‘The best care from the right person in the right timeframe’

Tel: 01635 917917

Website: www.strawberryhillmedicalcentre.co.uk

Our General Practitioners:

• Dr Abid Irfan MB ChB MRCGP (Leicester 1995)
• Dr Angus Whitfield MA BMBch MRCS MRCGP (Oxford 2000)
• Dr Anne-marie Faulkner MB. BS. MRCGP (London 1997)
• Dr Ben Loxton-Edwards MB BS 2002 (University of London)
• Dr Emily McCullagh MB ChB. Mrcp. MRCGP. DFFP (Bristol 2000)
• Dr Graham Stiff MBBS BSc MRCGP DPM (Cardiff)
• Dr Imogen Caffery MB ChB MRCGP DRCOG (Manchester)
• Dr Stephanie Fernandes MB ChB (Liverpool 2011)
• Dr Zaid Al-Nakeeb MB. ChB. MRES. MRCGP (Manchester 2012)
• Dr Alice Waldock BMBS, BSc, DRCOG, MRCGP (Brighton and Sussex Medical School 2010)
• Dr Laurence Chacksfield (M)BSc, MBBS, DRCOG, MRCGP (University of London 2017)

Our Nurses

• Anthea S – Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Practice Nurse RGN and Nurse Team Lead
• Caroline C – Practice Nurse
• Hasina H – Practice Nurse
• Katie S-H – Practice Nurse
• Catherine M – Nurse Associate Trainee
• Zoe D – Nurse Associate Trainee
• Kelly W – Health Care Assistant

Our Physician Associates

• Catherine B – Physician Associate
• Jasmine S – Physician Associate
• Lauren S – Physician Associate
• Simran W – Physician Associate

Other Clinical Staff

• Terri P – Social Prescriber
• Olga K – Clinical Pharmacist

Our Management Team

• Louisa W – Practice Manager
• Sabrina M – Deputy Practice Manager
• Tessa M – Finance Manager
• Charlotte R – Manager: Patient Care Adviser Team

Pharmacy First

Local Pharmacies can now prescribe antibiotics and other prescriptions for some conditions, including Shingles, Ear Infections, Infected Insect Bites, UTI, Impetigo, Acute Sore Throat, Acute Sinusitis. These consultations will be sent to the surgery and added to your medical record.

Practice Opening Times and Clinics

The surgery is open Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 18:30. We have appointments available at different times throughout the day to accommodate patients needs. We have 24 Clinical Staff who are skilled in different areas. The Patient Care Adviser who answers the phone will ask you questions to determine the most suitable person to book you with. This could be someone in the lists above or you may be asked to consult with a pharmacist.

Our surgery building is modern, spacious, and easy for all users to access, including the disabled. We do our best to provide good clinical practice and up to date treatment to all our patients in a pleasant environment.

CCTV

The surgery has CCTV installed for the purpose of staff, patient, and premises security. We cannot disclose CCTV footage to patients or the public for confidentiality reasons.

Registering with the practice

We register all patients who are in our catchment/boundary. We are unable to register patients who are not in our catchment.

Register with a GP surgery (gp-registration.nhs.uk)

Training Practice

We are a training practice and Dr Stiff is our GP Trainer overseeing any students. We will often have a GP Registrar from a hospital in the surgery gaining experience to become a family doctor. Registrars are qualified doctors spending time here to gain knowledge in practising in General Practice.

If the surgery is closed

In the event of needing medical care/advice out of hours please contact NHS 111 by either calling 111 or accessing their website at www.nhs.uk In an emergency, please dial 999.

Nearest Walk in Centre

Reading Walk-In Health Centre
1st Floor, 103-105 Broad Street Mall, Reading, RG1 7QA
Tel: 0118 902 8300

Named Accountable GP

On registration patients are allocated a named accountable GP. This GP is responsible for the coordination and delivery of all appropriate care.

Our Nursing and PCN Teams

Our nurses work closely with the doctors to provide a wide range of services. The nurses facilitate the immunisation clinics, annual chronic disease reviews, blood pressure checks, contraceptive advice and many more treatment room duties.

Our PCN Team are there to support our patients with aspects of their care either clinical or non-clinical. Our social prescriber supports patients struggling with day-to-day tasks of any sort; this may be joining the gym to anxiety over leaving the house whilst our care-coordinator builds relationships with our housebound patients by regularly keeping in touch. Our pharmacist, physician associates and nurse associate are seeing patients along side the clinical team daily.

Patients diagnosed with Chronic Diseases

Patients diagnosed with long term illness such as Asthma, Diabetes, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) are monitored annually and will be invited in for review with one of the nurses.

Appointment System

To request an appointment please telephone our Patient Care Advisers on 01635 917917. They have been trained by your GP to ask you a few questions regarding your condition or question and then to book you the most suitable appointment. This could be with your GP or a Pharmacist, a Nurse, a Physician Associate, a Mental Health Practitioner or a Social Prescriber. They can also send your GP an administration request if your query is regarding a prescription, referral or health information or you need to request a Fit/Sick/Med3 note.

The phones are open from 08:00 to 18:30. Please telephone after 10:30 for a routine appointment. GP routine appointments are 10 minutes. Other appointments may be longer.

If you feel that you need an appointment the same day, for an urgent medical reason, please let the Patient Care Adviser know and they can book you a 5 minute urgent appointment with a GP for later that day. Please call before 2pm if possible if you require a same day urgent appointment.

If it’s an emergency, dial 999.

If you have a minor injury, telephone West Berkshire Community Hospital on 01635 273300.

For general advice call 111.

Routine nurse appointments can be made by telephoning the surgery or by an online request.

Home Visits

To request a home visit please contact the surgery before 10:30. Home visits are at the discretion of the doctors, so please give as much detail as possible when making the request.

Telephone/Video Consultations

Some consultations are held over the phone or by video. Your doctor will only do this if it is appropriate for your condition/symptoms. These consultations are not recorded. If a clinician would like to record the call for training purposes, you will be asked for consent before any recording is started. You are under no obligation, and it will not affect your treatment if you chose not to participate.

Chaperones

If you would like a chaperone present during your consultation, please let a receptionist know and this will be accommodated.

Attending late for your appointment

Our appointments are always full therefore if you arrive late, it may not be possible for you to be seen. If this occurs our reception team will rebook the appointment for you.

Using the NHS App to view your medical record

The easiest way to see your medical records, order repeat prescriptions, check your immunisations and see your test results is by using the NHS App. You will find this in your App store. You will still be able to contact the surgery by phone or at the front desk, but using the App will be more convenient for you once you have set it up.

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

We have an active PPG who represent the patient view to the practice. Please contact the practice who will put you in touch with the group.

Blood Pressure

If you are required to monitor your blood pressure or submit a reading ahead of your medication review, we have a BP monitor on the ground floor waiting room for our patients use. Our receptionists are happy to help if support is needed. You can submit your readings via our website.

Repeat Prescriptions

When requesting a repeat prescription please allow at least 4 full working days for this to be processed. You can submit your request via our website or via your Patient Access/NHS App, through your nominated pharmacy or in person by attending the surgery and completing a form. Please note we do not take medication requests over the phone.

Booking a blood test

If your GP asks you to have some blood tests taken you will need to book an appointment at the West Berkshire Community Hospital. To do this please call 01635 273343 or go online at www.wbch.sangix.co.uk.

Obtaining your test results

The easiest way to see your test results is via your NHS App. You can download this from your App Store. If you are sent for a test such as bloods, or an x-ray, by a clinician at the surgery your results will be returned to us usually within 5 working days unless these are requested as urgent. Test results are monitored daily by the GP’s, but it is the patient’s responsibility to contact the surgery and find out the results of these tests. If the result was returned as abnormal and required prompt action, the GP will contact you.

You can also request test results via our website or by phone, if phoning please call after 11:00. Please note all tests are returned to the requesting clinician therefore if you were sent for tests by your hospital consultant you would need to get in touch with the hospital, not with us.

Community Services

The surgery works alongside the district nurses, health visitors and midwives.

The district nurses provide care to our patients who cannot attend the surgery. If you or your family need home nursing care, please contact the hub on 01635 292080.

The health visitors are based at the West Berkshire Community Hospital and support families with young children. The midwives have access to a clinical room in surgery twice a week to see our pregnant patients. They arrange these appointments themselves. To book your midwife appointment please contact them direct on 0118 322 8964 option 1. If you require some advice from a midwife, they can also be contacted on 01635 273387 between 07:00-09:30 on weekdays.

Your post-natal care will be organised with you when you are discharged from hospital. You will not need to see your GP routinely until your 6-week mother and baby check.

Cervical Screening

Women aged 25 – 64 years are advised to have regular cervical screening. Invitations are sent to patients by PCSE (primary care support England) informing them to make an appointment. Your results will be sent to you at your home address and a copy will be sent to your GP for information.

Carers

If you look after someone who is sick, disabled or elderly/frail, or who could not stay in their home if you were not there than we would class you as a carer. It is important that carers get the support that they need and are aware of the services available to them. Reading and West Berkshire Carers Hub can be contacted on 0118 324 7333,
or by email ask@berkshirecarershub.org.

Website: www.berkshirecarershub.org

Please inform your doctor if you are a carer.

Facilities for our Disabled Patients

The surgery has accessibility for all users. There are dedicated disabled parking spaces, a ramp at the entrance, automated doors and 2 lifts, one larger than the other. Our receptionists have access to a wheelchair for use by patients in the surgery if required. Deaf patients can access our services via our website and once in the surgery the practice has a portable hearing loop if required.

If a patient requires an interpreter or sign language during a consultation, please let the surgery know at the time of booking.

Hearing Aid Batteries can be collected from the surgery at reception, please bring your battery card so that we can record when and how many batteries were supplied.

Surgery Guideline/Polite Reminders

We would ask that you do not eat or drink in the waiting areas, please remember that the majority of our patients waiting to see a clinician are unwell and the sight or smell of food could be unpleasant for them. Please do not leave any rubbish/magazines in the waiting areas for hygiene reasons.

We would ask that mobile phones are turned off or set to silent whilst visiting the surgery out of courtesy to the clinician and other patients.

A zero-tolerance policy towards violence, abusive and threatening behaviour is in place across the NHS. Practice staff have a right to carry out their work in an environment free from such behaviour. The practice reserves the right to remove patients from our list who do not adhere to this policy.

A practice charter is available to all patients explaining the rights and responsibilities of the patient. Please ask at reception for a copy.

We are always pleased to receive any suggestions, comments, and compliments on the services we provide. These all help us with ongoing planning and improvements.

If you have a cause for concern, we have a complaints procedure to follow. Please address any concerns to one of the practice managers in the first instance.

The surgery has a Patient participation group (PPG) which plays a valuable part in the future development of the practice. We would like to recruit members of the PPG from as broad a spectrum as possible to help with the range of feedback received and to generate new ideas. If you would like to join the PPG please get in touch via our website.

Lots of information can be found on our website regarding local shared care records, privacy notice, General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and more. Each year (usually in the summer months) there will be an opportunity for patients to let us know how we are doing by completing an annual patient survey.

We will text you appointment reminders as long as your mobile number is on your medical record. If you do not want this service, please let a member of our reception
team know.

We have an electronic noticeboard in each waiting area which will provide useful resources and information. This board will also alert you when the clinician you are seeing is ready for you.

Other Services

If you would like alcohol advice, please ask to speak with one of our health care assistants. For support with Weight Management please ask either a doctor or nurse to refer you if appropriate. Your GP can refer you to talking therapies for counselling services if appropriate. Contraception advice can be received by one of our practice nurses. IUCD (Intra Uterine Contraceptive Device) and implants can be fitted at the surgery with Nurse Denise, please ask to be booked into one of their contraceptive clinics.

As a surgery we run an annual Flu Campaign, eligible patients will be invited to a clinic during the winter months. Minor skin operations are available at the surgery with Dr Whitfield in our minor operations suite. These appointments will be booked by your GP following consultation.

Joint injections are also provided in the surgery by certain GP’s. If required, please discuss with your clinician ahead of booking the appointment.

Other useful information

Local Hospital: West Berkshire Community Hospital, Benham Hill, London Road, Thatcham, RG18 3AS.

Tel: 01635 273300

Outpatients’ department Tel: 01635 273333

WBCH has 3 wards.

Donnington Ward, Tel: 01635 273442
Highclere ward, Tel: 01635 273595
Day Bed Unit, Tel: 01635 273390

The X-Ray Service is open and can be contacted on 01635 273380 between 9-3.30 Mon-Fri.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

PALS provide free, informal, confidential help and advice to patients, carers and their families. They can be contacted on 0118 960 5027 or by email on BHT@berkshire.nhs.uk.

Newbury Volunteer Bureau operates the Community Car Scheme and offers transport to members of the public that need to get to medical appointments. They can be contacted on 01635 49004 to request transport, Mon-Thurs between 10-1 and between 10-12.30 on Fridays. There is a 15 charge for this service and at least 7 days’ notice is required.