Our Team

Clinical Lead

Dr Dan Bennett

GP Partner Highfield Surgery

Health Inequalities Lead

Dr Liz Hodgson

GP Partner Highfield Surgery

PCN Clinical Team

Rebecca – Mental Health Nurse 

Rebecca offers the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• She is available for telephone or face to face appointments booked through your GP reception.
• She supports patients over 16 years old who are struggling with mental health and or addictions.
• Rebecca has an extensive background in primary care mental health, she can offer evidence based interventions for both anxiety and depression, eating disorders, autism/ADHD, drug and alcohol addictions, problem solving, building resilience and building on personal strengths.
• She promotes positive mental health and well-being.
• She can refer to outside agencies when appropriate.

Sarah – Trainee Associate Psychological Practitioner (TAPP)

Sarah offers the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• Sarah provides brief psychological assessments, structured formulation and interventions to promote good mental health and prevent problems getting worse.
• She offers up to 4 x 45 minute sessions plus a follow up 6 weeks later.
• Sarah provides low intensity techniques to help develop strategies that help improve an overall sense of well-being. These can include; managing anxiety, sleep hygiene, mindfulness, healthy lifestyles, improving mood, motivation and stress management.

Ann, Jennifer & Samir – Pharmacists 

Our Clinical Pharmacists offer the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• They are highly qualified experts in medicines and aim to help patients to stay as well as possible.
• They support patients with long term conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure or anyone taking multiple medications.
• They work with GP’s, local pharmacies and hospitals to ensure consistent patient care.
• They undertake in-depth reviews of patient’s medicines if they have a long-term condition.
• They can agree and make changes to patient’s prescriptions.
• They can advise about medicines and their possible side effects.

Sam- Podiatrist

Sam offers the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• Sam provides specialist care for patients, prevents delay and allows for better outcomes, ie a reduction in pain, increased motivation, maintaining mobility and independence.
• She provides diabetic foot screening and how to look after your feet and how patients can improve their foot health.
• The service she provides can free up GP appointments and reduce referrals to hospital with continuous care of patients.
• This service also reduces patient waiting lists to be seen by a podiatrist service at hospital by seeing patients in a primary care setting.

Sami, Callie, Michelle, Jane & Victoria – Pharmacy Technicians

Our pharmacy technicians offer the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• They take medication histories from patients, review medicines and provide advice to patients about how to make the most of their medicines and give advice on different treatment options.
• Our pharmacy technicians work in primary care roles in general practice and care homes. These roles involve reviewing and recording the medication the patients should be taking, ensuring sufficient supplies, administering medicines, and counselling patients to support their understanding on how to use their medicines safely.

Joanne & Beverley – Care Co-ordinators

Our care co-ordinators provide the following support to our Blackpool South patients:

• They pro-actively identify and work with people, including the frail/elderly/new families/vulnerable patients and those with long-term conditions to provide co-ordination and navigation of care and support accross health and care services.

Dawn – Cancer Care Co-ordinator

Dawn provides the following support to our Blackpool South patients:

• Dawn supports patients and practices to deliver quality plans for early cancer diagnosis.
• She helps to develop systems across the practices to improve cancer screening uptake, thus hopefully getting an early diagnosis for patients.
• Dawn also ensures patients receive a cancer care review in line with national defined timescales and targets.

Victoria & Rahila – First Contact Physiotherapists 

Our First Contact Physiotherapists offer the following services to our Blackpool South patients:

• Assess & Diagnose without having to see a GP
• Give information on self-care and enable and support behaviour change
• Discuss fitness for work
• Undertake social prescribing
• Discuss physical activity and health (eg smoking cessation & weight management)
• Refer for a course of treatment (eg physiotherapy or podiatry)
• Refer to orthopaedic/rheumatology/pain services
• Request investigations
• Medicines optimisation.

Lorna & Kerry  – Nurse Associates

Our Nurse Associates offer the following services to our Blackpool South patients:

• They work with patients of all ages in a variety of settings in health and social care. They deliver hands-on, person-centred care as a vital part of a wider health or care team.
• They also give support to registered nurses, freeing them up to focus on more complex clinical work.

Steve & Donna – Health & Wellbeing Coaches

Our Health & Wellbeing Coaches offer the following services to our Blackpool South patients:

• They work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to address needs and to achieve the best outcomes for patients, their carers and their families.
• They practice person-centred care planning and support for people with mental health needs to participate in community activities and reduce social isolation and loneliness.
• They promote economic well-being and ensure access to appropriate benefit entitlements through linking in with debt advise agencies and charities.

Jackie – Care Home Dietitian

Our Dietitian offers the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• Jackie provides a dedicated service to the care homes that are supported by all 4 practices within the PCN.
• She reviews individual care home residents offering advice and support. She gives the care home staff information and training in good nutrition for older people and specific medical conditions.
• Jackie works with chefs in care homes to ensure the food they offer meets the different needs of residents, including special diets for medical conditions and increased nutritional value.
• She is currently training to become a First Contact Practitioner in order to complete diagnostic tests to support the diagnosis of nutrition related disease as well as provide appropriate treatment and make referrals directly to secondary care and other practitioners as needed, reducing the need to go through a GP.

Dan & Matthew – Paramedics

Our Paramedics offer the following to our Blackpool South patients:

• They work alongside the urgent duty team at your GP practice. They work closely with GP’s and advanced practitioners to respond to urgent requests from patients who are housebound. They undertake home visits to patients own homes, supported living accommodation, residential and nursing homes.
• They are experienced in in-depth clinical assessment and are able to see, treat and refer patients independently, or liaise back with GP’s to formulate care plans. The main goal of the paramedic team is to safely manage people at home and avoid them having to go to hospital, however if they do feel that patients do need to go to hospital they are able to arrange admission direct to a speciality team.
• They can also refer patients to other community services such as social prescribers and community nursing teams.

Network Management 

Andrea Latus

Primary Care Network Manager

Janine Wheeldon

Primary Care Network Administrative Assistant