Plymouth Beacon Medical Group shortlisted for national prestigious award

Beacon Medical Group, a partnership combining three existing and respected practices in the Plymouth and South Hams Area, has been shortlisted for a national, prestigious award for its Dermatology Service.

The General Practice Awards are designed to recognise, highlight, and reward the hard work and innovation that is carried out every day in surgeries up and down the UK.

It has been announced that Beacon Medical Group Dermatology Service is nominated for Clinical Team of the Year 2015, competing against; Primary Care Dermatology Team working for Bristol Community Health CIC, Bradford on Avon Leg Club, Excellence in Wound Care Prescribing and Unity Nurse Led Wound Clinic.

The Dermatology Award seeks to recognise a nurse or team of primary and community health professionals dedicated to improving the dermatology services and provisions in their area, through their ongoing high-quality standard of care or through an innovative project or development.

Beacon Medical’s Dermatology Service is clinically led by Dr Helen Frow. Dr Frow said: “We set up the service in the belief that we could do more to provide excellent clinical care to patients closer to home. In the first 12 months of the service we have seen a dramatic improvement in terms of waiting times for patients and reduction in overall costs to the health economy. We are working closely with other Primary Care providers locally to share our experiences and resources to develop new services for the future. This dermatology pilot service has been so effective that we have recently signed an agreement to continue to deliver this treatment for a further two years.”

As a partnership Beacon Medical Group formally merged Ivybridge Medical Practice, Plym River Practice and The Ridgeway Practice in April 2014 and provides GP services currently to approximately 33,000 patients.

The merger was completed in the belief that the new partnership could provide greater options for patients, including additional services and extended opening hours. After the merger BMG felt Dermatology services were among the first that could be improved.

The service provides a ‘one stop shop’ for most patients, fully utilising the skills of the full clinical team, with a surgically trained practice nurse and aligned nurse clinics to enable on the day access for patients. The Dermatology service was designed to provide care closer to home for patients with skin problems and helping reduce the burden on secondary care dermatology services.

Beacon Medical Group believes patient-centered care is at the heart of their organisation and that respect, dignity and compassion have to be at the heart of decisions they make with and for patients. Due to the success of the pilot the partnership has signed a contract to deliver the service and its musculoskeletal (hips, knees and shoulders) for an additional two years.

The Clinical Team of the Year will be announced at a black-tie dinner on Thursday 26 November at the Lancaster Hotel in London. Other Individual Awards include Nurse of the Year, General Practitioner of the Year, Nursing Team of the Year and General Practice Team of the Year.