Meet the Team

Doctors

Nursing Team

Practice nurses are qualified and registered nurses. They can help with health issues such as family planning, healthy living advice, blood pressure checks and dressings. The practice nurses run clinics for long-term health conditions such as asthma or diabetes, minor ailment clinics and carry out cervical smears.

Clinical Team

Healthcare Assistants

Healthcare assistants support practice nurses with their daily work and carry out tasks such as phlebotomy (drawing blood), blood pressure measurement and new patient checks. They may act as a chaperone when a patient or doctor requests one.

Pharmacists

Prescribing Clinical Pharmacists deal with all medication reviews or queries around medication. You can book a telephone appointment with them up to a month in advance, or on the day if necessary. Christina’s working days are Wednesday and Thursdays, Claire’s working days are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Practice Team

Practice Management

The practice manager is involved in managing all of the business aspects of the practice such as making sure that the right systems are in place to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises and equipment and information technology. The practice manager supports the GPs and other medical professionals with delivering patient services and also helps to develop extended services to enhance patient care.

Reception

Receptionists/Care Navigators provide an important link for patients with the practice and are your initial contact point for general enquiries. Please remember they have a very difficult task to perform, and they must follow the doctors’ instructions. Please understand that they may need to ask a few questions when dealing with certain requests, particularly when assessing urgency. We appreciate that patients with medical needs are sometimes distressed and hope that our staff’s professional manner and courteous approach creates a helpful atmosphere.

The receptionists are all experienced and fully trained Care Navigators redirecting patients to healthcare professionals other than GPs (“signposting”), and reducing paperwork to save time and money. At The Brow, we have been doing this for a couple of years now, by training our reception staff to get you to the right person – maybe a nurse, or pharmacist rather than the GP. That is why, when you call us, our receptionists ask you a few questions to make sure that you get to speak to or see the right person, which will nearly always be on the day that you call.

Receptionists make most of the patient appointments with the GPs and nurses. They also perform other important tasks such as dealing with prescription enquiries and patient records.

Administration

Behind the scenes, we have a large administration team who provide support to the entire practice team and ensure the smooth administrative running of the practice. By training our admin staff to handle paperwork differently the doctor does not have to use valuable time on it, but can see patients instead.

Our specially trained admin team has been able to cut the GP workload for dealing with paperwork by 85% without compromising your care in any way. The team also deal with issuing repeat prescriptions, either handed in to reception or received via Patient Access (GP online services).

Attached Staff

Care Co-ordinators and Social Prescribing

The service is designed to help support patients with long term conditions in a practical way to help them access the many varied services, available both within the NHS and the local community. Services Care Co-ordinators commonly help with include: Transport links – Blue Badge, taxi vouchers, etc, Carers Support, Equipment for the home, Befriending, Continence issues and many more.

If you feel you would benefit from this service, or someone you care for would benefit, please make an appointment or ask for a telephone call with our Care Co-ordinator. Alternatively, you can email them on sxicb-wsx.browcc@nhs.net.

Our care coordinators also carry out social prescribing. For more information on both services please click on the links below to download the leaflets:

What is social prescribing?

Children’s Wellbeing Service

Care Co-ordinators

Health Visitors

A health visitor is a registered nurse who has received training particularly related to babies, children and pregnant women. Their role is to provide families with children under five years old with support and advice around the general aspects of mental, physical and social wellbeing.

They offer 10 month hearing tests and 2 year developmental reviews by appointment. 3 year developmental reviews are offered if you have concerns about your child and parents are invited to contact the team to discuss a wide range of child related issues from minor childhood illnesses, weaning, diet, toilet training, behavioural management, etc.

The health visitors are based at Sidney West Primary Care Centre. They can be contacted by ringing 01273 696011 (extn 6605). Please ring if you have any concerns regarding your baby/child’s development.

The health visitors also run postnatal support groups and a child health drop-in clinic is held at the Gattons Family Centre on Mondays between 9.30am – 11.30am and at the Sidney West Family Centre on Thursdays between 9.30am – 11.30am.