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Last saved by: Lucy McLean
Company: ELC

ATTLEBOROUGH SURGERIES  

APPLICATION INFORMATION PACK

Thank you for requesting an Information Pack about our vacancy.  To arrange an informal visit to the practice please telephone 01953 454123.

Formal letters of application and CV
should be sent via email or post to:

Mrs Lucy McLean
Practice Manager
Attleborough Surgeries
Station Road
Attleborough
Norfolk 
lucy.mclean@nhs.net

Closing date:  1^st November 2019 (suitable candidates may be interviewed before the closing date)

NR17 2AS

ATTLEBOROUGH SURGERIES

www.attleboroughsurgeries.com

PRACTICE PROFILE 

THE PARTNERSHIP

We are a long-established dispensing practice working from two sites in the market town of Attleborough and also look after patients from the surrounding villages.  Our clinical team currently comprises seven partners, two salaried doctor and an Emergency Care Practitioner. We have an experienced nursing team with a full complement of skills including three nurse practitioners, two student nurse practitioner, practice nurses with special interests in a full range of chronic diseases and five health care assistants.  We are looking for a GP(s) to join the Practice to compliment the skills of the current partners/salaried doctors; this vacancy has arisen as a result of expansion within the Town of Attleborough.

We each have our own list of patients who we have got to know well. This works well, particularly for administrative purposes and is appreciated by the patients.  We have an open appointment system; patients are registered with the practice and can see whom they choose.  We encourage patients to stay with and develop a relationship with their own doctor and we cover each other if a doctor is away.  We often discuss clinical cases with other doctors both informally and at clinical meetings and we recognise and encourage clinicians to make use of the expertise we have in-house.  We have regular MDT meetings, with excellent involvement from both health and social care colleagues. We also hold regular Gold Standards Framework meetings for our palliative care patients.

Good communication is vital to the smooth running of the practice therefore we have both weekly partners’ meetings and twice monthly clinical meetings attended by the salaried doctors, nurse practitioners and managers.  There are other regular meetings within the practice for clinical and business issues, including salaried doctor meetings.  We have a yearly away weekend for partners and senior managers.  We are a cohesive and supportive team and most importantly we enjoy each other’s company.

We are a teaching practice, being one of the first to take students from the University of East Anglia’s medical school, some of whom are now working as local doctors.  We currently have a group of first year students who spend a day per week with us during term time, and we also have final year students who are with us in two - week blocks, three times per year.  Two of our partners holds an honorary senior lecturer contract at UEA and there will be the opportunity for the incoming doctor to play a role in teaching, should they be interested.  We are not currently a training practice but we are actively considering the possibility.  One of our partners is a member of the LMC and the Drugs & Therapeutics committee, whilst another partner is clinical lead for our locality which is known as Ketts Oak and also the Chair of the South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group.  We also look after the local children’s hospice and deliver the medical school services at Greshams School in Holt.  One of our partners also has a specialist interest in urology and works one session per week at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. We also have a GP partner with a specialist interest in dermatology.

We have established a long term condition clinic which is nurse practitioner led with GP involvement and looks after all our patients with chronic diseases.  The aim is to see patients in a co-ordinated way, to carry out all their chronic disease reviews and address all their related issues in a single appointment. We also have a same day clinic which is run by our experienced nurse practitioners and a GP triage service with both morning and afternoon sessions, which is supported by an Emergency Care Practitioner, which aims to deal with all the urgent appointments and phone advice.

OUR PATIENTS 

The list size is just over 18,400 and rising, due to ongoing housing development in Attleborough.  Our patients are mainly from Norfolk, with a migration of people from elsewhere over the last 25 years.  There is a small immigrant population mainly from Portugal and Eastern Europe who mostly come to work in agriculture and the local poultry industry.  Our patients are slightly older than the national average but there is generally good family and community care, particularly in the villages.  Many are in sheltered or residential accommodation.  We have good support from our patients, and the “Friends of Attleborough Surgeries”, (a registered charity) is a source of income for buying major equipment.  We keep in touch with our patients through a strong patient participation group and our website.

Local employment historically has been in agricultural industries such as poultry factories and services to farms, but many now commute to Norwich where there is a well developed financial services industry.

ATTLEBOROUGH

Attleborough itself has a population of about 8,500 and there are several surrounding villages which are picturesque and set in beautiful countryside.  There is an excellent road to Norwich (20 minutes) and a train service to Norwich with a fast rail link to London that means we now have some patients commuting to the city.  Snetterton racetrack, Lotus Cars and Old Buckenham airfield are nearby. 

Norwich has the biggest concentration of medieval buildings in Europe, two  large shopping centres, two cathedrals, a university with a medical school, a large teaching hospital, several excellent state and independent day schools, and a full cultural life.  There are some good pubs supplied by local micro-breweries.  Norfolk has clean air, low rainfall and is surrounded on nearly three sides by the sea, with some beautiful stretches of coastline.  With the Norfolk Broads, there’s plenty of opportunity for sailing, walking and bird watching.  

All in all, it’s a great place to live and work.

OUR WORK 

We provide general medical services each week day from 0800 to 1830 and have improved access surgeries on some weekday mornings starting at 0700 and some evenings finishing at 20.00.  We share the responsibility for covering the GP triage clinic and being “a duty doctor” but it is not onerous as we try to provide continuity by dealing with our “own” patients wherever possible.  We run the same day clinic daily and the long term condition clinic weekly though our nurses see patients with chronic diseases who require more input on other days as well.
 
We provide a full range of minor surgery and contraceptive services with coil and implant fitting. 

Two of our doctors look after patients at the children’s hospice which is in a neighbouring village.

OUR FACILITIES 

We strive to provide a high standard of care for our patients and we pride ourselves on our ethos of mutual support for our partners and staff.  

The Practice has approval for funding from the Estates Technology and Transformation Fund, to support expanding the Practice facilities, to accommodate the planned growth in the Town. Currently the practice works from two purpose-built surgeries in Attleborough.  The majority of our GP appointments take place at the Station Road Site whereas Queens Square is home to our chronic disease management and same day clinics. The surgeries are linked by our EMIS Web clinical system.  We have pleasant consulting and examination rooms, treatment rooms and a well-equipped minor-op room. The surgery at Station Road houses the administration away from the clinical rooms.  We have a culture of investment in our premises and facilities in order to provide a better service for our patients and enjoy a pleasant working environment.  

We have a visiting alcohol specialist nurse and a respiratory nurse seeing patients at home.  A diabetes liaison nurse, a wellbeing counsellor and the midwifery team visit to provide a service close to our patients.

OUR PLACE IN THE NHS 

We have a history as a practice of being involved – we were a fundholding practice and a total purchasing pilot practice in the past. We have played an active role in practice based commissioning and were involved in the PCT clinical executive.  One of our GPs is the Chair of South Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group, which has brought together four localities covering an area extending from Thetford and Watton, Dereham to Harleston and Diss.  Our locality is actively involved in the work around managing frail and elderly patients. The Practice secured funding to deliver outreach nursing and GP services to our local care and nursing homes; this service has proven extremely successful, with over achievement on a number of the agreed KPIs and funding has been made recurrent to enable this service to continue.  We have a community matron and a nurse tracking our admissions and facilitating discharges, working with us to ensure patients get the right care in the right place.    

Our locality arranges educational meetings looking at clinical areas that are of interest to us – we also invite specialists to attend our Practice clinical meetings as part of our commitment to ongoing education.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a salaried doctor who is first and foremost an excellent clinician but also who 
•	is prepared to work hard and thrives on clinical work 
•	potentially has additional skills or interests that they can bring to the Practice
•	is a team player
•	will develop a good rapport with our patients, staff and colleagues from outside the practice
•	will be involved in the ongoing development of the practice