I am a GP Partner at Leeds City Medical Practice and the Clinical Director of Beeston Primary Care Network (PCN). My driving factor to become involved in my PCN role was to help support the local Practices and PCN staff to improve the services we provide to patients. This involves working in partnership with community and hospital services, social care, and other providers of health care services.

The PCN team now has a multitude of professionals working within Practices providing direct care to patients.The Beeston PCN team are involved in several projects involving a variety of different professionals to further improve quality of care to patients, such as collaborating Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, care coordinators and care home staff to provide excellent care to our care home residents. Another project has been the Heart Failure Pilot where the PCN team have worked closely with the local Cardiologists and Heart Failure community team to improve the care to those suffering from Heart Failure.

One of the biggest challenges that the PCN, and the NHS, has faced in recent times has been the Covid-19 pandemic, and the difficulties this has brought to NHS teams to deliver safe, good quality care to our patients. However, the pandemic has also brought many positives, such as allowing Practices to utilise technology better to consult with patients. In addition, I feel that the excellent roll-out and contribution to the Covid-19 vaccination programme by the Beeston PCN and Practice teams has been a great success story in that it not only helped protect our patients and colleagues from Covid-19, but it also allowed the opportunity for the Beeston Practices and wider PCN team to work very closely together and build our relationships with one another.

In 2022, I transitioned to the NHS after a career in the Private Financial Sector. My role as a Project Manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals was centred on reducing the Length of Stay for patients during hospital admissions.

In my role as Business Manager, I concentrate on leading the team, driving change, and achieving results that enhance support for our patients and practices. This includes fulfilling our contractual commitments, securing a robust financial status, and initiating new services to promote the health of our patients throughout the South and East of Leeds.

I am passionate about delivering better health care for all, to support our Primary Care function in reducing wait times as well as ensuring our patients are seen by the most appropriate clinician the first time. I am proud to be a part of such a strong team and excited to where we are able to take this in the near future.

Hi, my name is Steph, I am the Nurse Manager for Leeds City Medical Practice and the Clinical Nurse Lead for Beeston PCN and support Middleton & Hunslet PCN.

I have been working at Leeds City since July 2013; understanding, developing, implementing, and delivering services for our practice population. Manage, support, and help develop an effective, cohesive, and quality nursing team.

In 2017, I was appointed Locality Practice Nurse Lead for the Leeds 10 & 11, to help collaborating working for the GP Practices within Leeds 10 &11. During this time, we developed and established the existing Beeston & Middleton/ Hunslet PCN Dressing Clinic which is continuing to improve, develop and provide an efficient, reliable, and quality service for both PCN’s.

June 2019, the PCN’s were established, and I took on the role of Clinical Lead Nurse for Beeston PCN. Through the pandemic, the Beeston PCN Executive Team planned, developed, and implemented a highly successful collaborative Beeston PCN Covid Vaccination clinic, sourcing staff from admin to clinical.

I have helped to develop a Patient Ambassador programme for Beeston and Middleton/Hunslet PCN. Recruited and established training and developing for Hybrid HCA , Nurse Associates and working with the Frailty Lead to create a quality and innovative service that will benefit and target our PCN population.

I have worked in Primary care now for nearly 18 years. My career started with the Halifax Bank in Glasgow where I was the first internal Management Trainee in Scotland. I spent nearly 16 years with them working in various managerial roles moving down to Yorkshire in 1993 to work in the Treasury Department in the head office. I left there taking Voluntary Redundancy as a Senior Manager when the department relocated to London.

I then took a year out to study a Masters in Personnel and Development at Leeds Metropolitan University before taking up the challenging role of Practice Manager at a GP practice in Calderdale. During my time in Calderdale I was involved in our local PCN and I project managed a full relocation of the practice into new purpose built premises. Laterally I also managed a merger with another smaller local practice. 

Early in 2020 I moved over to Leeds City to take up the post of Business Manager. Leeds City offered me a new challenge – a much bigger practice with a totally different demographic and structure. The team at Leeds City are very welcoming and supportive, I really enjoy working here as part of the team. The last two years have not been how I envisaged with all the challenges COVID brought with it, but things are easing now and I hope this year I will be able to focus on developing the practice as I had originally planned.

I took up the role of Beeston PCN Business Manager a few months after joining Leeds City, as I wanted a better insight into how local practices work and wanted to be able to help in the development and delivery of all the new services and opportunities that now come through to the network. The two PCNs are well established, with two great Clinical Directors who work well together and they get things done, it is a real privilege for me to part of it.

Hi, my name is Louisa. I am an advanced nurse practitioner for Lingwell Croft Surgery and a Clinical Lead for Middleton and Hunslet PCN. I have been a nurse for over 35 years, working in the community and Primary Care for the last 25 years.

My areas of interest and expertise are with older adults with a particular interest in frailty.

During my time with the PCN I have worked on the Enhanced Health in Care Homes Scheme across both Beeston and Middleton/Hunslet PCNs. This began with recruiting for 2 Care Home Coordinators who have since worked on aligning one GP practice to a care home in order to build a more comprehensive team and provide continuity of care. It has also involved establishing weekly multi-disciplinary meetings for each care home, in order to improve quality of care for the residents.

I have also been involved with the Enhanced Frailty Scheme across the PCNs which aims to provide proactive, coordinated care to our population with severe frailty.

Recently I have started as Clinical Lead for Middleton and Hunslet and am excited to be broadening my areas of knowledge for this post as well as supporting the growing PCN team.

My role involves collaboratively working with the care homes, GP practices and other NHS organisations, to work closely together to provide proactive care that is centred on the individual needs of the residents.

Why I chose to work for this PCN? – Previously working in a GP practice within this PCN, I saw the incredible work of the PCN and wanted to be part of that!

Success Story – I have been part of creating and developing the role successfully, whilst building great relationships with the Care Homes and my colleagues within the PCN.

Hi, my name is Bev, Senior Pharmacist for Beeston PCN. I attained a first class honours MPharm at University of Reading in 2015, prior to that I was a pharmacy technician for 16 years.  The majority of my career has been in secondary care and the switch to primary care has been challenging but very rewarding. Using the backdrop of the Network DES and implementation of PCN’s to try and improve health outcomes for patients in an area that is in the top 1% of socio-economic deprivation in England.  I feel passionate about doing the best for those communities by working in innovative ways to ensure we access the hardest to reach. 

I am the Pharmacy Technician for Beeston PCN. Previous to starting my new role with the PCN I hadn’t had much experience working in/for GP practices so this was all quite new to me. I have learnt so much since starting my new role and have become a lot more confident and competent each day. I thoroughly enjoy my role here and have had and still have the best support from my team. I have recently set up CPCS for my PCN and have had fantastic feedback from the local community pharmacies and the practices; this has been a good project to work on to create good working relationships with my local community pharmacies and practice staff. A new pharmacy technician has just recently joined our team for Beeston PCN. Our plan is to start having our own face-to-face clinics for a scheme we are currently working on for home BP monitoring for our patients here in Beeston. This will be good for us to communicate and get to know our patients and also enhance our clinical skills. I enjoy engaging with our patients and feel good knowing I have made a positive difference to them. Working for Beeston PCN has been a fantastic experience for me, as I continue to learn and grow within my role every day and most importantly working to help our patients here in Beeston.

Hi! I’m Alice, one of the new PCN pharmacists in the team. I graduated from University of Huddersfield in 2016 with a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm). I initially started in community pharmacy, then moved into hospital outpatient pharmacy and then finally made the big jump to the scary primary care world! I also pursued a Clinical Diploma (PgDip) from the University of Manchester in 2021. 

I have always wanted to go down a more clinical route in my career, so I figured primary care was the best place for this – I am currently on the primary care pathway on track to become an Independent Prescriber. I have a special interest in women’s health and hope to further develop my knowledge in this area. I chose Beeston PCN as it is full of friendly and incredibly skilled colleagues which makes working together easy and beneficial to achieving the best patient outcomes. Within the PCN the work is varied and there are many routes you can choose for career development. 

I am a Pharmacy Technician for Beeston PCN. Before starting my role with the PCN, I worked as a General Practice Pharmacy technician, Aseptic Pharmacy Technician for LTHT and 8 years in Community Pharmacy.

I have joined a fantastic and supportive team at Beeston PCN. 

My career aim has always been to make a difference to patients’ lives. Here in the Beeston community, I aim to provide adaptive and accessible care to suit our patients’ varied needs.

My names is Eilish and I am the Frailty Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) for Beeston PCN.

I was excited to work for the Beeston PCN and help to create a new service to support patients living at home with sever frailty. Having worked for the neighbourhood team and the acute trust I am looking forward to how we can bring these services together to support patients at home. This is an exciting project and I am looking forward to how we can shape this in order to best support our patients.

Working with the multidisciplinary team we have discussed patients with pharmacist, social prescribers, ACPs and nurse associates to make cares plan to best support patient’s health and social care needs. During this we were able to support an elderly lady living with sever frailty to leave the house for the first time since COVID and attend a ballroom dancing class.

I qualified from York St John University with a BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy degree in 2009.

Over the last 13 years, I have worked within adult mental health services and more predominantly across acute hospital and community rehabilitation services in Greater Manchester.

This has included working within many specialisms such as acute medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, stroke, intermediate care and early supported discharge/community neuro rehabilitation. Over the last 8 years, I have worked at a senior level across acute stroke and stroke/neuro rehabilitation which has enabled me to build a solid knowledge and skill base in the assessment and treatment of people with complex diagnosis, impacting on their ability to manage everyday activities.

Whilst I have enjoyed working in this area, I’m really excited to be taking on this new role within the Beeston, Hunslet and Middleton PCN. I’m keen to continue to promote a culture of personalised care and health equity within the team, to deliver appropriate occupational therapy assessment and treatment and to build a stronger network of links with other services to enable our community to access the right team/professional at the right time.

I’m Sara I’ve worked for the PCN for a year now.  I can honestly say it’s the best thing I’ve ever did for my career and own personal development. I have never worked for the NHS before and have gained much knowledge around Primary Care services and am excited about my journey and personal development working within in the Beeston and Middleton PCN family. The future is bright!

I chose this PCN because I was local resident and use to access these services myself and understand how vital and important the services that are being delivered. I want to now give back to a community that helped me be the strong caring and resilient person I am today.   

I am a Patient Ambassador and work within social prescribing and triage and signpost patients to holistic and continuing support within in the wider third sector. I have 5 years of experience in the third sector supporting older people helping them live later life well.  

I enjoy empowering people to make positive changes in their life chooses.