Highfield Surgery is a busy N.H.S. general practice providing a comprehensive range of medical services within friendly comfortable and modern purpose-built premises, with a pharmacy attached. We are an 8 doctor practice (3 full-time, 5 part-time) with a patient list size around 10,200. The practice now We have a full time Nurse Practitioner, three part-time practice nurses, one health care assistant and 15 administrative support staff, and an attached Primary Care Mental Health Worker. Our District Nursing team and Health Visitors are housed in Abbey Road clinic which is conveniently situated next door to the surgery. The practice has had a strong training ethos for many years. Dr Kelly was VTS Course Organiser at Preston until 14 months ago, a role now taken by Dr Bennett from this summer. At present because of lack of space we only teach medical students in house one day a week from Liverpool University. Our medical computer system is EMIS and we are 'paper-light', using the computer for all consultations, clinics, message taking and communications within the practice. Last winter we extended our surgery opening hours and we are now open from 8.00am to 8.00pm on Monday to Thursday and from 8.00am to 6.30pm on Fridays. Last year we chased LES funding that has enabled us to offer a full cardiovascular screening service for all our patients aged 45 and over and a full respiratory disease screening service for all our patients aged 40 and over. Blackpool comes near the top of a few league tables for morbidity and mortality - we try to capitalise on new initiatives to address these inequalities. We have introduced extra support for quit smoking attempts, and will be using the improved evening access to address women who have not attended for cervical smears. We are full members of the Blackpool-wide PBC Consortium, prior to which we had embarked on our own individual plan to employ an in-house pharmacist for improved medicines management, and on a repatriation scheme for out-patient follow-ups. Since April this year these have evolved into participation in the district PBC schemes to use pharmacists in all practices and to work on practice specific ways of reducing inappropriate hospital emergency admissions.
The future Despite having a purpose built surgery we have outgrown it and have been seeking to expand or relocate our premises for the last few years; however, our initial project ran aground when the Primary Care Trust (PCT) came into existence. Since then we have been working with the PCT on a large-scale project with three other GP practices on the nearby old South Shore Hospital site on Lytham Road. Progress has been slow, but the developers are now on site and we hope that the new premises will be ready for occupation early in December 2010. This will create new opportunities for collaborative working and learning with other practitioners, which we hope to take full advantage of. We anticipate re-applying for GP training status then too, enabling us to resume participation in the training of GP Registrars and Foundation Doctors. The area If you already live in the area, what more can we tell you? If you are thinking of moving here you are likely to be pleasantly surprised. South Blackpool is a relatively pleasant place to live and work, not particularly posh, but not deprived either. The glitzy life of Blackpool is on your doorstep. If you prefer to be out of the practice area it is possible to live within just 15 minutes travel of the surgery and still be outside the patch. St. Annes and Lytham are lovely places to live, relatively free from holidaymakers, by the sea, with good local shops and a good selection of schools. On the north side of Blackpool Poulton-le-Fylde is a pleasant small market town. Being on the motorway network travel is easy. Manchester with its vibrant commercial and shopping centre and international airport is just over an hour away. London is less than 3 hours by direct rail service. The Ribble valley and Forest of Bowland are on the doorstep and the Lake District an hour up the M6. (cont...)
More about the partners: Dr. Stuart Priestley MB. ChB. MRCP Stuart came into the practice in 1980, succeeding his father who was the highly-respected senior partner in what was then a three man practice for about 11,000 patients. Stuart assures us that he was clever in the past, hence the MRCP. His particular interests in the practice are cardiovascular disease management and prevention for which he jointly developed the practice protocols, prescribing and the in-house pharmacist, and the premises redevelopment project. Medical interests outside the surgery include a session at Pierpoint House drug and alcohol treatment centre. He reduced to half time working last year. Outside work Stuart enjoys keeping fit, travel, good food and educating rugby referees from the touchline. DR Paul Kelly MB. ChB. DRCOG. FRCGP Paul joined the practice in 1983 having vocationally trained locally. He has had a long association with education in the area and was a trainer for many years: his commitment to the improvement of general practice being recognised by his being made a fellow of the RCGP. He was course organiser on the Preston VTS from 2002-2008 as a result of which he reduced his practice commitment to 3/5 time. He now chairs the Consortium of Blackpool practices for Practice Based Commissioning. Paul's particular practice interests currently are finance, PBC, learning disability and respiratory disease. Out of work Paul enjoys good wine, walking in the Lake District, music and reading. He's surprised himself by joining a gym and discovering he enjoys it!
Dr John Inmonger MB. ChB. John joined the practice in 1984, the existing three partners finding 10,000 patients a bit of a struggle. Prior to this he did four years of surgical training in Liverpool and Manchester. His interests within the practice are diabetes, minor surgery, referral management, teaching students and the practice redevelopment project. Outside the practice he works at Pierpoint House, Regency Lodge which is a mental health unit for the seriously ill (all patients are on Mental Health Act sections), is the doctor for the Blackpool lifeboat station, and works doing a session of private GP in Preston. Outside work he enjoys music, playing guitar, travel and reading. He is also the practice delegate to the Glastonbury festival. Dr. Michelle Martin MB. ChB. MRCGP. Michelle joined in 1996 having been a registrar here. She had also been a patient of the practice since birth having grown up in the area. Michelle is a 3/5 time partner with special interests in child health surveillance, palliative care and staff appraisal. She is considering becoming a trainer in the future. Outside the surgery Michelle works at Pierpoint house. Outside work she enjoys faraway travel and music. The births of her two girls have only curtailed the travel bug slightly. Dr. Anne McGuire MB. ChB. DRCOG. DFFP, MRCGP Anne has been a partner since 2002, now working half time. She was with the practice for 3 years before this, working on the retainer scheme and had been a GP in Scotland for 10 years before that. She is married to one of the local consultant physicians and has three children. Her medical interests include family planning, audit and clinical governance. She teaches medical students. Outside work she tries to keep fit and runs a taxi service for her children.
Dr. Stephen Hall BSc. MB. ChB. DCH. MRCGP Steve joined the partnership on April Fool's day 2003. He was in a two-partner practice nearby prior to this but was left single-handed when his partner retired through ill health. Not wishing to remain singlehanded he joined us along with all his patients. He has never been heard to swear despite the intense joy of transferring from Torex to Emis computer systems. It says a great deal about him that hardly any patients left his list during the move. Steve jointly runs the child health surveillance with Michelle and has taught medical students in the past. He works half time. Outside work he is an avid culture vulture addicted to weekends in London. Dr. Anil Madan MB. ChB. DRCOG, MRCGP Anil joined the partnership on June 1st 2005. He was in a practice in Liverpool for 3 years after completing his GP training there in 2001. His parents were GPs in Blackpool, where he was brought up and educated. He's the third "sand grown 'un" in the partnership. He has developed an interest in the mental health work of the practice, and pioneered the practice's involvement at Regency Lodge. He is taking over from Paul responsibility for IT, and supervises prescribing along with Stuart Dr. Dan Bennett M.B Ch.B. DFFP. LoC SDI. MRCGP Dan completed his training in the Preston VTS scheme in 2007, joined the practice in August 2007 and became a full-time partner in October 2008. Dan's main interests are Family Planning, Minor Surgery and Medical Education. At present he teaches Medical Students from Liverpool University and was appointed a VTS Course Organiser 2 months ago. He is planning to become a GP Trainer in the near future. He s also developing expertise in the practice finances to take over from Paul in due course. Outside the practice he also works at Pierpoint House.