The Right Care for You

Introduction

Traditionally when we have felt unwell we would make an appointment to see our GP.

As the NHS has developed and our demands on it have grown, a number of other roles have been introduced. 

Many of these are specialist in nature and this means that having an appointment with someone with special training or an interest related to your health issue is more beneficial than the generality of a GP. 

There will be times when it will be necessary to see the doctor, but often there are other people at the surgery who can provide more specialist care and faster, this then allows our GP team to focus on those who need their care the most.

Below is a description of some of the other members of our healthcare team and how they can assist you.  

Mental Health Support Workers

Providing support to patients who are struggling to cope with stress, anxiety, depression or a personality disorder. There is both an adult service and a separate child service (for children aged 8-18) provided by Mind, which aims to help improve your coping skills, using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques to help you improve your independence and resilience.

This is not a counselling service.

The Mental Health Support Worker works with you to help you to begin actively taking steps towards your own recovery.

A GP referral is required into the service, please call and make an appointment if you would like to discuss this.

Social Prescribers

Social Prescribing is an opportunity to talk at length about any worries that might be affecting health and wellbeing in a safe environment. The service supports individuals to make positive changes in their life and within their communities by linking them to volunteers, activities, voluntary and community groups, and public services that can help. You might be worried about housing and finance, suffering from loneliness or keen to find out about local courses. You can find out more about the Going Local service at: Phil's Going Local Story | Adur & Worthing Councils - YouTube. You can either be referred to the service by a healthcare professional, or alternatively self-refer here. To find out more information about social prescribing please click or tap here

Wellbeing Advisors

Our Wellbeing Advisor offers interventions to actively support behavioural change, particularly for individuals with long-term conditions where lifestyle change could help. Such advice may focus on weight management, adhering to a treatment regime, becoming more active or managing mood. Support is also on offer for those who would like to take a preventative approach to  reducing their risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and type 2 diabetes through following a health lifestyle. Our GPs refer patients to ????? or alternatively you can call the surgery and ask to make an appointment

Care Coordinators

Becky and Karen are the Ball Tree Surgery’s Care Coordinators. They work with patients with long term conditions and complex health and social needs to offer support and guidance on accessing services. They particularly focus their time on frail individuals, those with learning disabilities those with severe mental illness and their carers. The aim of Care Coordinators is to enhance the quality of an individual’s care and support them to manage their long-term needs to live as well and as independently as possible. Please ask a member of our reception team if you think that you or a loved one would benefit from speaking with the Care Coordinator team.

Pharmacy Team

Our Pharmacy Team of 2 Clinical Pharmacists and 3 Pharmacy Technicians focus on day-to-day medication queries from patients, and hospital letters and discharges, and ensure all patients are monitored appropriately for the medications they are taking. The team focus on Care Home residents and Structured Medication Reviews for those on complex and problematic polypharmacy in particular.

Paramedic Practitioner

Our Paramedic Practitioner helps to triage patients by providing safe, individualised patient care. They work as part of our multidisciplinary team and have regular contact with our GPs and Nurse Practitioners and will refer patients on when necessary. Our paramedic carries out face-to-face examinations and home visits will be carried out for our most vulnerable patients with acute, ongoing and complex health needs.

Physiotherapists

We have first contact practitioners attached to our surgery providing care for those with complex musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.