23/12/2025
BCMP
Christmas message from the partners
We started 2025 with the purpose of consolidating the 2 surgeries; embedding our core values of kindness, compassion and service across the teams and starting to draw on the strength that these two exceptional groups of staff bring to clinical care for our patients.
Change is always difficult, a challenge of balancing the excitement against the fear and uncertainty. Working within the NHS we deal with changing systems and plans regularly throughout the year, but very rarely do we make significant changes within our practices. The constancy of the practice often offsets the changes in the wider NHS. When we therefore asked the surgery team to take the leap of a new partnership, different way of working, integration with new services, partnering with Ludlow and just getting used to our own personal peculiarities it must undoubtedly have felt insurmountable some days. But, as expected, they rose to the challenge, they made changes, adapted, dealt with odd requests and sometimes downright strange suggestions. The whole team of receptionists, managers, doctors, nurses, ANP worked alongside us. At times helping us to understand the needs of the team and the local population, supporting us in the plans and helpfully sometimes pushing back with rather polite “oh really” from Sarah and “why?” from Lucy when we clearly suggested something slightly absurd. The end result – a team that is pulling together, has created a clinical model to better match the patient needs and is still a constant for us as partners and for the patients they serve. Without them, their knowledge of the area and surgery and their support we would not have reached the place we have at the end of this year, we are both very grateful to each and every one of them.,
For the past 12 months we have worked across both the Ludlow and Bishops Castle sites covering the surgeries, alongside the permanent team of clinicians at each site, and both of the community hospitals, totaling 41 inpatient beds.
The registered patient population continues to grow. Alongside this we have reviewed the staff structure at the surgery, realising that we need more appointments for bloods, dressings, nursing duties we are investing is area now.
At the start of the year, we welcomed Dr Eleanor Hartley as a full time, permanent associate and we are delighted to have Dr Sarah Butler, Dr Kasia Bland and Dr Camilla Hughes as part of our long-term clinical team. The two partners, also continue doing regular sessions every week, with Dr Penney offering additional sessions for face to face appointments and supporting the training of Cardiff students
The team of Advanced practitioners continues to provide outstanding care to our patients, both in the surgery and community within the care homes. Our nursing team has expanded to include Ashlee and now Monica joining as a permanent full time nurse. In the next few months Sarah Brown will join us with a view to expanding the HCA offer and capacity for bloods and other treatments.
Clinical practice in primary care is constantly evolving, and it is important that our patients receive the best support with their health. In response to this Lauren Harrison has joined the surgery providing psychotherapy sessions which patients can book into, and we have appointed
Stef Aztori (pharmacy technician) alongside Charlotte Lynch (senior pharmacist) to work within our team focusing on prescribing, medicines management and ensuring our patients are receiving the most up to date medication regimes for their illnesses.
To enable our patients to navigate the NHS system more seamlessly and ensure they are receiving the support they need we have Lucille Oliver as a care coordinator and cancer support who joined us earlier in the year. Lisa Noonan continues to provide social prescribing support.
We have also strengthened our working relationship with the community nursing team developing a more integrated approach around our shared case load of patients and working directly with Karl Nash the community matron with a focus on our community hospital patients ensuing their discharges are well supported, and they access all the services available to them once home through the Advanced Discharge Plans.
No clinical team can function without a strong managerial support structure and the team headed up by Sarah Bevan and supported by Lucy continues to provide the very structure we work within, making our day to day clinical care seamless as they manage the clinical sessions, buildings, staff and resources for us.
Clinically our outcomes remain exceptionally high as seen in our QOF scores, monthly returns and community hospital audits.
The benefit of working with such a gifted team is that as partners we are encouraged to always do more; look to what else we can improve for our patients and in the last 6 months our focus has turned to the services that lie outside of the surgery walls and in our neighborhood.
We have been very fortunate to have built strong working relationships with the voluntary sector; local pharmacies with the “pharmacy first” scheme, which we supported Lunts pharmacy to establish enabling patient to be seen there for certain consultation in Ludlow and will be looking to put a similar service in place in Bishops Castle; Specsavers and their team who constantly support our clinical reviews; local physiotherapists, foot health practitioners.
Being new to Bishops Castle has brought a vast array of opportunities and we have been astounded by the level of community support we have in the area. This is indeed very special, and rare commodity, but one that we feel we must encourage and support to help us to deliver better health and lifestyle outcomes for our residents together.
For many years our patients have struggled to access hospital services and appointments. For both of us, travelling between Bishops Castle and Ludlow several times a week has highlighted how difficult it must be for many of you to get the care you need with very limited public transport and ever shrinking family budgets. Our first commitment over the next few years will be to bring as many services to Ludlow and Bishops Castle as feasible, including services within the community hospitals such the IV therapy services for antibiotics and other medications that is being implemented, discuss with the business sector, our elected members and council what may be possible in relation to joining up the 2 communities and linking them both back to Hereford and Shrewsbury. The effect would be much more far reaching than health, allowing our young people choice as regards colleges, training, work opportunities, hobbies and socialization; families to expose their children to a wider range of experiences, our elderly to remain connected to communities they may once have found it easy to access with better transport in the past.
More pressing though is literacy. The ability to read, to make informed decisions, to be confident with your medications, understand what health choices you have been offered, utilize the expansive information now available through AI, manage your own results and prescription ordering moves our patients towards a state of prevention and improved health outcomes. As partners we are aware that some of our patients never learned to read, some struggle to navigate complex IT systems because they struggle with reading and many experience limited job opportunities due to their literacy level. Prior to the covid pandemic we had supported the beginnings of a literacy scheme locally. It was very successful with volunteers teaching many adult residents to read. Alongside the key partners of the voluntary sector, opticians, pharmacies and local residents offering their reading and teaching skills we will be launching this scheme again in 2026. If anyone is interested in being involved in the scheme, either helping people to learn to read or joining to improve your literacy, please contact the surgery and ask to be included in the RAYS project list
2025 hasn’t been without its challenges for everyone, many of you have lost loved ones and friends. We have been deeply saddened at the loss of 2 key clinical colleagues, with the death of Dr Val Klein and Dr Pippa Winter in the past few months. Losing these two doctors who had been so dedicated not just within their clinical practice, but also in the local community made us realise the importance of neighborhood and community, and how each of us has a role to play to improve the lives of others.
Finally we wish to thank our team for their belief in our vision of bringing together the 2 surgeries and their patients, for bearing with us through some quite turbulent times this year and being steadfast in their personal commitment to putting patients, and their families, first.
Wishing you all, and your families, a very happy Christmas and a safe 2026.
David and Caron
