Mike Jones & Martin Ashley
Monkgate Health Centre, York
Partners (from the left to right) * Denotes GP trainer
* Martin Ashley, Fiona Forsythe, * Mike Jones, Pauline Bolter, John Moroney
The practice web site can be found at http://www.minsterhealth.co.uk where more details can be found.
The surgery is situated in Monkgate Health Centre, located just outside the City walls near Monkgate Bar and York Minster; community services such as dentistry, family planning, GUM and NYED are also based here.
There are approximately 6,500 patients with five partners and a full complement of clinical and administrative staff. The patient base has a diverse geographic and social constitution: ranging from agricultural workers to professors and very affluent ‘city slickers’ to the homeless with mental health problems. The practice provides a large range of interest and experience; there is a relatively heavy workload of mental illness, alcohol/drug problems and social difficulties, which provides an excellent learning opportunity for registrars.
The practice has two GP trainers, Dr Martin Ashley and Dr Mike Jones, both of who have many years experience as VTS trainers and in various other educational roles.
Martin Ashley works at Compass Addiction Clinic one session per week and are approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act.
Mike Jones is a GPwSI in substance misuse, and also has an interest in underwater medicine (HSE approved medical examiner for divers and UK sports dive committee referee). Mike is also a PBL tutor to HYMS and Martin is a nurse practitioner tutor at Leeds Metropolitan University
Another partner, Dr John Moroney, is the CME tutor for York and also has several other educational roles, including as HYMS PBL tutor.
All partners, and other members of the team, take an active part in the registrar’s learning. There are regular educational meetings in the practice, in addition to the two tutorials per week. The registrar is expected to take part an active part in partnership business meetings as well as all other aspects practice activity.
The registrar is totally involved in and responsible for planning and arranging all tutorials. This is in keeping with our philosophy that one of the most important features of the VTS is to encourage self-directed learning; this process is facilitated by advice and support from the appointed trainer.
It is hoped the registrar will not only learn but also contribute to the development of the practice (and enjoy themselves). Taking the MRCGP exam (if this is the wish of the GPR) is actively supported during the final six-month attachment.
A full range of services is provided giving the opportunity to gain experience in areas such as contraception, obstetrics, minor surgery, joint injection, and child health surveillance. There are also attached counsellors, mental health support workers and drug addiction workers, who welcome GPR involvement.
The practice nurses are actively involved in the management of diabetes, asthma, hypertension, travel health, and "minor" illness. Health visitors, midwives and district nurses form an integral part of the practice team.
Despite a "challenging" patient group, with physical as well as mental problems, the practice provides a high standard of care that hopefully gives a working example of “good practice” to doctors embarking on a career in primary care. All appointments are 10 minutes long (other than GPR’s which are longer to start with).
The partners no longer carry out any Out of Hours work, and GP Registrars obtain their OOH training elsewhere.
Heavy emphasis is placed on the use of IT in the practice, EMIS is the clinical software system used, and paper clinical notes are no longer used (the notes being stored off-site), training on how the system is used by the practice is part of the GPR induction. There is a well-stocked library; in addition the highly developed practice intranet provides access to many practice-developed learning resources and practice disease management guidelines. The registrar is encouraged to develop their knowledge and skills in all aspects of IT. There is www access on every PC.
Email enquiries to mike@minsterhealth.co.uk
