Welcome to Nidderdale Group Practice

(01423) 770202
We are a seven-Partner practice operating from three modern, purpose-built surgeries covering the area of Nidderdale stretching from the western side of Harrogate up to the remote areas of Upper Nidderdale such as Scar and Lofthouse. The map of the practice on the rear cover shows the location of the surgeries. All three surgeries have car parks. There is full disabled access and disabled toilet facilities at all our premises.

This booklet tells you about the practice and the services that are on offer from the Primary Health Care Team, which includes receptionists, dispensers, practice and district nurses, midwife, health visitors and school nurse in addition to the doctors. We also enjoy the support of a visiting chiropodist, physiotherapist, counsellor and mental health link worker, speech therapist, RELATE counsellor, Carers Resource worker and a representative from the local housing/benefits department.

On joining the practice you will be offered a new patient health check with the practice nurse as part of our policy for health promotion. You can choose to see any of the doctors working from your surgery. To ensure continuity of care we ask patients to attend the surgery where their notes are held and not to swap between surgeries.

We aim to offer a high quality service in a warm and friendly environment, with the emphasis on providing a wide range of services at each of our surgeries.

The Partners

Dr Iain M Mclntosh
MBChB Edinburgh (1975) Special Interests: Diabetes and Gastroenterology

Dr Alison M Waterworth
MBBS Newcastle (1973) GP Vocational Certificate (1978) DIP OBST Special Interests: Women's Health

Dr Michael J Beer
MBChB Leeds (1980) DRCOG, MRCGP Special Interests: General Practice Trainer with University of Leeds

Dr J Robert Spain
MBBS Newcastle (1982) MRCGP
Special Interests: Clinical Governance, Prescribing, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Hypertension and I.T.

Dr Carolyn M Ryan
MBBCh Cardiff (1982) DRCOG, DCH, FP Cert Special Interests: Women's Health

Dr John M H Hain
BSc (Hons) MBChB Dundee (1995), MRCGP, DFFP Special Interests: Dermatology and General Medicine

Dr David G B Lawson
B Med Sci BM BS Nott (1993) DRCOG DFFP DCH Special Interests: Coronary Heart Disease, Hypertension and Sports Medicine

Other Doctors
In addition to the Partners, Dr Catherine Shire and Dr Jane Robinson are available for consultation. Dr Shire works across all three surgeries and Dr Robinson can be seen at The Grange Medical Centre, Dacre Banks.

The Primary Health Care Team

Practice Nurses
The Practice Nurse is an important part of the Primary Health Care Team. Below are some of the many and varied services which are provided:

• Health Promotion
• New Patient Health Checks
• Dietary and lifestyle advice
• Travel advice and vaccinations
• Asthma checks
• Diabetic checks
• Angina checks
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease checks
• Smoking Cessation Advice
• Blood taking and ECG recording
• Blood Pressure Checks
• Dressing of wounds and removal of stitches

When making an appointment with the nurse, it would be helpful if you could tell the receptionist what it is for. This will ensure that the correct amount of time is allocated for your appointment.

District Nurses
The District Nursing team provides skilled nursing care, advice and support to patients, their families and carers, at home. They work as part* of a multi-disciplinary team based at the surgery, integrating with our Health Visitor and Practice Nurse to provide a seamless service for our patients. The District Nurse can be contacted on 01423 781191.

Health Visitors
A Health Visitor is available at each surgery. They can provide information, advice and support to all patients, but are particularly responsible for the under 5's and the elderly.

Midwife
Our Midwife is based at Feastfield medical centre but holds a weekly ante-natal clinic at all three surgeries by appointment. She is available to give advice on pre-conceptual care, ante-natal screening and place of delivery and runs regular Parent Craft classes. You will receive visits from the Midwife during the post-natal period.

School Nurse
The School Nurse is based at the Feastfield Medical Centre, Pateley Bridge and can be contacted on 01423 711736. She works with all the primary schools in the area as well as Upper Nidderdale School. She provides a health link to the school, offering direct health related advice and information to school staff, pupils and their parents.

GP Registrar Training
We are a Training Practice which means that doctors who intend to make their career in General Practice are attached to the Practice for six months at a time. These doctors are fully qualified, often with hospital experience. A requirement of their training is the video recording of consultations. Only consultations with the trainee doctors will be recorded but please let us know at the time of making the appointment if you do not wish this to be done.

Miscellaneous Information

Appointments
The Practice operates a computerised appointments system. If you are unable to keep your appointment please let us know as soon as possible so that it can be allocated to another patient. All urgent cases will be seen on the same day but not necessarily by the doctor of your choice.

Women's Health
Female doctors are available at all three surgeries for advice on family planning and sexual health. Most procedures can be performed in normal surgery times but the doctor/nurse needs to know in advance of the appointment so that specialist equipment can be sterilised.

Dispensing
We dispense medicines at all three of our surgeries to those patients living more than one mile from a chemist.

Repeat Prescriptions
For patients on regular medication a repeat order slip will be issued. Wherever possible please complete the slip and return it to the surgery. Otherwiseyou may telephone the surgery to request a repeat prescription. In general we would encourage you to ring in the morning to place your order but please check with the dispenser at your usual surgery. We always require 48 hours notice for repeat prescriptions.

Samples and Test Results
If you are asked to provide us with a sample please bring it to the surgery before 11 am. When telephoning for results please try to ring in the afternoon and remember that we can only give results to the patient to whom the test refers.

Home Visits
If you are too ill to come to the surgery a doctor may be asked to visit you at home. If you need a home visit it is important that you try to telephone before 10.00 am as this greatly helps us to plan our visits efficiently. To assist us with determining the urgency of your problem, please be prepared to give the receptionist details of the nature of your illness. Please remember in a rural area a doctor can see many patients in the time it takes to do one home visit so please try to attend surgery whenever possible. We cannot guarantee that you will be visited by a doctor from the surgery that you usually attend.

Out of Hours Emergency Cover
All the doctors are members of the North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors (NYED). This means that when the surgery is closed, emergency cover is provided by GPs in the Harrogate and rural district area who take turns at being on call. If you have an urgent problem when the surgery is closed you should call the NYED on 01904 621621. Please do confine your calls to urgent matters only.

Patient Suggestions
We encourage any suggestions or comments about the service we provide. Please contact our Practice Manager, either verbally or in writing. In order to gather some formal feedback we conduct a Patient Survey periodically on a randomly selected group of patients.

Complaints
If you have a complaint or a concern about the service you have received from the Doctors or from any member of the Practice staff please let our Practice Manager know. We have a Practice Complaints Procedure for dealing with such problems.

Staff Training
The Practice participates in the Craven, Harrogate & Rural District PCT's Target Day afternoons, set up to provide training and support to GPs and their staff through protected learning time. This means that all three surgeries close for one afternoon per month, details of which are displayed at each surgery. Emergency cover is provided by North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors (NYED) who should be contacted on 01904621621.

Private Medical Services
Some of the services we provide are not covered under the NHS and as such incur a charge, e.g. Passport Applications, Private Medical Certificates, HGV licenses, Pre-Employment Medicals and Reports, Claim Forms, Shotgun Certificates and some vaccinations. A full list of charges is available in each surgery.