or a legal sense, but after we consult with them, come up with a workable plan, and then apply it, they always emerge far better off. I love seeing the end result of how they have come through their struggles and positively developed their practices with the aid and direction of General Practice Solutions.

What is one habit that helps you be productive?

A habit of mine that keeps me productive is my reliance on my iPad. I don’t try to store every piece of information I encounter up in my head, and I do not use sticky notes. Instead, everything goes on to my iPad. This habit makes me more productive because it frees up space in my mind to better concentrate on solving issues and developing strategies, rather than remembering appointments, statistics, or other data which can be easily stored and referenced later.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell my younger self to be realistic with my own expectations and to give myself more realistic deadlines, rather than wanting to jump ahead to the end result as quickly as possible.

Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?

Working hard and treating people with respect can still get you ahead in this world.

What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?

Personally, I would recommend not putting too much pressure on yourself to remember everything all the time. It’s a recipe for slip-ups, as well as unnecessary stress. Instead, I wholly recommend that people rely on technology in this respect, as well as your team.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

When I feel overwhelmed or unfocused, I usually go for a walk to break up the day and gather my thoughts. After that, feeling refreshed, I return to the business plan that we have already established, and then reference that—or, if need be, alter it—to achieve our goals.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?

My strategy is best summed with the words, “Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be.” As an example, with my previous business, which was a general practitioner surgery that I owned, we advertised, we tweeted, and we were focused on social media as a means of augmenting our communications with patients. They absolutely loved it! Particularly through the duration of the pandemic, our patients were grateful for the additional connections to us. We were able to engage with them—we even held befriending events. When the pandemic hit, we would hold Zoom meetings with elderly people who were isolating and hadn’t really seen anyone, including their families, for quite some time. We did a lot of work that was outside of our remit, and we kept our patients well-informed.

What is one failure in your career,  how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?

In the past, during the hiring process, I used to interview job candidates with standard, traditional questions. However, as time passed, I improved my interview process. These days, I no longer tend to just ask professional questions, I also like to ask potential team members what they do on their own time. For example, how do they relax after a long day? What hobbies do they enjoy? Doing this, I find I learn much more about the person, as opposed to the structured responses that you generally get from structured questions. So, I’ve grown to see the value of getting to know candidates on something of a personal level, and I think that has helped me gain better insight into them as people, and increased my ability to determine who would be a good fit for my team.

What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?

The other day I opened up my wallet and I saw a huge number of paper receipts in there. That gave me a brilliant idea. I thought to myself, “There must be a gap in the market where perhaps someone could create a card for receipts.” Rather than carrying around paper receipts or having to provide your email over the counter at shops, you could just pop all receipts onto a card. So, not only would that be good for the environment and cut down on excessive use of paper, it would also be a lot more convenient, as well as safer to store. I think we’ve all experienced a situation where we’ve purchased something but lost the receipt and, as a result, have not been able to return an item.

What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

My productivity is fully dependent on my digital calendar. I rely on it each and every day. For instance, say I have a deadline in four weeks, then I will add a prompt in my diary in three weeks just to remind myself that the actual deadline is coming up. I wouldn’t be able to cope without my digital calendar.

Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?

It is important to me to stay informed and on the leading edge of industry news. Professionally, I always read medical journals, and Pulse magazine. They’re all available online, which is handy. I read them to keep up with changing business guidelines, changing clinical guidelines, and just generally to keep myself apprised with industry changes of all sorts.

What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?

I recently watched the series Snowpiercer on Netflix. It was a very unrealistic TV program about people living on a train as the world descends into a new ice age. It was all about survival. The reason I enjoyed it was because it is so unrealistic. It’s really good mindless entertainment. I find watching that particular show to be a wonderful way to wind down, not have to think too hard, and just chill out.

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