Axbridge and Wedmore Medical Practice Houlgate Way Axbridge BS26 2BJ (01934) 732464 Drs Ros King, Matthew Dolman, Ewart Jackson-Voyzey, Jo Cox & Thomas Irvine Practice Manager Mrs. Susan Morgan St. Medard Road Wedmore BS28 4AN (01934) 712774 Summer Newsletter 2014 This short newsletter is written to give patients at our Practice a quick overview of what has been happening here and an insight into what is happening in Somerset and nationally in Healthcare. The Practice The Practice, with its two surgeries, has always considered itself as one team and constantly tries to deliver the highest possible care. We have a great team and many of you will be aware that we have had some changes to this team over the last few months. Retirement, maternity leave and career changes have meant we have had some new faces arrive. Our Senior Nurse, Michele Caraffi retired in December 2013 and we have covered her work with Julia Edwards and Liz Brown. We are still looking to finalise our nursing structure and things are complicated by a shortage of Practice Nurses to recruit from. The shortage of nurses and doctors is a national problem and it makes the appointment of our new GP Partner, Dr Tom Irvine, a really positive achievement for the Practice. Tom arrives to bring the compliment of GP Partners to five, supported by our salaried compliment of Isabel Juttner and Guy Miles. Dr Irvine grew up in Yorkshire and after 5 years studying at Edinburgh and then Glasgow Universities had a first career as a Medical/Scientific Writer in the Pharmaceutical Industry in London for several years. He made the decision to train as a doctor in his late 20s and attended Liverpool Medical School where he also completed the initial phase of his Junior Doctor training. He moved to the West Country in 2008 to undertake his GP specialist training, based in Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, and has been living in Wedmore with his family since then. He became a Partner in a large Practice in Bridgwater in 2011 but welcomed the chance to join our Practice when the opportunity arose earlier this year. He has an interest in paediatrics and orthopaedic medicine and regularly carries out joint injections. He is a keen cyclist and cricket fan, passions he enjoys whenever the demands of fatherhood allow! The Practice has never had dedicated lists of patients matched to GPs but has always valued continuity of care for people. The Government has recently asked that patients over 75 years have a nominated doctor and letters have been sent out with a named doctor to those patients. We have tried to match historic doctor/patient relationships but the fact that no doctor can be available every day, all day, means that patients will have to have a sensible approach to booking with their preferred GPs. In an urgent situation any of our team have the skills to manage you and for routine appointments planning ahead should allow continuity to be optimised. It is nationally recognised that Primary Care (GP Practices and their teams) are in crisis. This is a combination of increasing work load, not enough doctors and underfunding of the service. The graphs below illustrates the national figures. Axbridge and Wedmore Medical Practice Houlgate Way Axbridge BS26 2BJ (01934) 732464 Drs Ros King, Matthew Dolman, Ewart Jackson-Voyzey, Jo Cox & Thomas Irvine Practice Manager Mrs. Susan Morgan St. Medard Road Wedmore BS28 4AN (01934) 712774 There is a current attempt to move money from hospitals into the community but it is a difficult circle to square. There is also a national recognition that supporting people to self-manage their conditions is a priority. We as a Practice will be introducing Care Plans to help patients have a structure to their care and this is a recognised approach to give patients a better understanding of their problems. We will be contacting groups of patients to attend for dedicated Care Planning appointments and these will compliment your usual care and increase your own knowledge, skills and confidence in managing your own condition. Axbridge and Wedmore Medical Practice Houlgate Way Axbridge BS26 2BJ (01934) 732464 Drs Ros King, Matthew Dolman, Ewart Jackson-Voyzey, Jo Cox & Thomas Irvine Practice Manager Mrs. Susan Morgan St. Medard Road Wedmore BS28 4AN (01934) 712774 Working together as a community will help us manage the challenges that we are all living longer with more medical conditions, when there is no extra national money available to give to health or social care. Our community support is very strong. We are fortunate to have a long established Axbridge and Wedmore Health Fund which has collected significant sums of money over the years to help improve the quality of life for people registered with our Practice. They are currently working on a Community Survey to understand where the most opportunity to help exists. Please look out for it and take part. We also have the Axbridge and Wedmore Patient Participation Group (PPG) a group of patient volunteers who work with the Practice to understand how best to support the Practice and Patients in our Community. They are available to sense check how the Practice is doing and to suggest where we might do better. Their job is to promote better healthcare and treatment at the Practice and to link with a county wide network of Patient Groups to share good ideas. There is also a “virtual” patient group that we can use to ask for their opinions. Please look at our website for more information about the Practice www.axbridgewedmoredoctors.co.uk This site also allows you to book appointments on line and we have recently expanded the number of slots available to book on line. We hope you find this update useful and any comments would be welcome. The Practice Team Axbridge and Wedmore Medical Practice
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