Practice nurses

Kristyn	Caroline	Carol	Vida	Christie

Our Practice Nursing staff are Kristyn Whitmore-Craw, Caroline D'Souza, Carol Corning, Vida Bonell and Christie McKay who care for our patients at both of the surgeries. We have a comprehensive practice nursing service to support the further development of nursing facilities and chronic disease management at the practice.

'Chronic disease management' is the management of conditions such as blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. These conditions require a comprehensive approach that is impossible for an individual GP to provide effectively in normal surgery time and so we will often refer you to this team. Our practice nurses, along with other services such as dietetics and podiatry, bring together the necessary means to enable us to ensure that patients who have such problems can benefit from protocols of management that encompass the best of current medical 'evidence based' practice and thereby support your own GP in managing these often very demanding conditions.

The Nurses can be seen by appointment for all basic practice nursing services and offer the following special clinics and services:

	Asthma/COPD clinics
	Diabetic clinic
	Hypertension clinics
	Well woman/man checks
	Family planning services
	Weight management services
	Smoking cessation advice
	Blood pressure monitoring checks

Additional blood pressure monitoring clinics and blood taking (phlebotomy) services are run by Lorraine Fordham.

Ruth Young is our Healthcare Assistant and she helps to run the administrative side of our nursing services as well as assisting with new patient registration checks, taking blood samples, ECGs and blood pressure monitoring.

District nurses

Our district nurses provide nursing care for patients in the community as opposed to the practice nurses who are restricted to working within the surgeries. They are a very special team of people and work with the most seriously ill, disabled or terminally ill patients who are unable to come to the surgeries.

They can be contacted on 01483 590032. You can also leave a message for the district nurses on their answer-phone on the above number or with reception at either surgery.

Health Visitors

Our Health Visitors are registered nurses with midwifery experience who have had further training in community health, counselling and child development. They aim to promote good health in the community as a whole by working in homes, clinics and in the surgery as well as performing routine child health checks.

You can contact the health Visitors on 01483 590033 or leave a message with reception at either surgery.

Midwife

Our Midwife, Eve Fox, is a nurse with special expertise in the care of pregnant women and their babies. Working with your doctor, she provides antenatal care throughout pregnancy and in the post-natal period. She also provides ante-natal and parent craft classes. Appointments can be made through reception.

To contact the Midwife you can leave a message at reception and you can also telephone Shere Ward, Royal Surrey County Hospital on 01483 571122.

GP Registrars

The Fairlands Practice is a GP training practice within the Kent, Sussex and Surrey (KSS) Deanery for post-graduate GP training. We Currently have two GP registrars, Dr Jo Willott and Dr Oliver Middleton. Dr Willott is very exprienced in hospital medicine having been a medical registrar and is returning to start her career in general practice following maternity leave. Dr Middleton is also very experienced and has previously persued an interest in cardiology.

Dr Catrina Taussig was previously with us as a registrar and we are very pleased that she has decided to stay with us as a part-time assistant. Dr Sophia Erdozain who has recently completed her training with the Practice is providing minor surgical sessions for us. Three of our existing partners also finished their GP training here at the Fairlands Practice, Dr Arnold, Dr McKendry and Dr Sarah Dobbs. GP registrars are fully qualified doctors who have spent at least three years in hospital posts and they will often have much broader experience than this basic requirement. Their final year before becoming qualified to be a GP principal is spent in general practice under the supervision of a GP trainer and we have two approved GP trainers, Dr Norris and Dr Arnold.

Occasionally patients may be asked if they would mind if their consultation with the GP registrar is video recorded. This method has become a crucial means of assessing their performance and now forms a part of the examinations they have to take for general practice entry and also for membership of the Royal College of General Practioners (MRCGP).

From time to time we may also have undergraduate medical students with us and, in a further year or two, all doctors including all hospital doctors and prospective specialists and consultants will also have to spend a period of their training in general practice. We hope to be involved in their training also.