You don’t always have to see your GP if you have a health concern.  There are a number of other healthcare professionals working within your GP practice who may be better placed to give you the medical care you need.  You can find out a bit more about these different roles and how they can help you below.

When calling the practice our receptionists / care navigators may ask you for a few details – please don’t worry, they are not being nosey, and your information is strictly confidential.  They just need a bit more information to get you the right help from the right person.

Extended healthcare teams allow GPs to utilise their time more effectively.  By ensuring that patients see the most appropriate professional within the primary care setting, GPs can focus on those patients who most urgently need their care.  Our care navigators will help guide you to the most appropriate care as soon as possible when booking an appointment.

Here we have listed the roles now available at the practice.

We have two Advanced Nurse Practitioners at the practice. The ANPs are highly trained specialist nurses who have undertaken additional education in order to provide advanced nursing care and prescribe where appropriate.

The ANPs can provide treatment and advice for many problems for which you may have seen a doctor in the past. Their main areas of expertise are in the management of common illnesses and long-term conditions. 

The ANPs can assess and examine you, make a diagnosis and provide advice and treatment including prescriptions and sicknotes if required. They can make referrals to hospital doctors or other health care professionals and admit patients into hospital where necessary. 

The ANPs work closely with the GPs and liaise with them about your care when appropriate.

Our ANPs our Julie and Jackie.

Nurse Prescribers / Nurse Managers

Kayle and Jess specialise in minor illness and long term conditions management.

The role of a Practice Nurse is very varied and includes:

• Triage of minor illnesses (Urinary tract infections, Rashes, Earache for example) 
• Management of long-term conditions such as diabetes, COPD and Asthma
• Carrying out examinations, investigatory and therapeutic procedures
• Minor and complex wound care including leg ulcers. 
• Travel health advice and vaccinations. 
• Childhood vaccinations 
• Cervical smears 

The nursing team are, Lesley, Gail, Julie, Sophie, Liz and Jackie.

Healthcare Assistants are trained to undertake specific clinical procedures including:

• Blood tests
• Blood pressure readings
• Urine tests
• Weight and height recording
• Certain immunisations and injections
• Health promotion
• New patient checks
• Wound care and assessment of leg circulation
• Health checks on patients with long term conditions

The Healthcare team are Nita, Marie, Katie, Marie, Sharon and Lucy.

Clinical Pharmacists provide support to the GPs and general practice staff with regard to prescriptions, prescribing and all medication management. They can help by supporting the repeat prescribing system, dealing with acute prescription requests and medication reviews.

The Pharmacists working in the practice are Gill, Rachel and Engy.

Pharmacy Technicians

Pharmacy technicians support the safe, effective, and efficient systems for medicines optimisation, repeat prescribing, reducing medicine waste, monitoring patients on high-risk medication ensuring tests (mainly blood tests) are carried out regularly, helping with supply issues, and medicines audits. 

The Pharmacy technicians working in the practice are, Andrea, Tina, Sian and Chloe.

The frailty team provide Proactive / anticipatory care and management of patients with complex needs, who have high numbers of GP, A&E appointments, and unplanned admissions to hospital. The team support people living with frailty who need more proactive personalised care. The team involves patients and carers in identifying health outcomes and in decision making processes around how to achieve those outcomes and provide support to self-manage complex needs. The team aims to provide targeted interventions over an approximately 6-week period to integrate care and support, reduce emergency contacts and keep patients living well at home.

The frailty team also liaise closely with the practices allocated care homes.  They provide a weekly ‘ward round’ at Thorndene and Town Moor House which involves meeting with the care home team, discussing any concerns they may have about patients, assessing the patients and providing any care they need themselves or liaising with other care services and the GPs. 

Our Frailty Nurses are Michelle and Becky.

Musculoskeletal practitioners have the advanced skills necessary to assess, diagnose and recommend appropriate treatment for musculoskeletal problems (muscle, bone and joint pain).  They can refer for blood tests, mri scans and x-rays, provide sick/fit notes, liaise with the GPs to prescribe where appropriate, or refer for further care, on your first contact with healthcare services. 

The FCPs for the practice are Lauren, Anam and Navaneeth.

Mental Health Practitioner

MHPs are trained to assess and support adults with common mental health problems, principally anxiety disorders and depression, in the management of their recovery.

The MHPs for the practice are Elouise and Rianna 

Dietician

Provides specialist dietetics advice to address for example diabetes (type 1 & 2), and weight management.

The dietician for the practice is Morag. 

The appointments provided by these professionals can be booked directly by the Practices care navigators, you will generally not need to see a doctor first. The appointments are often quicker than a GP appointment and offer the right treatment by the right person sooner.