Practice Information 2018

THE GENERAL PARTNERSHIP OF:

  • Dr Fiona Jane Riddle MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Mark Anthony Westwood MBBS MRCP
  • Dr Peter William Olley MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Ruth Linda Evans MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Aliya Naeem Soomro MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Alasdair William Wallace MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Pipin Singh MBBS MRCGP
  • Mr Philip Martin Horsfield BA Hons 

Employed GPs

  • Dr Rebecca Lucy Pedlow MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Rachael Ann Fraser MBBS MRCGP
  • Dr Peter John Wood MBBS MRCGP
  • Practice Manager: Mr Philip M. Horsfield

Practice address:

The Village Green Surgery, The Green, Wallsend, NE28 6BB

Tel: 0191  295 8500  Fax: 0191 295 8519

Opening hours

Monday to Friday: 8.30am to 6.30pm

Late appointments Tuesday and Thursday until 8.00pm.

Weekends & Bank Holidays –Closed

  • Access arrangements/facilities for disabled patients: The surgery has ramp access via the car park where there is also a disabled parking bay and the entrance doors are automatic.

Welcome to our practice

The patient care team offer a wide range of services and expertise including:

Women’s and Teenage Health, Maternity, Child Health, Coil/implant Fitting, Asthma,

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and other long term conditions, Cardiovascular risk assessments, Smoking cessation, Alcohol management advice, Weight management advice, Minor Surgery, Podiatry, Pharmacy, Psychology, Counselling

To register as a patient either attend during opening hours or telephone 0191 295 8512 to make an appointment for a new patient check. It would assist the process if you could bring your medical card with you or details of your last registered General Medical Practitioner

This practice has a zero tolerance approach and any patient who is violent, aggressive or abusive to GPs, nurses, practice staff or other patients may be taken off the practice’s list.

Registered Doctor

All patients are allocated a named GP responsible for overall care at the practice. Please contact the practice if you wish to know who it is. If you have a specific preference the practice will make reasonable efforts to accommodate this.

Making an appointment

If you want to make an appointment with a doctor or nurse, please phone the surgery on 0191 2958500 and listen carefully to the various options that you are presented with.  We aim to offer an appointment with a GP within 48 hours (unless it is more urgent) or a nurse within 24 hours. For an urgent appointment on the same day, please ring as early as possible. You can make an appointment with a nurse without seeing the doctor first.

Doctor of Choice

All patients have the right to express a preference for a certain doctor when booking an appointment. However, you should be aware that this might restrict the availability of appointments which the reception team can offer you.

Website

www.villagegreensurgery-wallsend.nhs.uk

If you have internet access you may register to use our website to book appointments up to four weeks ahead and order prescriptions online.

The cost to NHS of wasted appointments

Missed appointments cost the NHS thousands of pounds every year? Please phone the surgery as soon as possible if you cannot attend. This will help us to make appointments available to as many patients as possible. We do have a failure to attend letter and after 3 such notifications we will request you to register elsewhere.

Out of hours

There are two local walk in centres which provide services to all local patients 8am to 8pm every day:

Battle Hill Walk-in Centre, Belmont Close, Wallsend, NE28 9DX.

Tel: 0191 295 8520

Molineux Street Walk-in Centre, off Shields Road, Byker, NE6 1SG.

Tel: 0191 275 5862

If you want general healthcare advice at any time, 24 hours a day, contact NHS 111 (local rate) to speak to a trained nurse adviser, or visit www.nhs.uk

If you need to see a doctor urgently outside normal surgery opening hours, please ring

0191 295 8500 or 111

Out of hours GP services are arranged by North Tyneside CCG and are provided by qualified doctors and nurses.  You may receive telephone advice from a doctor or be asked to attend a local primary care centre for an examination. If, for medical reasons, travel is impossible, a home visit from a doctor can be arranged.

You should only dial 999 for an ambulance in a life threatening emergency or serious accident.

Telephone advice/consultations

Sometimes you may want to speak to a doctor or nurse about something, but do not need to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment. If you would like to talk to someone over the phone, you can book this in with reception, which will take your number and arrange a suitable time.The doctors are normally available daily between 1130 and 1200 to deal with telephone calls. There are also some bookable slots mid morning within the surgeries When phoning, please give as much information as possible to the receptionist.

Home visits

The doctor or nurse can visit patients who are seriously ill or who cannot leave the house. If you need a home visit, it is best to phone the surgery as early as possible but before 1130am. The doctor will normally speak to the patient over the phone before visiting or arranging for a district nurse to see the patient.

Do please try to come to the surgery if at all possible. (A doctor can see 3-5 patients at the surgery in the time it takes him/her to visit one patient at home).We provide appointments for patients who need to be seen quickly.

Interpreting service If you would like an interpreter to attend your consultation, please tell reception when you book your appointment.

Repeat prescriptions

You should phone the surgery (week days only between 0900 and 1700 hours) on 0191 295 8514 to order any repeat prescriptions at least 48 hours before you need to collect.

We would encourage everyone to register with our website, where you can order all your repeat prescriptions and book appointments.

Prescriptions will be ready to collect 48 working hours after request, from 2pm. Someone else can collect for you if they are over 16 and show your repeat prescription slip. Prescriptions can also be posted out if you provide us with a stamped addressed envelope. If you have nominated a pharmacy for electronic scripts they will be sent directly to them for you to collect.

Prescription Tel: 0191 295 8514

Some chemists/pharmacists provide a collection and delivery service for people who cannot get out of their house. Speak to your local pharmacist for more details.

Test results

Patients are responsible for contacting the surgery to find out the results of investigations such as blood tests, urine tests, x-rays and ECGs. Receptionists, after checking confidentiality requirements normally will give the result after instructions from the doctor they cannot discuss your results, but they can arrange a telephone appointment for you to speak to a doctor or nurse if necessary.

Records and confidentiality

Most patient information is held on computer. All personal and clinical information is confidential and the consent of individual patients is needed before it can be given to anyone else. Sometimes, we may need to share information with other professionals involved in your care, but they also have a legal duty to keep it confidential. You are entitled to see your health records. If you want to do this, please ask at reception for details.

Teaching

Doctors and nurses at this surgery help to teach medical students from the University of Newcastle. You may occasionally be asked if a student can sit in at your consultation. If you are not happy with this, for whatever reason, please say so – it is your choice if you wish to be seen alone. In addition we also train General Medical Practitioners under the supervision of Trainers and we VIDEO some consultations with the prior consent of the patient. We will respect you feelings at all times please inform the doctor if you feel uncomfortable with any of our teaching arrangements

Private charges

The National Health Service does not pay for some services provided by GPs and a separate fee will be charged for items such as: private sick notes, medical reports and examinations, insurance forms and holiday cancellation certificates. Please ask for details.

Feedback or complaints

We are always happy to receive suggestions for improvements and like to know if we are doing something well. If you are unhappy about any of our services, please speak to the practice manager, who will be happy to discuss your problem privately. If you are still dissatisfied, we have a formal complaints procedure which you can access via the practice manager.

Local Primary Care Organisation

Anyone wishing to obtain further information on Primary Care Services in the area should contact North Tyneside CCG, Hedley Court, Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate, North Shields, NE29 7ST