Our Primary Care Network builds on the current primary care services and enables a greater provision of proactive, personalised and more integrated health and social care. We are supported by practitioners in additional roles who allow us to provide bespoke multi-disciplinary teams based on the needs of our local population. By working together with local community services, this allows us to make support available to people where it is most needed.
Our multi-disciplinary team
Meet our extended team
Clinical pharmacists
Clinical pharmacists work in primary care as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas. They work with and alongside the general practice team, taking responsibility for patients with chronic diseases and undertaking clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex medication use, especially the elderly, people in care homes and those with multiple conditions.
Our clinical pharmacists are: Jacky Bannerman, Pooja Saini and Steve Peay
Find out more about clinical pharmacists in general practice.
First contact physiotherapists
First contact physiotherapists (FCP) are qualified independent clinical practitioners who can assess, diagnose, treat, and manage musculoskeletal (MSK) problems and undifferentiated conditions and, where appropriate, discharge a person without a medical referral. FCPs working in this role can be accessed directly by patients, or staff in GP practices can refer patients to them to establish a rapid and accurate diagnosis and management plan to streamline pathways of care.
Find out more about first contact physiotherapists.
Mental health practitioner
Mental health practitioners support adults whose needs cannot be met by local talking therapies, but who may not need ongoing care from secondary mental health services. They act as a bridge between primary care and secondary mental health services and can facilitate onward referral to a range of services to meet patients’ needs. Our mental health practitioner is supported by mental health coordinator, Ruby Boisvert.
Our mental health practitioner is: Jas Sadool working in Cuckfield Medical Practice and Ouse Valley Practice
Social prescribing link workers
Social prescribing link workers give people time and focus on what matters to the person as identified in their care and support plan. They connect people to community groups and agencies for practical and emotional support and offer a holistic approach to health and wellbeing, hence the name ‘social prescribing’.
Social prescribing enables patients referred by general practice, pharmacies, multi-disciplinary teams, hospital discharge teams, allied health professionals, fire service, police, job centres, social care services, housing associations and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to get the right care.
Link workers typically work with people over 6-12 contacts (including phone calls and face-to-face meetings) over a three-month period with a typical caseload of up to 250 people, depending on the complexity of people’s needs.
Our social prescribing link workers are: Julie Miller, Natalie Roberts, Pam Murray and Zahra Dhaimish.
Find out more about social prescribing link workers.
Trainee ACP paramedics
A paramedic in primary care can recognise and manage the deteriorating patient and can manage patients with long-term conditions, minor injuries, and minor illness. They can also support patients who require wound care, have fallen, have MSK problems, and have urinary tract or respiratory infections. Paramedics can supply a range of medicines through PGDs, including antibiotics and analgesics.
Paramedics can support PCNs in responding to on-the-day demand by offering telephone triage or undertaking home visiting. They can also support PCNs to improve access to care by seeing minor ailments and injuries in surgery. Paramedics can support PCNs with the delivery of Enhanced Health in Care Homes and overall their intervention should reduce the need for admission to hospital.
Our paramedics are: Beth Crouch (Northlands Wood Practice) and Jemima Prentice (Cuckfield Medical Practice).
Occupational therapists
Occupational therapists support people of all ages with problems resulting from physical, mental, social, or developmental difficulties. Occupational therapists provide interventions that help people find ways to continue with everyday activities that are important to them. This could involve learning new ways to do things or making changes to their environment to make things easier. As patients’ needs are so varied, occupational therapists help GPs to support patients who are frail, with complex needs, live with chronic physical or mental health conditions, manage anxiety or depression, require advice to return or remain in work and need rehabilitation so they can continue with daily activities.
Our occupational therapist is: Claire Lawson