Our Practice Team and services they provide
**Please note the practice are not responsible for treating dental problems as they are not specialists in this area. Please speak to your dentist or contact 111 if you are not registered with a dentist.**
Our Practice Team
We have five General Practitioners in our Practice, three male Practitioners and two female Practitioners.
Named GP for All patients
From April 2015 all Practices are required to provide patients with a Named / Accountable GP who will have overall responsibility for the care and support that our Practice provides to them. If you would like to know who your Named GP is, please ask the Receptionist. Having a Named GP does not prevent you from seeing any GP in the Practice as you currently do.
We are a Training Practice
This involves fully qualified doctors working in the practice for up to 12 months in order to become GPs.
What are the advantages of this?
Training practices must meet higher standards than ordinary practices. Doctors who train others must have had extra training themselves. Doctors who have recently worked in hospital often bring new ideas and help the practice keep up to date.
Training doctors locally helps to make sure that there are enough GPs in the area.
We have two Nurse Practitioners at the Practice, both female
The Nurse Practitioners deal with minor illness and acute medical problems as well as being responsible for chronic disease management. Many problems which traditionally required the attention of a GP can now be dealt with by one of our highly trained Specialist Nurse Practitioners.
These are experienced nurses who have undergone additional specialist training.
We have three Practice Nurses and three Health Care Assistants
The Nursing team are responsible for Chronic Disease Management including:
- Diabetes
- Asthma
- Coronary Heart Disease
- COPD
The Practice Nurses are also reponsible for:
- Cervical Smears
- Contraceptive Advice and Checks
- Travel Immunizations
- Childhood Immunizations
- Smoking Cessation
The Healthcare Assistants are reponsible for:
- Spirometry
- Carrying out Blood Tests
- ECG’s
- Blood Pressure Checks
- Flu Injections
Primary Care Network Services
Horden Group Practice are part of Easington Central Primary Care Network. This is made up of three Practices, Horden Group Practice, Blackhall and Peterlee Surgery and William Brown Centre. We work together as a Network and try to share some of our Services. Therefore we may sometimes share staff members who work across our Primary Care Network such as Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, First Contact Physiotherapists, Social Prescribing Link Workers, Care Coordinators, First Contact Mental Health Workers and Health and Wellbeing Coaches. You may also be offered an appointment at one of the other Practices in our Network with members of the Network Team. Please click the link below for more information about the roles of the above mentioned staff and the services attached to our Primary Care Network.
Social Prescribing Link Worker and Care Coordinator
Social prescribing provides a 1:1 personalised support service with your Social Prescribing Link Worker (SPLW) who can help you with a wide range of social, emotional and practical needs with a focus on ‘What Matters to You’ helping to improve your mental/physical wellbeing and general health.
Social Prescribing Link Workers can work with patients, linking them up identified support, which can include,
- Benefit and Finances and Housing
- Employment, Training and Education
- Reducing Social Isolation
- General Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Weight Management
- Addictive Behaviours
- Smoking Cessation
- Support to manage long term conditions
- Bereavement
- Or any other current issues, which are non-clinical.
The Care Coordinator works closely with Clinical Teams to offer holistic support to patients as they navigate through referral systems and cancer pathways.
To access the SPLW and Care Coordinator service
Speak to the reception team at your GP practice for further Information or contact me directly via:
Name: Gemma Thompson
Mobile: 07724 895173 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083315442167
Email: [email protected] Website:https://easingtoncentralpcn.gpweb.org.uk/pcn-services
Health and Wellbeing Coach
Our Health and Wellbeing Coach is Michael Williams
The Health and Wellbeing Coach supports patients to help achieve lifestyle changes by setting and working towards goals. They can help with physical and mental health, and can also help to improve outcomes for those with chronic longterm conditions.
First Contact Physiotherapist (FCP)
Our First Contact Physiotherapist is: Victory Okwara
The role of an FCP is to provide direct access to Physiotherapy Services. An FCP can assess and treat new musculoskeletal problems/injuries. They can arrange medications, scans, fit notes and make referrals.
First Contact Mental Health Practitioner
- Our Adult Mental Health Worker is Pearl Cusworth
- Our Child and Young Persons Mental Health Worker is Rebecca Horwood
The First Contact Mental Health Practitioner acts as initial points of contact for adults and children who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health problems including low mood, stress, anxiety and sleep issues.
Nurse Associate
Our Nurse Associate is Gemma Gibson
Nursing Associates work as a vital part of the wider nursing team and this important role helps to bridge care between Healthcare Support Workers and Registered Nurses. The fundamental focus of the role is to deliver care for patients and the public.
You may be given an appointment with our Nurse Associate for ECG, wound care, blood tests and blood pressure checks.
Our Managment Team
Within our Management Team we have:
- Karen our Practice Manager
- Louise our Deputy Practice Manager
Karen is responsible for the overall organisation and administration of the Practice. Louise supports the Partners and the Practice Manager in the smooth running of the Practice. Karen supports the Partners and rest of the management team in the day to day running of the Practice and is the first point of contact for any complaints or suggestions.
Practice Pharmacists
Kayleigh Davison, Jeremy Kwan and Jas Kaur are our Practice Pharmacists, they work with patients on:
- Medication Reviews
- Hospital Discharges
- Chronic Diseases
Our Pharmacists can assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines. Support medicines optimisation and offer reviews to patients and care homes.
Pharmacy Technicians
Our Pharmacy Technicians are Lesley Callaghan and Emily McDonald
A Pharmacy Techician compliments the work of a Pharmacist by applying their pharmaceutical knowledge to audits, and dealing with medication requests from patients and hospital settings.
Other Teams available to our Practice:
- District Nurses
- Macmillan Nurses
- Health Visitors
- Community Midwives
Our Practice Staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as doctors.
Our Practice Staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as doctors.
We also have two Medical Secretaries, twelve Receptionists.
The administration team have an important job and endeavour to deal with your queries, appointments and repeat prescriptions etc as efficiently as possible. They have enquiries and calls coming from every direction, so please be patient.
When telephoning for medical attention, the receptionists may ask for a few details. They have been trained to make these enquiries in order that we can help you in the most appropriate way.
All members of the administration team have completed Information Governance Training/Data Security Awareness Training (this involves training in various aspects of confidentiality and security of patient information and the Data Protection Act.) They have all completed training in Child Protection and CPR.
Our Reception Team are the frontline staff within our Practice and are there to help you. They work very hard, often during very busy times and we request that you treat them with the kindess and respect that they deserve.