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Map of Practice Area

Map of practice area

 

 Map of Brookend Surgery, Potton
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 Map of The Medical Centre, Gamlingay
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The Doctors

The practice has five male doctors and two female doctors:­

Dr Mike Baker MB, ChB, MRCGP, DRCOG, FP Cert (Sheffield 1977) (Male)

Dr Diana Taine MB, BS, MRCGP, FP Cert (London 1984) (Female)

Dr Laurence Drake MA, MB, BChir, DRCOG, FP Cert (Cambridge 1987) (Male)

Dr Hubertus von Blumenthal MRCGP, DRCOG (Heidelberg 1988) (Male)

Dr Daniel Jackson MB BS (London 1996) (Male)

Dr Catherine Jarvis MB BS, MRCGP DFFP DRCOG (Royal Free 1993) (Female)

Dr Sivatharan Vedavanam MB, BS, Bsc, MRCP, MRCGP (London 2006) (Male)

The practice operates from two surgeries:

Drs Drake, Jackson, Jarvis & Vedavanam consult at Potton,

Brook End Surgery, Brook End, Potton, Sandy, Beds. SG19 2QS  

Drs Baker, Taine & von Blumenthal consult at Gamlingay.

The Medical Centre, Stocks Lane, Gamlingay, Sandy, Beds. SG19 3JR

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Surgery Times

Brook End Surgery, Brook End, Potton, Sandy, Beds. SG19 2QS  

Appointments ~ 01767 260340
Emergencies ~ 01767 260229

Potton Surgery is open from 8.30am to 12.30pm. and 2.00 to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday (8.30am to 12.30pm on Thursday) for routine matters.

 

The Medical Centre, Stocks Lane, Gamlingay, Sandy, Beds. SG19 3JR

Appointments ~ 01767 651544
Emergencies ~ 01767651546

Gamlingay Surgery is open from 8.30pm to 12.30pm and 2.00 to 6.00pm. Monday to Friday (8.30 to 12.30pm on Wednesday) for routine matters.  

 

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Appointments

To see a doctor, you must have an appointment. These can be booked in advance, or, in the case of an emergency, at the end of the surgery. Please note that an adult should accompany children under the age of 16. We try to run to time as far as possible, but inevitably appointments do run over; so please bear with us if you are kept waiting. To keep the surgeries running as smoothly as possible, please remember the following points:

Appointment Numbers

Urgent Appointments

If you need to see a doctor and cannot wait for a normal appointment, please tell the receptionist who will arrange an appointment for you. However, we may not be able to offer you a choice of time or doctor.

Lunchtimes

Both surgeries are closed between 12.30 and 2.00pm. 
In an emergency only 
please telephone the emergency line for your surgery:

 

As of 7th July 2008, we will be providing a limited number of Doctor’s appointments after 6.30pm

These appointments will be allocated to patients who have great difficulty attending during normal surgery hours.

Should you feel that this applies to you, please discuss with one of our Receptionists

 

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Staff

All employed staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the doctors .

Practice Manager

Mrs. Nicola Gauge is responsible for the day-to-day management of the surgeries and will deal with any problems or queries concerning the practice. She will be happy to discuss any suggestions or complaints. Suggestion boxes are available in both surgery waiting rooms. A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request from reception.

The Receptionists,

The receptionists are your link with the doctors and nurses and will try to help you in every way. They need to ascertain the urgency of particular requests and so the more information you can give them the better.  

Administrative Staff

There are many behind the scenes jobs to be carried out by staff. This includes contacting hospitals for admissions and results, sending referral letters, updating records and filing.

Practice Nurses

We have four practice nurses who can be seen by appointment. They are qualified to carry out General health advice, 
including:- 
Smoking and alcohol, 
Health checks, 
New patient medicals, 
Dietary advice, 
Travel health advice & immunisations, 
Cervical smears, 
Routine baby & adult immunisations, 
Dressings, 
Removals of sutures, 
Ear syringing, 
Telephone advice
Blood pressure checks. 
Nurses also assist the doctors with minor surgery, Asthma and Diabetes education

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 Staff attached to but not employed by the Practice :-

District Nursing Team

The District Nurses provide nursing care at home to patients of all ages in the community. This includes those recently discharged from hospital and the housebound. They also give advice and support to the terminally ill at home. They can be contacted on:

Health Visitors

The Health Visitors can be contacted by anyone about health matters and prevention of ill health for all ages. They can be contacted on:

Community Midwives

The Community Midwives offer advice to patients on all aspects of antenatal and postnatal care. Clinics are run at both surgeries once a week.

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Prescriptions

We provide a full dispensary service at both Surgeries. 

For patients living more than a mile from the nearest chemist, we are able to provide dispensing services. The reception and dispensary staff will discuss whether you are entitled to this service.

            Repeat prescriptions that have been authorized by one of the doctors can be requested with the computer slip given to you by your doctor. This will be done if it is appropriate. You can use your slip to request a Prescription by:­

  1. Posting your computer slip to us, clearly marking the items you require.

  2. Handing your computer slip in the red post-box in the reception area (or posting it through the letterbox if the surgery is closed) clearly marking the items you require.

  3. By faxing your computer slip to us, clearly marking the items you require:

Please allow two working days for us to process your request. We are unable to accept requests over the telephone, as this may lead to confusion and inaccuracy.  
If the slip indicates that you need to make an appointment before your next prescription, please make an appointment in plenty of time. Do not wait until you are just about to run out of your medication!

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Home Visits

If you are not well enough to come to the surgery, a doctor or nurse may be able to visit you in your home. Please bear in mind that visiting patients at home is more time consuming leaving less time to see other patients, so if you can make it to the surgery we would be grateful. While we respect that some patients have transport difficulties, this is not a sufficient reason to request a home visit. If you require a visit, please telephone before 10.30am, and be prepared to give details of your condition. Occasionally you will be put through to one of the doctors who will assess the urgency of your request.

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In an Emergency

Advice for Registered Patients and Temporary Residents in our practice area

NB in major emergencies and accidents 
where hospital treatment may be urgently needed
first telephone for an Ambulance ~ Dial 999 
then contact the surgery

In the event of an emergency during surgery opening times (8.30am to 6.00pm Mondays to Fridays) when you need to get a message to the on call doctor, please telephone one of the following emergency telephone numbers:

Potton 01767 260229

Gamlingay 01767 651546  

Outside normal surgery opening times (8.30am to 6.00pm Mondays to Fridays) see Out of Hours

Hospital Services for Injuries and Emergencies are available at: -

 

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Out Of Hours

In the event of an emergency outside normal surgery hours (6.00pm to 8.30am Mondays to Fridays, and at weekends and Public Holidays) please telephone one of the following emergency telephone numbers:

Potton 01767 260229

Gamlingay 01767 651546

You will be told how to contact the Primary Care Trust's 'Emergency Out of Hours Service'.  Depending on the nature of your complaint, you will be offered either telephone advice, an appointment at the emergency centre or a home visit. The service operates for emergencies and urgent medical problems only.

NB in major emergencies and accidents where hospital treatment may be needed
telephone for an Ambulance ~ Dial 999

If your problem does not fall into either of these categories, but you would like medical advice you can contact NHS Direct Health telephone 0845 4647. 

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Medical Examinations Not Covered By The NHS

  Certain examinations are offered by the doctors, which are not covered by the NHS. These include medicals for HGV and PSV licenses, fitness for occupation, travel and sporting activities, also reports for insurance companies.

If you need to have one of these done, please telephone 

to check the current cost of these and to make an appointment.

Following advice from the British Medical Association, the practice is unable to complete applications for gun licenses.

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Telephone Advice

Specimen results are received daily from the hospitals and are checked by the doctors. Generally, you will need to see a doctor to get the result. The receptionists can advise you if your results are back if you phone between 11.00am and 3.00pm.

Please note, for reasons of confidentiality, that we can only give test results to the person they concern. This does not apply to patients under the age of 16.

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Registration & Change Of Personal Details

New residents living in our practice area are most welcome to register. 

If you live in Potton or one of the Bedfordshire villages (including Tadlow), 
register at Brookend Surgery, Potton.

If you live in Gamlingay or one of the Cambridgeshire villages
register at the Medical Centre, Gamlingay.

As part of the service we provide all new patients over the age of 16yrs with a health check by the Practice Nurse on registering to record basic health data, previous medical history, medication taken and any other relevant information.

When registered if you change your name, address or telephone number, please give all relevant details to the receptionist, remember to include your postcode.

If you move out of the practice area, please inform us so that we can prepare your records for forwarding to your new doctor as soon as they requests them. Please note that once you move out of our practice area, we can no longer properly care for you and you will need to re-register with another doctor covering that area. If you have any difficulty finding a new doctor contact the Health Authority for that area (Listed in BT phone book)

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In-House Clinics

Antenatal Clinics  

These are run at both surgeries each week:  

Child Immunisation Clinics

These operate on a monthly basis. Appointments for them are sent by the Child Health Departments at Bedford and Hinchingbrooke /Cambridge Trusts.

Travel and Yellow Fever Vaccines

In addition to providing a full travel advice and immunisation service, the practice is a designated Yellow Fever Centre and can offer this vaccine to travellers going to certain parts of the world. As not all surgeries can offer this vaccine, we are able to vaccinate people who are not registered with us. Please contact the surgery to arrange an appointment with one of the practice nurses.

Anticoagulant Clinic*

Patients taking long-term anticoagulants can have this supervised at the surgery anticoagulant clinic.

Physiotherapy Clinic *

This operates at Gamlingay on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.00am. to 12.00pm.

Wart Clinic *

Drs Drake & Jackson run a clinic to remove warts by cryotherapy at Potton,

Gynaecology Clinic *

This operates on a Monday once a month at Potton. The attending consultant is Mrs. R Wallace of Bedford Hospital.

*Please note that you may only attend these clinics after referral by one of the doctors.

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USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Brook End Surgery, Potton

The Medical Centre, Gamlingay

Health Visitors,

District Nurses,

Hospitals

Chemists                                               

Dentists Emergency Cover

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Computerisation, Data Collection, Research.

Major health information and increasingly more ordinary health information as well as prescription records are held on Computer. The practice is registered under the Data Protection Act. 

The data held is used for audit purposes within the practice and in an anonymised form (i.e. without patient identification) for audit purposes by the Health Authority/Primary Care Trust. Audit is the method used to check that standards are maintained and if possible improved. It is now carried out by all parts of the health service. Anonymised Data on the prescribing by the practice is also shared with outside bodies.

The practice is part of the National Framework of General Practices used by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to take part in national research projects. Studies completed so far include:-

From time to time we work with the MRC to identify patients from our records who may be eligible to take part in trials. Only some will be eligible and they will be invited to have further details. All research is voluntary and closely monitored both locally, and nationally by an independent ethics group.

We are grateful to patients who have taken part in these national research projects. Many important results have come from them which has helped in the treatment of disease.

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Medical Web Links

To help to judge health information you find on the internet you may wish to use the tips produced by the IM&T subgroup of the General Practitioner Committee:-

  1. Always seek a balanced view. Never rely on information from just one site.
  2. Check that documents can also be found in a journal or library. Anyone can publish anything on the internet - it is far more difficult to get something published in a scientific journal.
  3. Authors should be identified and credentials and qualifications listed.
  4. Looked for references on the site to other credited material.
  5. Look for evidence that the site is regularly updated. The date the information was published should be made obvious.
  6. Look for advertising or commercial links. The backer may influence the opinion expressed.
  7. Look for balance of opinion on a range of issues - opinionated sites could be 'single-issue mavericks'.
  8. Be wary of anything that criticises or disparages
  9. Look for evidence of an editorial board.
  10. Avoid on-line consultations or diagnoses.
  11. Check a site's statements on privacy and confidentiality.
  12. Be wary of miracle cures.

NB The links below are given in good faith, the Greensands Medical Practice believe all these to be reputable websites and the advice they may give will be of benefit. The information contained in these websites is however not under our control so no liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions.

 

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Feedback

If you have any comments concerning dead links or the technical aspects of the website or just wish to say hello, please fill in the form below.

Unfortunately emails are not secure so we can not enter into and strongly request you not to send any correspondence of a personal nature or on any medical condition. 

This link is for reporting problems with the website. It is not continuously monitored and only goes to the webdesigner so please do not send correspondence via this link if you wish to contact the surgery.

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© Greensands Medical Practice 24/5/2000 & 18/11/11
Last updated 18/11/11