Mere Surgery

Practice Profile

Mere is a small town close to the Wiltshire/Dorset/Somerset border. It is mid way between Bath and Yeovil. It has a full compliment of shops as well as two pubs and three hotels.

The surgery was purpose built in 1990 and is light, spacious and has a dedicated room for the registrar. We dispense to approximately one third of our patients.

We have an additional three rooms, which are leased by the Health Authority and are used for Psychiatry, Psychology, Behavioural Therapy, Audiology, Lipid Clinic, Dietician, Physiotherapy, Chiropody and Speech Therapy.

Mere has a population of about 2500. The practice area covers 75 square miles.

The Mere bypass is part of the A303 offering good access to both London and the West Country.

Gillingham station 5 miles away allows access to London, Waterloo in 2 hours.

The practice was accredited for training in May 1998.

Practice Demography

Age	Male	Female	Total
0-9	224	201	425
10-19	223	187	410
20-39	316	365	681
40-59	592	621	1213
60-79	502	526	1028
80+	124	194	318
Total	1981	2094	4075

A large proportion of our patients have lived in the practice area for many generations. As a result there is a close sense of community, and a great deal of mutual support.

We have the highest proportion of elderly patients in Wiltshire, this is largely due to the presence of two residential homes which afford the registrar considerable opportunity with Chronic Disease Management. We have the lowest proportion of cars per head of the population in Salisbury District. As a result we have set up a Link Scheme, which enables those with cars to give lifts to those who need them.

The Practice Team

We have a full compliment of District Nurses and Health Visitor whom we share with Dr Freeland who is a single-handed practitioner 3 miles away at Silton. We also have a part-time Carers Support Worker who supports those patients who are caring for the chronically ill at home. There is also a Social Worker, Physiotherapist, and Podiatrist attached to the practice as well as Community Psychiatric Nurses.

The practice team meets weekly.

Out of hours

We belong to Dorset Emergency Care Services, which for our area is based in Shaftesbury, Cottage Hospital.

Equipment

We are fully computerised with the EMIS system. The registrar's room has its own PC with Internet and NHS Web access. There is a digital video camera, which is small, unobtrusive and gives good quality recordings.

We have ECG, defibrillator, sigmoidoscopy and 4 spirometers.

The partners

Dr Bill Price trained at the London Hospital and came to Salisbury in 1982 as a Medical Registrar on rotation with Southampton.

After approximately five years in general medicine he completed his vocational training in the area and came to Mere in 1987. Still young at heart, and an enthusiastic trainer he also is Clinical Assistant in Diabetes at Salisbury District Hospital. He still continues to have a particular interest in the general medical side of practice, particularly diabetes, asthma, hypertension and coronary artery disease.

Dr McBride trained at Southampton qualifying in 1980 and joined the practice in 1990. She has four children, is married to a local GP and works part time at the practice. She enjoys being involved with registrar training. The small and intimate nature of the practice lends itself well to her interests in team work and the impact of disease on the family. Her other particular interests include psychiatry, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and palliative care.

Dr Edward Halsey trained in Southampton and married a fellow student in 1998. He qualified in 1999 and since then has been mostly working in Salisbury District Hospital in the General Medicine Department. He started his GP Registrar training in the summer of 2004 at Grove House Surgery, Salisbury City Centre and was there for a year.

He enjoys being outdoors and camping with his young family.

Dr Isabel Andrews - GP Retainer - qualified from Cambridge in 1998 and spent the next few years in various hospital posts in East Anglia. She joined the practice in 2001 as a registrar and has stayed here ever since, apart from two breaks to have her children.

Her main interests are in child health, obstetrics and gynaecology and the social and psychological factors affecting health care. Having recently passed MRCGP, she is well placed to advise and encourage our registrars.

The Registrar

We believe this post should be supernumerary. As we are a small practice, the registrar quickly becomes a well respected and central member of the Primary Health Care Team. We aim to be very flexible over leave requirements, and are happy to give additional study leave for exams, and courses such as minor surgery, child health surveillance, and family planning.

Prospective registrars are encouraged to come and spend some time in the practice to see how we work.

Partners

• Dr W J P Price FRCP MRCGP
• Dr E McBride BM DRCOG
• Dr E Halsey BM MRCP DRCOG MRCGP

Registrar vacancies

From August 2008.

Contact Details