Twyford Surgery
Dr RW Collett & Partners
The Surgery
6 Loddon Hall Road
Twyford
RG10 9JA
Telephone 0118 934 6681 Enquiries 0118 934 6681
Practice Manager 0118 934 5281
The Location
Twyford surgery is about five miles to the east of Reading along the A4. This semi-rural practice covers Twyford, Charvil, Hurst and the surrounding countryside. The practice has gradually grown in size and there are now approximately 10,500 patients.
Many of our patients live on the new estates which have been springing up throughout our area. We also cover several council estates, caravan sites, local farms and some large private houses. Designated partners look after two old peoples homes and a residential drug rehabilitation unit.
The Practice
Our surgery was purpose built about thirteen years ago. It was designed with consulting rooms which are identical in size for partners and registrars. We are now outgrowing our premises and are making plans for an extension which will incorporate accommodation for the attached staff (district nurses, midwife etc.) as well as enhanced facilities for meetings and education.
We have been computerised for many years with desktop computer systems.
However, in September 1999 we moved to Vamp Vision and are now moving towards a noteless surgery.
Recently we were granted dispensing status and are planning to dispense to a small number of our patients.
Obviously, there are lot of exciting changes in the practice at present and registrars will be actively involved in the implementation of the changes.
The Trainers
Helen Crawley
Helen is a half time partner who joined the practice in 1990 from the Reading training scheme. She has been approved as a trainer since 1996. She has written a variety of articles for the BMJ, GP newspapers, Health Which, Mother and Baby etc. on flexible working and on women and child health. In 1990 she published a BMJ paper on training and General Practice and she is currently undertaking a Cochrane review on the management of postnatal depression. She will be taking on the next registrar to come to Twyford.
Mike Davies
Mike joined the practice from the Reading VTS in 1990. He has been a trainer since 1996 with a special interest in minor surgery and looks after a local residential drug rehabilitation unit.
The Partners
Bob Collett
Dr Collett is our senior partner and joined the partnership in 1975 after seven and a half years in the RAF. He was a trainer for sixteen years and at times a course organiser for the Reading scheme. He has been the GP clinical tutor since 1995 and has also had responsibility for clinical governance on the board of Wokingham Primary Care group.
Bob's previous experience includes work as an occupational health Physician. He has special interests in aviation medicine and diabetes.
John Chisholm
John joined the practice in 1979 on the Reading VTS scheme. He is Chairman of the General Practitioners Committee which negotiates the terms and conditions of service for General Practitioners. He is also a member of the General Medical Council. His interests in medical politics obviously take him away from the practice a lot. He has therefore moved from full time partnership to a part time partnership and Dr Roberts has taken over his workload.
Vin Grantham
Vin joined the practice in 1995 the day after he completed vocational training in the practice. He has previously worked as a medical registrar and continues to undertake one session a week in the endoscopy at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Simon Ruffle
Simon joined the practice in March 1997. He also joined the practice the day after he completed his vocational training in the practice and he has been the lead partner in our recent computerisation of the practice. Simon practices acupuncture and holds ante natal classes for men.
Viv Roberts
Viv has worked in the practice since she completed vocational training
in Twyford. She became a half time partner in January 1997 to cover John's absence.
Other Doctors
Laura Alexander
Laura works on the retainer scheme for 2-3 sessions a week. She was previously a partner in the practice from 1989 to1994 and moved to the retainer scheme for family reasons. Before that she was a trainee in Twyford.
Suzana Louth
Suzana is our current registrar working on a ¾ time basis. Her trainer is Helen Crawley, please feel free to contact Suzana to find out what we are really like!
Training
Although we recognise that not everyone wants to go straight into a partnership, we aim to send you out fully eqipped to work as a general practitioner. Along the way, we hope you will enjoy yourself so that you still feel enthusiastic about medicine despite the complexities of summative assessment, MRCGP etc. Our partnership seems to be particularly open and friendly and no area of the practice will be hidden from you.
Helen and Mike are currently alternating the training of registrars. Simon Ruffle trained under Mike and Helen was the trainer to Dr Clare Shaw before taking on Suzana. Although we are approved for two registrars, we only anticipate having one registrar in the practice at a time, although there may be occasional overlaps.
All partners and members of the primary health care team undertake tutorials and are happy to give help or discuss cases at any time. With two partners approved as trainers and one previous trainer, we see ourselves very much as a training practice.
Although Helen is only part-time she is able to ensure that training runs smoothly throughout the week and oversee the training programme. She comes into the practice most days and when she is absent Mike or one of the other partners is designated to keep an eye on the registrar.
On-Call
Our practice has joined REDDOC, which covers out of hours calls from
7.00 p.m. until 7.00 a.m. During the first six months' you will accompany the partners on sufficient REDDOC duties to qualify for your own REDDOC shifts during the second 6 months'. In the first 6 months' we will also expect you to cover the whole practice occasionally in order to experience the continuity of care which cannot be obtained from REDDOC duties.
Queries
If there are any queries please do not hesitate to contact your potential trainer, Helen Crawley, the current registrar Suzana Louth, our Practice Manager, Anne Elgeti or any of the other partners.
Telephone number and address :
Dr R W Collett & Partners
The Surgery
6 Loddon Hall Road
Twyford
RG10 9JA