GP surgeries in good health

Two GP surgeries in Northumberland have been honoured for their work in a new national awards scheme.

The GP Enterprise Awards were started in 2003 by GP newspaper and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

The aim was to publicise simple ideas to improve the working lives of GPs and their staff, and services to patients, that could be easily replicated by any practice in the UK.

They each receive a £3,000 prize, donated by NHS equipment supplier Tyco Healthcare.

The practices also win a celebratory meal for all staff at the local venue of their choice and a commemorative plaque for their waiting room.

The Small Practice Management Award went to Dr Gerry Morrow, of Allendale Medical Practice, at Allendale Health Centre in Northumberland.

Quiet area

A spokesman for the competition organisers said: "Allendale Health Centre established a patient participation group and listened to what patients wanted from their practice.

"Since then they have set up a weekly tea dance for elderly patients, a breast feeding support group for new mothers, and a home-based men's health screening programme.

"They have also redesigned the waiting room to provide a quiet area for nursing mothers and a patient information library."

Another coup for the region, was in the Practice Team Development Award category, won by Dr Geoff Rawes Surgery, at Blyth Community Hospital in Northumberland.

The spokesman said: "This practice trained receptionists to carry out basic health screening.

"They now test blood pressure and cholesterol levels, carry out urine tests, assess BMI results and take blood samples.

"The receptionists' new skills were utilised to help the nurses develop a one-stop chronic disease management clinic."