I am Dr Kirti Singh, the new lead GP for Ivel Medical Centre.
I’m delighted to have taken on responsibility for Ivel Medical Centre as of 1 June 2023, after what I know has been a worrying time for residents as we moved from one provider to another. Now that the new contract is up and running, I am looking forward to meeting our patients.
I want to use this blog as an opportunity for me to introduce myself and give an overview of how the practice will work. but, before I do, I want to pay tribute to the GPs who previously worked at Ivel Medical Centre and have taken care of you for so many years, particularly through the last few years, which I know have not been easy for anyone.
So, who are the new team at Ivel Medical Centre?I am the lead GP for the practice. I came to the UK in 2004, having trained in India as a doctor with a surgical speciality. I started my career in the UK, working mainly in the Accident and Emergency Department, and as a children’s doctor in hospital before re-training as a GP 10 years ago.
In 2018 I took on the contract for Malzeard Road Medical Centre in Luton. It began as a very small surgery and has now grown into a vibrant practice with 8,500 patients. My team and I have worked hard to raise the quality of care provided at the practice, and I am pleased that it’s now ranked highly as a performing practice in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board’s list of surgeries. I am looking forward to taking on the same challenge with Ivel Medical Centre.
I love working in primary care. It’s the place where we can make the most changes to help local people. Over 70% of healthcare activity takes place in general practice and it gives us an opportunity to think about how we can work with patients to improve services that are most important to local people and also think about where we can prevent ill health. Being a doctor and helping to improve lives is my passion, and I hope you will notice this as you get to know me and my team better.
Team is the important word here – as it’s not just me who will be serving the people of Biggleswade. Dr Button will continue to work at the practice as a salaried GP, together with the Community Matron, two Emergency Care practitioners and all the management, admin and secretarial staff who you have been used to seeing over the years. We also have some regular sessional GPs who will also continue to work at the practice – so you should still see some friendly faces about the place.
On top of this, we have recruited two part-time nurses who started on 5th June and a Clinical Pharmacist who will join us on 26th June. Some new locum staff will also start working regular shifts and further recruitment is taking place. In the weeks and months ahead, you will start to notice a stable team of regular clinical staff taking shape.
I will be based at Ivel Medical Centre for the first few weeks, so that I can get to know patients, see how the practice runs, better understand what works well and what doesn’t, and listen to our patients, so we can refine the working model as we go. This means that whilst you will still see some staff and processes that are familiar, there will also be some positive changes which we hope will improve the care we provide.
I know that patients have reported trouble getting through to the surgery and so we are installing a new phone system with advanced functionality in a few weeks’ time, which should make it easier for people calling in to book an appointment.
We recognise that this improvement may not suit all patients so, from now on patients will be able to book appointments on the phone or online, or – if booking a follow up after an appointment – in person at the surgery. We have made a commitment that at least 40% of appointments will be pre-bookable and additional slots will be made available across all the clinicians available, to help the 8:30am rush for an appointment.
We know we have a lot of work to do to earn your trust, but we do ask for a little bit of time to embed the changes we’re making and for the benefits to start to filter through. I am confident, however, that we can build a better service for you, so please give us a chance.
Keeping communications channels open, so that we can work together to provide a service that works for you will be important to us over the coming months, so I would encourage you to get involved with the Patient Participation Group who have been helping me and my team settle in. You can either join as a member, or you can raise any concerns with the Chair.
I’m sure I’ll get to meet many of you over the next few weeks, so if you spot me in surgery, please do come and say hello.
Kirti
13th June 2023