Page Hall Medical Centre
101 Owler Lane
Sheffield
S4 8GB
Telephone: 08444 157999
Fax: 0114 261 1643
E-mail: Heulwen.Evans@nhs.net
Partners
Dr David Brinkley, Dr Margaret Ainger, Dr Heulwen Evans, Dr Chris Bronsdon
Salaried GPs
Dr Trish Evans, Dr David Lehane, Dr Kate Bellingham, Dr Kate van der Riet
Trainer
Dr Heulwen Evans
Working at Page Hall Medical Centre provides an interesting and challenging experience of General Practice in a supportive setting. You will learn about complex, transcultural medicine within the broader context of urban primary care.
The Practice Population
Page Hall Medical Centre serves a compact geographical area to the north of Sheffield city centre, bordering the Northern General Hospital site. The housing stock is mainly Victorian terraces, privately owned or rented, built originally to house steel workers and their families. We have a large ethnic population, mainly Pakistani and Yemeni, and since the Home Office dispersal scheme began a few years ago, a sizeable number of asylum seekers. More recently we have had an influx of Eastern European economic migrants into the area. Our current list size is approximately 6,800 patients, 78% of whom are non–Caucasian. We have a 30% annual turnover of patients. Being an inner city, multiethnic population, there is high morbidity: we have a large number of patients with diabetes, ischaemic heart disease and mental health problems. Life expectancy for a baby born in our practice area is nearly 15 years less than one born in Ecclesall, on the other side if the city. We have a higher than average birth rate, but fewer very elderly than would be expected.
The Practice
Our patients present more often and take more time, needing an interpreter in 35% of consultations. We employ bilingual receptionists in Urdu, Punjabi and Arabic and use the Sheffield Interpreting Service (SCAIS). All appointments are booked at 10 minutes, with double appointments for SCAIS consultations. We became a PMS practice in April 2001, and in January 2002 set up Nurse Triage to deal with the demand for on the day/minor illness appointments, and to improve access to appropriate care for our deprived population. A duty doctor provides cover for the Triage nurse on duty, seeing acutely ill patients and troubleshooting problems. Meanwhile the others can see booked patients without fear of interruption or endless extras at the end of surgery. This has proved to be very successful for staff and patients alike. In a busy practice like ours, sustainability is a key issue. As our practice area is relatively small we expect patients to come to surgery if at all possible, and as a result do very few home visits. We are active members of Sheffield GP Collaborative who cover all our out of hours commitment.
We work from bright, cheerful purpose built premises, built in the early 1990’s and extended in 2000.
Training
Registrars will have a dedicated room opposite that of the trainer. S/he will learn to take joint responsibility for the baby clinic and the 8 week checks during their placement at the practice and will meet monthly with the attached health visitors to discuss child protection issues. Consultation skills work is an integral part of training, with a weekly video surgery and tutorial, as well as a problem based session. Thursday morning is a half day, prior to the GPSTP teaching session. Dr Evans is well supported by the other partners who are responsible for the registrar when she is not there. Registrars can expect to be welcomed into an innovative, friendly team and to gain experience in general practice in what is perhaps a rather atypical setting.