Our Team
GP Partners
The GP Partners hold the practice contracts and are ultimately responsible for the quality of primary care service provided to patients. Under the guidance and oversight of the GP Partners, the Salaried GPs are the team of permanently employed doctors responsible for patient care. Some of our Salaried GPs have been appointed as Lead GPs to take additional responsibility for assuring the quality of our service in particular clinical areas and to provide mentoring for our Salaried GPs. We try to ensure that our Salaried GPs work consistently at the same practice, to improve continuity of care for patients. GPs review all patient requests for assistance and will assign the case to the most appropriate clinician from any of the clinical teams, including the Primary Care Network teams.
Dr Richard Brixey
MBBS MRCGP, Qualified from Pembroke College, Oxford University and Barts & the Royal London, University of London 2005
GP Partner (Staploe & Cathedral Medical Centres)
Male
Dr Anthony E Gunstone
BSc MBBS MRCP MRCGP DRCOG, Qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, London 1995
GP Partner (Staploe Medical Centre)
Male
Dr Antoinette Hadida
MRCP 2001, MRCGP, MBChB, DFSRH Qualified from University of Manchester 1998
GP Partner (Cathedral Medical Centre)
Female
Dr James E Howard
MB BChir PhD DRCOG MRCGP Qualified from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, London 1996
GP Partner (Staploe Medical Centre)
Male
Dr Elizabeth Turner
MA (Cantab), MBBS, MRCP, MRCGP, Qualified from Selwyn College, Cambridge and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London 2010
GP Partner (Haddenham Surgery)
Female
Salaried GPs (Cathedral Medical Centre)
Dr Vinitha Mathew
MBBS MRCGP DRCOG DFSRH DGM Qualified from St Johns Medical College Bangalore India 1993
Lead GP
Female
Dr Eliza Thomas
Salaried GP
Female
Dr Matt Piccaver
BSc MBBChir (Cantab) DRCOG MRCGP. Salaried GP
Male
Salaried GPs (Haddenham Surgery)
Dr Chinnu Abraham
MBChB MRCP (2004) MRCA (2006) MRCGP (2011) DFSRH DRCOG LoC SDI-IR The University of Edinburgh
Salaried GP
Female
Salaried GPs (Staploe Medical Centre)
Dr Ranmini Weerasinghe
MBBS, MRCGP Graduated from University of Sri Jayewardenepura - Sri Lanks
Female
Dr Camilla Cheung
MA (Cantab), MB BChir, MRCP, MRCGP, DRCOG, Qualified from the University of Cambridge 2006
Lead GP
Female
Dr Dipak Patel
MBChB 2003. MRCGP 2007, FRACGP 2011, DOccMed 2013, Qualified University of Liverpool
Lead GP (specialist areas TBD)
Male
Dr Mark Dourish
BSc, MB, BChir, DRCOG, MRCGP. Qualified from the University of Cambridge 1992.
Salaried GP
Male
GP Trainees (Registrars)
We are very proud that all three of our practices are accredited Primary Care Learning Organisations under NHS Health Education England. This means that we can host students and trainees from across the clinical professions, as part of their practical training. GP trainees are fully qualified doctors who are now doing their specialist training to become GPs. They have an allocated mentor from our staff, and have comprehensive debriefs after their clinical sessions. Depending on the stage they are at in their training, they may be accompanied by their mentor during patient consultations.
Dr Subhash Mishra
GP Trainee (ST4) (Cathedral Medical Centre)
Male
Dr Calum Wheeler
GP Trainee (ST1) (Haddenham Surgery)
Male
Dr Mohammed Subhi
GP Trainee (ST3) (Staploe Medical Centre)
Male
Advanced Practitioners
Our Advanced Practitioner team is led by Ally. The team consists of a diverse group of 10-15 Nurses and Paramedics who have undertaken additional training to expand their scope of practice to better meet the needs of the people they care for. Our APs mainly deal with urgent requests for care that need to be dealt with on the same day. They work closely with the 'Duty Doctor' and Minor Illness Nurses to deliver this part of our service. APs usually work quite flexibly across all three Mereside practices, although you may see some of them at your practice more often than others. Some of our APs are also qualified prescribers, and/or have additional qualifications or specialised skills in particular areas such as Women's Health or Frailty.
Ally
Advanced Nurse Practitioner Manager
Lucy
Queens Nurse RGN BA (Hons)
Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Frailty and end of life - Haddenham Surgery)
Hannah
Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Women's Health Specialist
Emma
Nurse Practitioner
Gillie
Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Luke
Advanced Paramedic Practitioner
Mark
Advanced Paramedic Practitioner
Sam
Advanced Paramedic Practitoner
Shireen
Advanced Paramedic Practitioner
Female
Rebecca
Advanced Paramedic Practitioner
Female
Practice Nurses
The Nursing and HCA teams are led by Lucy. They are a large and diverse team of 15-20 nurses, with a range of skills and specialities who work flexibly across all three of our practices as needed. We have four levels of nurse role, reflective of their level of expertise and any specialisms they may have. The services that they perform vary depending on their role and specialisms, and include but are not limited to:
Wound dressings, doppler checks, baby and adult immunisations, injections, cervical smears, birth control and HRT advice, Asthma and COPD checks, minor injuries advice and treatment, Diabetic checks or reviews, IUD, Implant and ring pessary fittings and checks, Minor Illness care, and ECGs.
Lucy
Nurse and HCA Manager (Respiratory, Minor Illness)
Wendy
Specialist Practice Nurse
(Diabetes)
Rosie
Senior Practice Nurse (Diabetes)
Carolyn
Senior Practice Nurse (Respiratory)
Sharon
Senior Practice Nurse (Respiratory, Minor Illness)
Balazs
Senior Practice Nurse (Diabetes)
Jane
Senior Practice Nurse (Women's Health, Minor Illness)
Vikki
Senior Practice Nurse (Women's Health, Minor Illness)
Healthcare Assistants
The Nursing and Healthcare Assistant teams are led by Lucy. We have a team of around ten HCAs working alongside our Nursing team. They also work flexibly across our three practices as needed. We have two levels of HCA role, reflective of their level of expertise and any specialisms they may have. Their regular work includes, but is not limited to: blood tests, blood pressure checks, stop smoking advice, health checks, and assisting Nurses and GPs during procedures.
Dispensary
We have a Dispensary at Staploe Medical Centre and Haddenham Surgery. Dispensaries are permitted to issue prescription medication to patients who live more than 1 mile away from a Pharmacy. There is no Dispensary at Cathedral Medical Centre. We have a team of 15-20 dispensers across Staploe and Haddenham, led by Jill at Haddenham and Andrea at Staploe. Our Dispensers are responsible for ensuring that all prescribed medicines and appliances dispensed are issued correctly and in line with the advice of the prescribing clinician. They also provide advice to patients and ensure patients are aware of how to take their medication.
Medicines Technicians
The Medicines Technicians team is a team of around 8 staff, led by Liz. They are a unique team within General Practice here at Mereside Medical, and they play a vital role in collaborating with the Clinical Teams to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of medication management across all three practices. In turn this significantly reduces the medication management workload for our clinicians. All Medicines Technicians are qualified to either Dispenser NVQ level 2 or 3 and have also received additional training to deliver this bespoke role. Their primary focus is to offer support to patients, specifically in managing hospital letters, addressing medication queries, facilitating medication changes, and conducting blood monitoring.
Liz
Medicines Technician Manager
Patient Services
The Patient Services teams are the first point of contact for our patients when calling or visiting our practices. They are a large team of around 20 staff, with practice-level Managers. Everyone in the team is able to work at any of our practices and so they work flexibly together to ensure we have the right level of support at each practice. Our Patient Services Advisors aim to support you to access the health care services you need as efficiently as possible. They look after anything from booking appointments, receiving and processing hospital letters and blood results, and supporting the clinical teams to follow up with patients to ensure that treatments are managed in a timely way.
Medical Secretaries
Our Medical Secretarial team is a team of around ten, led by Jo at Staploe and Cathedral and with Senior Secretary Jane at Haddenham. The team provides a range of support to the Clinical teams. They process all patient referrals initiated by our clinicians to hospitals, private clinics and Community Services, and are broadly responsible for ensuring that any procedural forms are completed within the timescales required.
They also process Subject Access Requests.
Clinical Admin
Our Clinical Admin team is led by Laura, a team of around 10 staff responsible for the medical coding of clinical correspondence into our electronic clinical system. They are responsible for summarising and coding all relevant information from paper records into patients' electronic records, including for newly registered patients. We receive around 2500 letters and reports each week about patients and their care, and the Clinical Admin team review and code all of these on the patient record, assigning any actions to the appropriate team or clinician. This significantly reduces the admin burden for our clinicians, enabling them to focus on clinical work while ensuring consistent and accurate coding of the patient record. The Clinical Admin team are also responsible for the administration of diabetic eye screening and cervical cytology.
Laura
Clinical Admin Manager
Practice Management
At Mereside we have developed a diversified Operations team of around 15 staff that provide a wide range of specialised support to all three practices. Led by our Chief Operating Officer, Louisa, we have built specialist functions for People & Culture, Finance, Clinical Operations, Quality Improvement, and Facilities & IT. Each practice also has a dedicated Practice Operations Manager who focus on facilitating the day to day running of each practice. As a team our objective is to enable the rest of the organisation to deliver the best service they can to our patients, by providing them with the best systems, tools, processes and support to carry out their work as easily and effectively as possible. The Practice Operations Manager is also first port of call for any external contact including patient feedback, compliments, or complaints.
Dr Louisa Wood
Chief Operating Officer
Demet Jackson
Group Practice Operations Manager (Staploe Medical Centre)
Emma Boughen
Practice Operations Manager (Cathedral Medical Centre)
Danielle Harding-Mitchell
Practice operations Manager (Haddenham Surgery)
Female
Claire Cater
Group Head of Quality Improvement
Hajnalka Kardos
Group Finance Manager
John Lawrence
Group Head of People and Culture
Jackie Spruce
Group Head of Clinical Operations
Clinical Research Trials
At Mereside we have an active Clinical Research Trials unit which consists of 2 Research Nurses coordinated by Erin. As a group of General Practices we act as a major primary care trials hub which is also affiliated to the UK Primary care Research Network (UKPCRN) We have been involved in several trials that have resulted in significant improvements in diagnoses and/or medication used. As a result of participating in trials we can offer patients local access to innovative medications and research areas, enabling our patients to participating in trials of new medications that may help their health conditions. We typically have several trials running at any one time.
Ely Primary Care Network Team (PCN)
A Primary Care Network (PCN) is a group of GP practices working closely together, aligned to other health and social care staff and organisations, providing integrated services to their local population. In our case Ely North PCN and Ely South PCN work together as Ely PCNs. The member practices are all three Mereside practices, plus St George's, St Mary's, and Burwell Surgery. The NHS provides funding for 'Additional Roles' to supplement the core General Practice team, and improve the patient service. In Ely PCNs, we have over 40 Additional Roles staff working across all six practices in four teams: 'Personalised Care Team', 'Clinical Pharmacy Team', 'First Contact Physio Team' and 'General Practice Assistants' . We believe these additional teams have made a huge impact on the service patients receive, and are proud of how well our practice teams work alongside the PCN teams.
PCN Pharmacy Team
Our PCN Pharmacy team is led by Raalib, and includes around 10-15 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The team are highly qualified experts in medicines who provide a variety of services to our practices. They have become invaluable for prescribing safety, outcomes and overall service quality. One of the main services they offer is a structured review of a patient’s medicines. The objective is to reach agreement with the patient about their medication plan. They will seek to optimise the benefits of medicines patients are taking, and minimise the number of medication-related problems patients experience. The pharmacy team can also provide further advice and support regarding medicine use. This can include referral to another health care professional if appropriate. Some pharmacists have completed the independent prescribing course so are able to prescribe directly to patients.
Raalib
Lead Clinical Pharmacist (Ely PCNs)
Male
PCN Physiotherapists
We have a team of four first contact physiotherapists (FCP) working across Ely PCNs. An FCP is an experienced physiotherapist who has the advanced skills necessary to assess, diagnose and recommend appropriate treatment or referral for musculoskeletal (MSK) problems on a patient’s first contact with healthcare services e.g. when they visit their GP surgery.
PCN Personalised Care Team
The PCN Personalised Care Team consists of around 20-25 staff in a number of roles. Social Prescribing Link Workers connect people to community-based support, including activities and services that meet practical, social, and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. This includes connecting people to statutory services for example housing, financial and welfare advice. Social prescribing works particularly well for people with some mental health needs, who feel lonely or isolated, with long term conditions and complex social needs. Health & Well-being Coaches help patients look after and manage their own physical and mental health. Health coaching is particularly helpful for people who are suffering from long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma, arthritis, or heart-related conditions, as it can support them in making positive lifestyle changes that lead to long-term behaviour change and improve their quality of life. We also have some specialist Infant Feeding Coaches who provide support with breastfeeding. The Personalised Care Team also includes Care Coodinators, Mental Health Connectors, and a Recovery Coach.
Vandana
Lead Health and Wellbeing Coach
