Practice Manager's Page

My name is Caroline Self, I am the Practice Manager here at Giggs Hill Surgery. I am available 9am - 3pm Monday - Friday (often longer!). I deal with the business side of the Practice and look after staffing, recruitment, payroll, budgets and accounts, and IT.

GP Contract

With the introduction of the new contract for GPs in 2003 it became my job to monitor it and I am responsible for all the returns we now need to do. I look at data quality and how to improve it. When new targets and systems are introduced (when will this Government leave us alone?), I invariably get the job of setting them up and am currently working on "Choose and Book". Running a busy Practice is very demanding and I have developed many processes and protocols to ensure sooth running. I am here to help patients when they have problems and whilst no one likes complaints it does help us improve our service to you, so we do take them very seriously. If you have a complaint I am here to listen and help, I will try to see you at the time the complaint arises.

The Building

I get involved with the running of the building and liaise between the Trust users and the doctors. Over the last couple of years the doctors and I have been working with other local doctors on a referral gateway which goes under the name of MEDICS (Molesey, Esher, Dittons Integrated Care Services) to try to bring some secondary care services e.g. consultant clinics out of the hospital and into the community. This is an exciting project. We currently have Ultrasound, Cardiology, Gynaecology, Paediatrics, and ENT clinics at Emberbrook with Muscular Skeletal and Urology clinics at Molesey Hospital. Further services we are working on currently are Audiology and Ophthalmology. All these services involve getting Consultants from the hospital to come and work with us in the community, they are the same Consultants you would see at the hospitals and it is likely that if you need to be referred for a procedure the same consultant would undertake that procedure at hospital.

Teamwork

I try to keep everyone working as a team and we have a wonderful bunch of receptionists, who really aren't the archetypal dragons, they really do want to help. We are developing a lovely lot of young people who are responsible for scanning and coding (see Technology page),! The admin team can turn their hand to anything from coding, to arranging clinics, registration of patients, repeat prescriptions, looking after patient notes and typing letters!

The nurses (link) should be sainted as they always see people in their breaks and our phlebotomist is responsible for not only taking blood but our recall system to ensure all our patients do not miss out on their annual reviews (link) where applicable.

Website

Dr Matthews (link) has developed the website and you can send a message to the Practice. As this is not a secure e-mail system it should not be used for things like medical advice or something that needs an urgent response. It is not monitored in real time but mail is collected daily. You can order repeat prescriptions via our website form (link) We are working towards a system that is secure and will allow encrypted repeat prescription requests and internet booking of appointments.

Theresa Goodwin

My Deputy, Theresa Goodwin, needs a big mention as she looks after requests for registering at the practice, patient requests to access their notes, recall system for blood tests. Most of her time is spent on monitoring our appointment book and adjusting the appointment slots. She also manages staff rotas arranging holiday cover. In fact rotas take up most of her time!

In short, if "no one else wants to do it" or doesn't know what to do with it, ask Caroline! This means my job it is very varied. It is always a challenge and one I enjoy.