Framfield House Surgery

Welcome to
Framfield House Surgery
Framfield Medical Centre
Ipswich Road
Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 4FD
Telephone: 01394 615500
Fax: 01394 387632
Practice website: www.framfieldhouse.com
Our vision:
We aim to offer excellent medical care to all our patients in accordance
with best practice; and to offer the very best employment conditions and
support for all our staff. We will do this with courtesy and respect in a
welcoming environment and as efficiently as possible.
NEW PATIENTS
To register with the practice please complete a registration form which is available from
reception or online from our website www.framfieldhouse.com
Named GP
All our patients have an allocated named GP. This does not mean that in the event of
your named GP not being in the surgery you would not be seen - you would be offered an
appropriate appointment with an alternative clinician.
PRACTICE AREA
Our practice area covers a 6 mile radius of Woodbridge and the following towns and villages
are included:
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Boulge
Brightwell
Burgh
Charsfield
Culpho
Debach
Great Bealings
Hasketon
Kesgrave
Little Bealings
Melton
Pettistree
Rendlesham
Sutton
Wadringfield
Wickham Market
Bredfield
Bromeswell
Campsea Ashe
Clopton
Dallinghoo
Eyke
Grundisburgh
Hemley
Letheringham
Martlesham
Newbourn
Playford
Shottisham
Ufford
Wantisden
Woodbridge
If you have any enquiries concerning registration please contact Ipswich and East Suffolk
CCG, Rushbrook House, Paper Mill Lane, Bramford, Ipswich
OPENING HOURS
The surgery is open:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
8am – 6.30pm
8am – 8pm
8am – 6.30pm
8am – 6.30pm
Friday
Saturday
8am – 6.30pm
One Saturday each month
During the hours 6.30pm -8pm and on Saturdays the surgery is open for pre-booked
appointments only.
DELAYS
On occasions appointments may fall behind due to emergency consultations or urgent home
visits, in which case our reception team if possible will inform you of any delays. Sometimes
the emergencies take longer than anticipated so please respect this.
DOCTORS
Dr Debbie Fairweather MBBS, DA, DRCOG – University College London
Dr Penelope Finn MBBS, MRCGP – London Hospital Medical College
Dr Julia Howard-Griffin BM, MRCGP, MRCOphth, DFFP–University of Southampton
Dr John Lynch MBchB, MRCGP, FPcert – University of Bristol
Dr Alison Townsley MRCGP, MBBS, DCH, BmedSci – University of Nottingham
Dr Richard Verrill MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG, FPcert – University College London
Dr Lucy Williams MbCHb, MRCP, MRCGP – University of Sheffield
Dr Charlie Tinsley MRCGP
SALARIED AND ASSISTANT DOCTORS
Salaried and assistant doctors are fully qualified doctors and GPs who provide the same
clinical service as GP partners. The only difference is that they take less responsibility for the
business side of running the surgery.
Framfield House Surgery is accredited to teach and train GP registrars.
WHAT ARE GP REGISTRARS?
GP registrars are doctors who qualified more than two years ago. They have already worked
in hospital for those two years and most have other experiences in hospital or general
practice in addition to this.
The GP registrar is a three year GP training programme of which at the end they will be
assessed for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) and will
then be able to practice independently as a GP.
WHAT CAN GP REGISTRARS DO?
The GP registrar is fully qualified and is able to make diagnoses and offer treatments as any
GP is able to do. At the end of each surgery one of the experienced GPs goes through any
difficulties the GP registrar may have had to help with their training. Sometimes the GP
registrar will ask one of the experienced GPs to come and see the patient as well if they are
unsure about something.
VIDEOING CONSULTATIONS
As part of their assessments the GP registrars have to video some consultations to show the
experienced GPs how well they communicate with patients. We will let you know before we
video your consultation and gain your consent but you are within your rights to say you don’t
want this to happen.
NURSE PRACTITIONERS:
Catriona McCallum
Sue Lowe
Jenni Ball (in training)
Our nurse practitioners are nurses with additional training allowing them to consult patients
very much like a doctor. They are able to make diagnoses and prescribe medications. You
can make appointments in advance for our nurse practitioner. They work closely with the
doctors on difficult problems. Catriona is fully qualified to deal with minor illnesses such as
chest infection and urinary tract infections.
NURSE TEAM:
Sarah Williams, Nicky Menzies, Jenni Ball and Karen Knight
The practice nurses are available by appointment for advice about any health matters,
immunisations, travel advice, dressings, cervical smears and ear syringing. They carry out
health checks for the elderly and patients with diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. All
of our nurse team have completed minor illness training as well as being experienced in
chronic disease management and contraceptive advice.
CERVICAL SMEARS
All women aged 25 to 65 are strongly advised to have a regular cervical smear. The first
smear is performed at 25 then 3 yearly up to age 49 and then 5 yearly from 50 to 64.
Patients will be recalled for this service.
HEALTHCARE ASSISTANTS:
Tara Goldsmith, Sue Potter, Jane Lenihan & Colleen Keeble
Our healthcare assistants are trained to do blood pressure checks, blood tests, some
vaccinations, ECGs, patient health checks, alcohol advice, smoking advice and dementia
screening.
PRACTICE MANAGER: Julie Giles
Julie is responsible for the overall management of the practice. The practice manager is the
person to whom any complaints, compliments or suggestions should be directed NOT the
doctors.
DEPUTY PRACTICE MANAGER: Lindsay Baskett
Lindsay is responsible for the day to day running of the practice.
IT OPERATIONS MANAGER: Jayne Casey
Jayne is responsible for all IT systems plus facilities
RECEPTION TEAM LEADER: Sarah Burnham-Slipper
The receptionists ease the flow of patients to the doctors and keep the practice running
smoothly. They are here to help you. They will give you results of laboratory tests.
Sometimes they may need to ask for further details. They are not being nosy and are bound
by the same rules of confidentiality as the doctors and nurses.
They do a difficult and demanding job and are working under pressure so please be
understanding.
The practice is supported by a dedicated team of medical secretaries who deal with all
onward referrals, finance team and dispensers.
Framfield House Surgery is a purpose built centre with disabled access and a hearing loop
together with a dedicated car park with the car park at Notcutts available as an overflow car
park.
HEALTH VISITORS
The health visitors are based at the surgery to give advice on health care, particularly for
mothers and children. These can be contacted by telephoning 01394 615520.
MIDWIFE
The midwife provides full maternity care for our patients. She can be contacted at the
surgery.
APPOINTMENT SYSTEM
The surgery looks after 12,000 patients. Appointments can be booked on the phone or
online after registration with the reception team.
Routine Appointments
We offer daily routine 10 minute appointments. These should be booked with your own
registered GP if possible to preserve continuity of care. If you wish to see an alternative GP
we will do our best to accommodate this. If your problem is complex please book a double
appointment.
Urgent Appointments
We will always see you during our opening hours if your problem requires an urgent
appointment. Please consider carefully before booking whether this is what is needed. Minor
coughs, colds and sore throats can be dealt with by pharmacists. Simple urinary tract
infections and eye infections in those over 5 years can also be seen by pharmacists.
Musculoskeletal problems can be self-referred to NHS physio via the following website
www.ahpsuffolk.co.uk/referral or by telephoning 01473 770066. The nurse practitioner team
can also deal with many illnesses and our receptionists may offer you an appointment with
this team. The reception team also have minor illness leaflets. The urgent appointment slots
are 5 minutes and are offered both morning and evening to deal with the single presenting
problem.
RESULTS
Our telephones are very busy early in the mornings especially on Mondays. To help relieve
this problem please call for test results and routine enquiries from 1pm onwards. You may
be asked to come back to the surgery to discuss the results in person with an appropriate
clinician. To comply with patient confidentiality results can only be given to the patient unless
written signed permission has been given. Please allow seven working days for blood test
results and ten working days for x-rays and scans. You will be notified of your smear result
directly by post. You must allow at least ten working days for letters to come from the
hospital. Please do not make appointments to discuss matters before these times are up.
HOME VISITS
If you feel too ill to attend the surgery you may ring between 8am and 10.30am to request a
home visit. These visits are reserved for patients who are too ill to travel. Giving the
receptionist an idea of the problem helps the doctor assess the urgency of the visit. The
doctor may phone the patient before visiting. If a patient has a temperature or rash, coming
into the surgery will do no harm or endanger others. It will not always be possible to see the
doctor of your choice if you request a home visit.
DISTRICT NURSES
The district nurses provide nursing care for patients that are housebound, ill at home or
recently discharged from hospital. They are based at the surgery and can be contacted
there.
MEDICAL EDUCATION
We are a recognised training practice for the General Practitioner Training Scheme. From
time to time fully qualified and experienced Doctors (GP registrars) work with us.
The practice is committed to on-going education both with the practice through regular
education meetings and with undergraduate medical students from UEA and Cambridge,
GPs in training and employing administration apprentices.
HEALTHCARE SERVICES
FRAMFIELD HOUSE SURGERY
Providing all general practice medical services
NHS COMMUNITY SERVICES
District nurses – for home nursing care – 01394 389218
Podiatry – 01394 615203
Physiotherapy – 01394 615202
Health visitors – 01394 615220
Midwives – Maternity reception Ipswich Hospital – 01473 703108
OUT OF HOURS, BANK HOLIDAY AND WEEKEND COVER
Outside the core practice hours of 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday please dial 111 and
speak to NHS 111 service if you need medical help. The surgery telephones are not covered
between 6.30pm and 8.00am the following morning Monday – Friday or at weekends or on
bank holidays.
For all medical emergencies dial 999.
REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS
These can be requested:
1. Online via our website – please register for this scheme with pharmacy.
2. By ticking the items required on the repeat part of the prescription and place in the
box in the dispensary.
3. In writing – please allow 2 full working days before medication is required.
In the interest of safety and accuracy telephone requests are not accepted.
There is an on-site pharmacy and all patients are able to collect their prescribed medication
from Waterton Pharmacy even if they are registered at another practice. Waterton pharmacy
is open from 8am to 7.30pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm on Saturday and 10am to
12noon on Sunday.
ACCESSIBILITY
The surgery is DDA compliant and accessible to patients with disabilities. If you have any
problems with mobility or specific needs accessing the surgery please speak to a member of
the team.
CARERS
Do you know someone with a serious illness or disability? If so please let us know and we
will make provision to assist you when visiting the practice.
RECEPTION
Our reception team are on hand to answer your queries or to assist patients and visitors to
the practice. As they are an extremely busy team we would appreciate that patients check in
for appointments using the self-check in system wherever possible. If you require a
demonstration how to use this please ask a member of the team.
TELEPHONE ADVICE
Patients are able to contact the surgery to obtain advice from a GP. However this is for nonurgent advice as we cannot guarantee a same-day response. If your problem is more urgent
then an urgent appointment is more appropriate. It would help the GPs to prioritise the call
back request if you give the receptionist a brief summary of the clinical problem.
CHAPERONES
The practice offers a chaperone service is requested. If you would like a chaperone please
either speak to the receptionist on arrival or with your clinician.
PRIVATE SERVICES AND FEES
Services such as private medical examinations, insurance claim forms and travel
vaccinations are outside of NHS and clinicians are entitled to charge a fee. Details of these
charges are available on request.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The practice complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 and will only disclose information
about you with your full consent or where there is a risk to public health. All our staff are
bound by these strict rules of confidentiality and we request that patients respect this when
requesting information for others.
INTERPRETATION SERVICES
The practice provides a translation service through language line where appropriate. If you
require this service please speak to a member of the team at the earliest possible time to
avoid delays in provision. The practice will make provision for a longer consultation time to
assist with any difficulties you may have.
ZERO TOLERANCE
The practice strongly supports the NHS policy on zero tolerance. Anybody attending the
surgery who abuses GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any
threatening manner whatsoever will risk removal from the practice list. The practice has a
duty to provide a safe and secure environment for patients, staff and visitors.
PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
The practice has an active patient participation group who meet on a regular basis to work in
collaboration with members of the practice to continue to improve the services provided to
our patients. This is a vital group and ensures that the practice is able to understand issues
from patients themselves and through discussions able to changes procedures. If you are
interested in joining this group please contact Jayne Casey at the practice.
CHANGE OF PERSONAL DETAILS
It is important to let the practice know if you change your name, address, home telephone
number or mobile telephone number so that we can update your records. The practice may
contact you by phone or letter concerning results and hospital letters and cannot be held
responsible for correspondence that is not received.
CANCELLING APPOINTMENTS
If you cannot keep an appointment please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer it
to another patient.
SUGGESTIONS OR PRAISE
We try to provide a quality and caring service for our patients within the resources available.
We welcome any comments to the team of how you feel we can improve our service or even
just to say how happy you have been with our service as the staff are always pleased to
hear they have achieved their aim of an excellent patient service.We are also registered for
the friends and family survey where you can comment within the surgery or I want great care
and our online patient survey. We value your comments from all our surveys and do use this
information to improve our service.
COMPLAINTS
Should you have any concerns about your experiences at the practice you can raise these
by speaking to a member of the practice management team or in writing to the practice
manager. The practice has a formal complaints procedure which is available either by
contacting the practice directly or downloading a copy from our website. All complaints to the
practice are fully investigated and a written reply sent. The practice also discusses the
complaints in their education meetings to learn from them to continue to improve our service
to our patients.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
The Freedom of Information Act 200 aims to produce a culture of openness in public bodies,
by providing members of the public with the right access to information held. The main
purpose of this is to show how public money is being used. The practice is considered to be
a public body for the purposes of this Act. Therefore members of the public (not necessarily
patients) can request information from them. We can confirm that no patient information is
disclosed.
SELF-TREATMENT OF COMMON ILLNESSES
BACK PAIN
Back pain causes millions of lost working days in Britain each year. Usually too much or inappropriate
lifting or gardening is the cause. Be sensible, take things easy, prevention is better than cure. Rest
and painkillers will relieve most cases within a few days. Your doctor will not mind if you approach a
qualified physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor directly.
BURNS AND SCALDS
Apply large quantities of cold water to the burn as soon as possible and maintain this for several
minutes. A loose dressing is suitable for unbroken or mildly blistered skin. Larger burns and burns in
children should be seen by a nurse or doctor.
COUGHS, COLDS AND SORE THROATS
No magic cure has been found for these common ailments. Viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics.
Aspirin or paracetamol, soothing drinks and other remedies help relieve the symptoms until they pass
naturally in a few days or so.
DIARRHOEA AND VOMITING
Again normally caused by viruses. Even holiday diarrhoea can be treated by small amounts of clear
fluids, not milk, taken frequently to rest the stomach and prevent dehydration. In children, mixtures of
glucose and salts purchased over the counter can be used. If the patient appears very ill, or in babies
who can become dehydrated more quickly, consult the doctor if symptoms persist.
EARACHE
Usually earache accompanies coughs and colds. Paracetamol will relieve the pain. If symptoms
persist, and with children, consult the doctor at the next surgery session.
HEAD LICE
Very common in children, head lice prefer clean hair and are not a sign of poor hygiene. Lotions are
available from the pharmacy for all the family.
THREADWORMS
All children will get these at some stage. An itching bottom, especially at night, is the most common
complaint. Threadworms resemble small pieces of white cotton. The pharmacy can advise you about
treatment, again for all the family.
HEAD INJURIES/CONCUSSION
Most bumps on the head cause no damage. A slight headache can be helped with paracetamol. If the
patient is knocked out for more than a few seconds, consult the doctor who may advise that the
patient is taken to hospital if a more serious injury is suspected even though the patient can at first
appear well.
SPOTS
Most childhood spotty illnesses are minor and often cause little upset. Measles is more serious, but is
rare now that children are immunised. The doctor will not mind you attending the surgery with a spotty
child to confirm diagnosis. All of these illnesses are contagious before the spots appear.
INSECT BITES/STINGS
Antihistamine tablets are available from the pharmacy which relieves itching as does calamine lotion.
Antihistamine cream is not recommended.
NOSEBLEEDS
Pinch the nose between thumb and forefinger gently for 5 to 10 minutes below the nasal bone.
Persistent bleeding or a clot of blood down the throat may need further medical intervention. If heavy
bleeding continues for more than 20 minutes you should go to A & E.
SPRAINS
R.I.C.E. – Rest, ice, compression, elevation. A cold compress of ice (a bag of frozen peas) applied to
the strain for 30 minutes reduces and prevents swelling. A crepe bandage can be used and elevation
continued until all swelling subsides. Gradual resumption of movements and exercise over a few days
is recommended.
SUNBURN
Treat as other burns. Calamine lotion and paracetamol will help. Avoidance, especially in children is
most important. High factor sunblock and hats etc are advisable in all but the mildest of exposure to
the harmful effects of the sun.
PRIVATE PROVIDER SERVICES AT THE SURGERY
The surgery provides access to additional private healthcare services within the centre. Full
details of all these services together with the fees payable are available from reception.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture Clinic
Dr Haiguo Hong
01394 615500
Audiology
The Hearing Care Centre
Karen Finch
Freephone 0800 096 2637
Chiropody/Podiatry
Graham Galaway
01394 615500
Advanced Electrolysis
Maureen Gillanders
01394 615500
Mental Health &
Emotional Issues
Osteopathy
Val Chater
07775 600230
East Coast Osteopaths
Susan Kimber
01394 615500
Physiotherapy
Newman Physiotherapy
Mark Newman/James Potter
01394 615500 or 07931 611321
Psychology
Flexible Psychological Solutions LLP
Martin Wilks
01473 356302 or 07950 802613