We are a fourteen-partner practice in a largely suburban area on the east side of Reading, with a list size of around 26,500 patients. To make the practice more local for patients and to operate smaller and more manageable primary health care teams, we work from three surgery buildings: one at Winnersh and two larger ones in Lower Earley – Brookside and Chalfont surgeries.
Since starting as a single-handed practice in 1977 we have grown rapidly to keep pace with the expansion of new, largely privately-owned housing on the Lower Earley estate until the early 1990s. Our patient population consists of a good age-mix from families with children and young people to middle-aged patients and older people, who live at home and in local nursing/residential homes. BGP has a Christian ethos and we try to work this out in our care for our patients and staff, and in the way that we manage the practice. We have the usual attached staff working with us in the practice. We are a fourteen-partner practice in a largely suburban area on the east side of Reading, with a list size of around 26,500 patients. To make the practice more local for patients and to operate smaller and more manageable primary health care teams, we work from three surgery buildings: one at Winnersh and two larger ones in Lower Earley – Brookside and Chalfont surgeries.
BGP is a paperless practice; we use the IPS Vision computer medical records system and are proud of our high quality records. Being large, we value and work hard at communication and teamwork. We operate a strongly relational team structure and endeavour to hear all voices within the team, encouraging ownership, involvement and optimum individual development. We therefore spend a higher than average proportion of working time on team meetings and communication. We are committed to high quality patient care and are always evaluating and trying to improve our services. In spite of changes over the last few years within the new contract, we have maintained high QOF scores (998.28/1000 in 2011; 998.75/1000 in 2012). With having over 20 doctors who work at BGP we have a wide range of skills and knowledge collectively in chronic disease management (CVD, CHD, HT, asthma, COPD) as well as other areas like family planning (including coil and implant fitting) and antenatal care, dermatology and minor surgery, managing drug problems, obesity, musculoskeletal conditions. BGP is also actively engaged in clinical commissioning in the area, with one of the partners, Dr Stephen Madgwick, being the chairman of Wokingham CCG.
In the last 6 years, we have taken on 5 new partners and several associate doctors and recruited into our management and practice nursing teams.
Patient involvement and education to develop patient confidence in the practice is a key area in the face of erosion of some key values by the media. The practice is also looking to develop enhanced and other services which are clinically appropriate for patients and are a sensible use of scarce NHS resources, rather than simply signing up for all possible services. There has been a huge amount of change in primary care but through it all we have maintained a strong team approach to treat these changes as challenges not threats, as articulated in our PPDP. Over nearly the last decade BGP has invited patients to become members of a “critical friends group”, providing valuable feedback and suggestions for the practice; BGP has engaged with this group for the mutual benefit of the practice and patients; developments resulting from this have included providing email requests for repeat prescriptions, opening up Brookside and Chalfont surgery over lunchtime and communicating more openly and effectively with patients using our practice newsletter. BGP has recently revamped its website to improve the communication and care for its patients.
BGP has a long tradition of training and has been training GPs since 1988; the whole practice team is committed to and takes part in GP registrar training. In addition, BGP receives medical students from OxfordUniversity for clinical skills teaching and some partners also supervise medical students on their GP attachments from other medical schools.
Dr Bernie Choi and Dr Gabi Gutmann are the two trainers at BGP. Dr Choi and his registrar work mainly at our Chalfont branch and Dr Gutmann and registrar at the Brookside branch. Despite this geographical split there is plenty of opportunity for our two registrars to catch up with each other during our meetings, our emergency and extended hours surgeries and occasional combined tutorials.
BGP as a whole including our registrars also benefit from Dr Rod Sharpe’s past experience as a trainer. He retired from being an active GP trainer after becoming senior partner a few years ago. He remains active in supporting and participating in registrar training and his experience is a valuable resource within the training practice.
The GP training ethos at BGP is to aim to initially give registrars a complete introduction to general practice and encourage them to then gradually take on a full GP’s role in all practice activities and meetings. We value their input and contribution to the work of the practice and aim to provide the registrar with appropriate support and training in transitioning from being a hospital ST doctor, to eventually becoming a competent, independent general practitioner. Training plans and curricula are worked out individually between registrar and trainer for the weekly trainer-registrar tutorials. In addition to this, the registrar has plenty of opportunity to learn from various members of the primary health care team, as learning needs dictate. The registrar attends the Readingand Newbury VTS day release course, based at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Comments from previous Oxford Deanery Training Practice inspection reports include:
“(BGP)… is a group with a wide range of interests and skills which will offer excellent learning opportunities to doctors in training” Aug 2003
“NHS hospital doctors would be that much better if each one had witnessed and experienced the high standards of general practice that is happening in the Brookside Group. Aug 2003
There is a rich educational resource for medical education not only in the number of patients and the range of services, but also in the expertise and enthusiasm of the doctors and nurses. Bernie’s commitment is full and energetic” Nov 2008
“We have huge respect for the preparation and the training that Gabi has done. Most impressed”. ”I would love to be a patient here. I would love to be a member of staff. I would love to be a trainee.” Summing up comments from assessing GP Nov 11