Norwich GP Vocational Training Scheme: 2008

BACON ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE

PRACTICE PROFILE

We are a suburban/city GMS practice located close to the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital & within walking distance of the University of East Anglia & the city centre.

Our practice is based within partner owned purpose built premises in a newly regenerated residential area close to the outer ring-road. Our practice population of approximately 4880 patients is drawn from various social & economic backgrounds within a 2 mile radius of the practice.

Our partnership currently consists of Dr Chris Francis, Dr Mike Laurence & Dr Andy Douglass, all full-time partners. The remainder of our clinical team consists of a four session salaried GP & three part-time nurses, one of whom specialises in chronic disease & leads on Diabetes, COPD, Asthma & CHD. Our other nurses support on Asthma & Chronic Heart Disease & undertake general nursing duties. In addition we have two health care assistants who undertake a wide range of duties from phlebotomy to spirometry & ECGs.

Our full-time partners are both involved in a range of other activities; Chris is a member of both the Local Medical Committee & the Norfolk Clinical Executive Committee. He is also involved as a clinical lead for the Norwich Practice Based Commissioning Consortium, of which our practice is a member. Mike is an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia Medical School & trainer. As a training practice we provide training for first year medical students, first and final year registrars and have taken placements from Kings College, London. Due to changes in the Vocational Training Scheme the level of training within the practice has increased with us taking FY2 placements from August 2008. Andy is an Associate trainer & therefore assists with the training undertaken in the practice. We are also involved in several research projects originating from the UEA Medical School, and Mike leads on these.

Our support staffing consists of our practice manager, Ms Mel Benfell who is currently Chair of the Norwich area Practice Managers Forum which meets monthly. Our administrative support is provided by our Office Supervisor, five administrator/receptionists and an administrator each of whom undertakes a comprehensive range of administration duties.

We use the VISION clinical system & have been computerised since 1989. In 1997 we were the first practice in the area to stop using paper records & therefore have an excellent historic electronic database & in addition we hold paper-light status and were the first practice in Norfolk to achieve accreditation for the national IM&T enhanced service contract.

Along with the rest of NHS Norfolk practices we opted out of providing out-of-hours care for our patients and from 1st July 2004 the East of England Ambulance Trust took over provision of this service. From the 2nd January 2009 we will be however be undertaking extended hours on a Tuesday morning and Thursday evening which will provide our patients with the opportunity to receive their health care outside core hours.

All of our clinical and non-clinical staff have a genuine interest in people and many have extended their roles to take on the challenges of the nGMS contract, introduced in April 2004. Our receptionists are the first point of contact for our patients and their ability to handle the initial reception of patients in a friendly, conscientious and efficient manner reflects the ethos adopted by the whole practice towards our patients & this is reflected in our patient survey results.

Since the outset of the Quality & Outcomes Framework we have aspired to achieving optimum points & have done so in previous years and are expecting to do so again this year.

As a practice we feel excellent communication is paramount to the well being of our patients and staff and as such we take great care in providing our patients with up to date & relevant information & we hold regular clinical & peer review meetings. We take our coffee breaks together, hold regular meetings to discuss all aspects of practice life, use email to disseminate information & have a practice intranet which is continually updated.

We also believe there is a strong incentive to work collaboratively with other local practices in sharing resources & workload.