Meet the Team

Practice Nurses

Practice Nurses are fully trained in a wide range of skills including immunisations, health promotion, contraception and management of long-term conditions e.g. advise on diet and lifestyle choices, coronary heart disease, hypertension, asthma, diabetes, smoking cessation and obesity. Practice Nurses can extend their skills at Diploma Level and see many patients who previously would have seen the Doctor.

Our Practice Nurse is Alison Wright. She runs the surgery for practical nursing procedures and chronic diseases such as Asthma, COPD and Hypertension (see Our Clinics for the full list).

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Healthcare Assistants (HCAs)

Healthcare Assistants can consult patients for a number of reasons. Their main roles include:

• Undertake new patient health checks
• Support the practice nursing team with health promotion programmes
• Carry out baseline observations such as pulse oximetry, blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate, recording findings accurately
• Facilitate routine and 24-hout BP monitoring, advising patients accordingly
• Support the practice nurse with the management of chronic disease clinics
• Carry out BMI checks as directed
• Act as a chaperone as required
• When trained, administer vaccinations
• Ensure specimens are recorded and ready for onward transportation
• Ensure all clinical rooms are adequately stocked and prepared for each session
• Ensure fridges are cleaned routinely in accordance with extant guidance
• Ensure clinical waste is removed from clinical areas and sharps bins replaced in accordance with the practice IPC policy
• Deliver opportunistic health promotion where appropriate

Our HCA is Mrs Philippa Good.

Practice Management

The Practice Manager manages all of the business aspects of the Practice such as making sure the right systems and the right people are in place, at the right time, in order to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises, equipment and IT (information technology).

The Practice Manager supports the Admin Team, GPs and other medical professionals to deliver patient services and also helps to develop extended services, enhancing patient experience and care.

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Receptionists

Reception staff attend to patients on the phone and in person.

They coordinate and organise appointments, manage patient queries and facilitate the smooth running of the Practice to support delivery of quality patient care; the Reception Staff have a very demanding role, they are there to assist you and we would ask you to be patient during peak times when the staff have to handle a large volume of calls and enquiries.

They will ask you a small amount of personal information about your medical condition which is used to ensure your call is dealt with by the correct Clinician at the right time.

GP practices are working together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in groups of practices known as Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

What is a Primary Care Network (PCN)?

Cornwall House Surgery is a member of Barnet PCN3 with six other local practices.

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Pharmacy Team

Our PCN has clinical pharmacists who are highly qualified experts in medicines providing additional support to practices. They undertake structured medication reviews for patients with ongoing health problems, improve patient safety and outcomes, and can also review patients with certain long-term conditions such as Asthma, COPD and Hypertension (high blood pressure). Our PCN clinical pharmacists are Alex, Vicky and Maryam.

In addition to the pharmacists, the PCN also has a Pharmacy Technician. These are registered healthcare professionals who, working under the supervision of a pharmacist, support the team with a range of tasks that vary in complexity from responding to medication related queries to ensuring medication safety and regular monitoring. Our Pharmacy Technicians are Hamza, Harvinder and Linda.

First Contact Physiotherapists (FCP)

First Contact Physiotherapists (FCPs) based in general practice can deal with the vast majority of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions without a GP review. They provide a first point of contact service which means that patients presenting with a musculoskeletal problem (e.g. back, knee, hip or neck pain) for a GP appointment are offered an appointment with a physiotherapist instead. They have the skills to assess, diagnose, offer self-management advice, and if necessary refer for investigations or further treatment.

Social Prescribers

Social prescribing is a way for local agencies to refer people to a link worker. Link workers give people time, focusing on ‘what matters to me’ and taking a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

Social prescribing works for a wide range of people, including people:

• with one or more long-term conditions
• who need support with their mental health
• who are lonely or isolated
• who have complex social needs which affect their wellbeing

Our social prescribers are Manuela, Rebecca, Emma, and Juliet.

Mental Health Practitioner

A significant amount of time within primary care is spent on people who have mental health needs. The time required to address these needs can be large, and it is often more appropriate for the patient to see a skilled professional with training in mental health issues than other members of the team. The Mental Health Practitioner role is designed to work closely with clinicians to assess, diagnose and treat patients with significant mental illness.

Health and Wellbeing Coach

The health coaching service offers a non-clinical series of up to six 1:1 sessions supporting people to actively engage with their own health and wellbeing. Health coaching is not advice giving but instead focuses on what is important to the person, guiding and supporting them to reflect on and change their health-related behaviours to achieve their self- identified goals. Our Health and Wellbeing Coaches are are Maria and Lorraine.

Care Coordinator

Care Coordinators play an important role within a PCN to proactively identify and work with people, including the frail/elderly and those with long-term conditions, to provide coordination and navigation of care and support across our health care services.

Care Coordinators can potentially provide extra time, capacity, and support to patients in preparing for or in following-up clinical conversations they have with primary care professionals.

They will work closely with the GPs and other allied health professionals within the PCN to identify and manage a caseload of  patients, making sure that the appropriate support is made available to them and their careers, and ensuring that their changing needs are addressed. This is achieved by bringing together all the information about a person’s identified care and support needs and exploring options to meet these needs with a single patient centred approach personalised care plan. Our Care Coordinators are Yan Yip, Silvonnie, Jo, Lorraine and Anna.

Other professionals

Millway also has access to a range of other health professionals who are employed outside of the practice and PCN, but available locally within Barnet:

• District Nurses – see housebound patients for a range of nursing services (e.g. dressings, blood tests, administer medication)
• Occupational Therapists – help you with practical tasks in all aspects of daily life within your home, school or workplace
• Health Visitors – help with the care of children aged 0-5y

Our nurse associate is Lucinda.