Heeley Green Surgery
302 Gleadless Road
Sheffield
S2 3AJ
Telephone: 0845 1218889
Fax: 0114 250 7185
Partners
Dr K R O’Connor (Partner), Dr E J Park (Partner), Dr M P Savage (Partner)
Dr L Brook (Salaried GP), Dr L Williams (Salaried GP)
Trainers
Dr Karen O'Connor and Dr Emma Park
Assistant Trainer Dr Lucy Brook
Practice Manager
Mr Paul Barker, JP
We welcome enquiries from full time or less than full time GP Registrars. In either case we will try to be flexible about the timetable to suit your needs (though it would have to include some evenings.
WE ARE HAPPY TO TAKE ENQUIRIES FROM PROSPECTIVE REGISTRARS. PLEASE CONTACT PAUL BARKER ON 0845 1218889 IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AROUND.
The Practice
Practice population: 5,280 approx
Size: Compact area (approx 1 mile radius) and a few outliners
Location: Surgery is 1 mile south of the city centre.
Class/racial mix: 92% white/mixed white, 5% Asian, 2% Afro-Caribbean. Average deprivation scores - around 25% of the practice population are classed as living in deprived postcodes. The practice area extends into Arbourthorne and Gleadless Valley estates, but also into more affluent Meersbrook and Norton. This mixed population offers an excellent assortment of learning opportunities for registrars. We have a higher than average mortality rate from respiratory and cardiovascular disease. We also have a higher than average number of patients with learning difficulties and mental health problems.
Building: Heeley Green Surgery was purpose built in the late 80's in a modern style with all consulting rooms accessible directly from the waiting room. It was extended in 1999 to provide more consulting rooms and admin space though we have kept the same open and airy atmosphere in the practice.
Special Features: We try to offer "holistic" care and we work very closely within the practice team. We have a large workload of mental health problems; we look after several ‘supported’ accommodation units for people with learning disabilities and have an interest in mental health. We work as a democratic team and value all our staff’s input. Our nurses are particularly advanced in managing our patients with chronic disease, such as asthma, diabetes and coronary heart disease. We are a longstanding training and teaching practice and all members of the team are involved in teaching. One of the partners, Dr O’Connor offers a substance misuse clinic. Dr Park offers sexual health services such as coil and Implanon fitting. Dr Savage takes cares of several large nursing homes.
Practice Philosophy: We aim to offer a friendly supportive training environment. All practice staff are actively involved in teaching and training and we pride ourselves on being accessible at all times. We believe that in order to learn effectively you need to be in a happy work place and that a sense of humour can be extremely useful.
We try to provide patient centred care as we feel this is the most effective way of addressing patients concerns and improving health outcomes and understanding. This is the main focus of our teaching on the consultation.
A team approach to caring for patients. Our practice team works closely together, aiming to provide the best care for our patients. We have regular meetings in which the input of each member is considered equally important. We have weekly clinical meetings and monthly meetings involving all staff.
We aim to offer an appropriate level of service to our patients this is realistic and takes into account problems with a limited health service. We feel it is important for registrars to have a realistic grasp of what can be achieved, in order to maintain their sanity in general practice. A sense of humour is often a great help!
Practice Staff:
We have a low staff turn over and our team are all very close, welcoming friendly and supportive both inside and outside of work. (The practice summer barbeque is legendary!).
Practice Staff:
2 Practice nurses
Practice Manager (full time)
Secretary (.75 FTE)
Receptionists (5 part-time)
Administrator
Attached staff:
Counsellors (we have 4; 2 low intensity workers providing guided self help and CBT, and 2 high intensity workers providing general counselling and CBT)
District Nurses (we provide a local base)
Health Visitors (weekly baby clinic)
Midwives (weekly antenatal clinic)
Physiotherapy (weekly session at the surgery)
Community Health Worker (based in centre next door)
Occupational Health Worker (session alternate Wednesdays at the surgery)
Number of Patients/Dr: We share our 5,280 patients between 3 partners.
Appointment System: All consultations officially by appointment. We have a daily duty doctor who conducts a telephone surgery of simple advice, or problems that can be dealt with over the phone. They will also see urgent patients if appointment slots have all been taken up. Baby Clinic is a ‘drop in’. We offer 10 minute appointments (doing 2 or 2.5 hour surgeries).
Computers: We are fully computerized (paperless practice) – we are using EMIS PCS. We feel that we are at the forefront of using computers in general practice, mainly due to the practical advantage it has over paper records.
Out of hours: The practice uses the Sheffield GP Out of Hours Collaborative.
General Comments: We train either one or two registrars at the practice and we have found that the opportunity for joint tutorials and the support that each registrar can give each other has been of great benefit. We welcome part time registrars and can come up with a mutually convenient timetable.
The Partners
Karen O’Connor: Mental Health; Addiction; GP Trainer, GP commissioning.
Karen trained in Sheffield and joined the team as a partner in 1996. Her work interests are mental health, substance misuse, diabetes and CHD prevention. She is very involved in practice based commissioning.
Her home interests are horse riding, walking and music.
Emma Park: Emma qualified in 1997 in Sheffield and subsequently finished the Sheffield VTS in 2004. She is interested in adolescents, sexual health and eating disorders. She is a Programme Director on the Sheffield VTS and a member of the RCGP Adolescent Special Interest Group.
Outside of work she helps lead a church youth group and enjoys reading and cinema/theatre. Research interests – coffee shops in the Sheffield area!
Malcolm Savage: Finished the Sheffield VTS in August 2004. After locuming and spending time in Africa he joined the practice in May 2007. He is responsible for the care of our patients in nursing homes.
He is interested in coffee and DIY and helps lead a church.
Salaried GPs:
Lucy Brook: Lucy qualified in 2000 from Sheffield and completed the Sheffield VTS in 2008. Prior to VTS she had spent a considerable amount of time working in A&E and as an anaesthetist. She has an interest in Polar Expedition Medicine and has worked as a doctor on expedition ships in the Arctic. Lucy is currently undertaking her college trainer training and hopes to be accredited as a GP trainer in 2012.
Home interests include being outside, going on holiday to wacky places, running and photography.
Andrew Lee: Andrew Qualified in 2000 and completed Sheffield VTS in 2008. Both he and Lucy were on the Sheffield VTS together. Andrew has a background in Paediatrics and is dually accredited as a General Practitioner and as a Public Health Consultant. He has worked all over the world doing very interesting public health projects. He continues to divide his working week between General Practice and Public Health. He also works at the University of Sheffield in ScHARR (School of Health and Related Research).
Practice Nurses
Our Practice Nurses, Helen Thompson and Karen Rhodes, provide a wide range of services to the patients including contraception, dressings, travel information, injections and vaccinations and are increasingly taking on the responsibility in chronic disease management, including hypertension, CHD, COPD, asthma and diabetes. Helen and Karen are both Nurse Practitioners. We also have a Practice Phlebotomist, Karen Marks.
You will notice that we have 3 Karens in the practice. (If in doubt, shout ‘Karen’ and someone will answer you!)
GP Registrar
Structure of day: Surgeries run 8.30am to 11.00am and 4pm to 6pm. Registrar’s surgeries are shorter with appointment times and lengths of surgery appropriate to the stage in training of the registrar in post. We take it in turns to do the bulk of acute visits. Daily one doctor takes responsibility for post, repeat prescription, advice calls and urgent visits/extras-the “duty” doctor. Registrars would be supported with this again depending on their stage of training. Baby Clinic is on Monday lunchtime and Antenatal Clinic is on Tuesday lunchtime.
Consultation time: Start with 30 minute slots, moving to 20, 15 or 10 minutes when ready.
Accommodation: Own large room with video and monitor; practice library in common room.
Teaching
Introductory Period: The first 2 weeks will be spent with all the primary health care workers until you feel comfortable to consult on your own.
Timetable: 7 clinical sessions a week this may be surgeries, visits or helping out with the Duty doctor duties. As you gain more experience appointment times may be shortened and the registrar may be encouraged to lead in the duty doctor role rather than helping the GP that day. 3 educational sessions consist of one half day for VTS teaching, 2 tutorials weekly, debriefing daily and joint surgery alternate weeks. The joint surgery allows COTs to be done and consultation skills assessed. Visits are shared out equally following morning surgery.
Consultations: Consultations are by appointment with emergencies seen at the end of surgeries where appropriate. You will have your own room with video and monitor. The practice library is situated in the common room. GP Registrars slots are 10-20 mins depending on experience.
Learning/Teaching: Registrars are asked to participate in planning their own education. We feel that our training needs to be directed towards the learner’s agenda but also we need to ensure that the basic nuts and bolts of general practice are covered. We would expect the learner to read up prior to tutorials and be actively involved in developing their own learning plan. This can be a new area for first time registrars and you will be fully supported in helping you develop it. We have a wide experience in helping registrars pass their nMRCGP exam and we are pleased that we have had several registrars gaining merits and distinctions.
Availability of Trainer: All partners and salaried GPs will be available for immediate help and advice if named trainer is absent. They will also give occasional tutorials on specific topics (as above).
Frequency/Length: Two one-and-a-half-hour sessions per week. Topics to set by the registrar in negotiation with the trainer. Assessments can be done in this time.