Peterculter Medical Practice

OUR much anticipated computer system upgrade in Jane went pretty much according to plan and we are pleased not to have had any major glitches (so far!). The staff performed magnificently in making the changes as smooth as possible and a significant amount of extra effort was made by all, Thank you, too, to the patience of our patients who were visiting or contacting the practice around this time - normal service has now been resumed.

Dr Suresh Arunachalam has now completed his 1st year of training with us and has returned to India for a break prior to starting a short term GP assistant past in Aberdeen city; he has successfully completed basic GP training although at the time of writing still awaits exam results - we wish him well with his future medical career. In August we will be joined by our new GP registrar Dr Janice Chin who will be with us for the next year; she completes her rotation of hospital speciality experience in ]uly. The practice always enjoys having the opportunity to be involved in the teaching and development of a trainee GP, in addition to which they often bring their own talents and fresh ideas.

As mentioned in the last Culter Courier, our new full time partner Dr Stuart McMain starts in August and we are very much looking forward to him joining our team.

The national contract monitors the quality of care we offer to those with various different medical conditions e.g. asthma, heart disease. W'e are also encouraged to become better at -all sorts of data recording as good quality data are the basic foundation for assessing the various health and support needs of our practice population. One such area an which we will be working shortly is in trying to identify which individuals are actually working as care, for a relative or friend with an illness or disability, in order that we can assess whether these people (the carers) have been offered appropriate access to support services. This is often a tricky area to establish accurately as many carers work away quietly and diligently; without necessarily being well known to the medical service. If you are a patient of our practice and have the role of carer it would be helpful if you could let us know by calling confidentially on 01224 733535 and leave your details with Mrs Ann Traverse, Systems Administrator.

 With best wishes

Dr Douglas Harris