MB BS (1996) London, BMedSci, DRCOG, DFFP, MRCGP. Dr Gardner joined Litchdon Medical Centre in 2002. He is a Trainer for doctors on the North Devon GP Vocational Training Scheme and is the Older Persons Mental Health Lead for the North Devon Clinical Commissioning Group. Dr Gardner works Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesday and Fridays. Dr Gardner is the senior partner at the practice and works closely with Sharon Bates the Management Partner to ensure the smooth running of the practice.
Dr Gardner works out of hours for the local Devon Doctors team.

MB BS (1998) London, BEng, DCH, DRCOG, MRCGP. Dr Jefferies joined Litchdon medical centre in July 2005. He has a special interest in ophthalmolgy and is the practice diabetes lead. He is also a trainer for doctors on the North Devon Vocational Training Scheme. Dr Jefferies works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

BSc, MB BS (1996) London, DCH, DRCOG, DFFP, DTM&H, DipClinEd, MRCGP. Dr Jones joined Litchdon Medical Centre in 2007. Dr Jones is a Trainer for doctors on the North Devon GP Vocational Training scheme and is also involved with training medical students. Dr Jones also has an interest in expedition and tropical medicine. Dr Jones is on the North Devon CCG Board and works at Litchdon on Tuesdays and Fridays.

MB ChB (1999) Bristol, DRCOG DFFP DTM+H MRCGP Loc IUT Loc SDI. Dr Dallimore has a special interest in sexual and reproductive healthcare and trains GPs in contraception. Dr Dallimore is the practice lead GP for child safeguarding. Dr Dallimore works Tuesdays and Thursdays.

BSc Hons, MB BS (2000) London, MRCS, DO-HNS, MRCGP, DFFP. Dr Erdozain  began working at Litchdon initally as a locum in 2011 and became a partner in 2012. Dr Erdozain trained as a surgeon specialising in Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) before becoming a GP in 2007. Dr Erdozain's clinical interest include minor surgery and end of life care. Dr Erdozain works Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

BMedSci, BM.BS (2000) Nottingham, MRCP, MRCGP, DFFP. Dr Parker joined Litchdon Medical Centre in August 2006. Dr Parker is the prescribing lead for the practice and works on Tuesday and Thursday.

MB BS (2005) London, DCH, DFSRH, MRCGP. Dr Warner joined Litchdon medical Centre in 2010. She is the lead GP for medical students.
Dr Warner works on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

MB BS(2009) London, BSc (HONS), MRCGP. Dr Cockcroft joined the
practice in 2014 and he works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays.                                                                    
                                  

MBChb (2010) Birmingham, DRCOG, MRCGP. Dr Marsh joined the practice in 2015 and she works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
 

MBChb (2007) Sheffield BA (Hons) BMedSci (Hons) MRCS PGC Trauma Surgery MRCGP. He has a special interest in musculoskeletal medicine, sports and exercise medicine and minor surgery. Dr Carlino joined as a partner in October 2018 after working at the practice as a salaried GP before that for 12 months. Dr Carlino works on a Mon, Wed, Thursday and Friday. 

MBBCh(2010) Cardiff, MRCGP. Dr Thornton joined the practice as a registrar and has become a Partner in September 2019.

MBBS 2006 London. Ba (hons). MRCGP. Dr Brice works on Wednesdays & Fridays and has been with the practice since 2014.

MB BS (2007) London, B.A Physiological Sciences (2004) Oxford.  Dr Fothergill normally works on Mondays and Tuesdays.  She also works in A&E and Intensive Care at NDDH.

BMBS (2010) Peninsula, MRCGP. Dr Cockcroft has a special interest in palliative care. She also works at the North Devon Hospice.

MBBS (2008), BSc (Hons) Anatomy & Developmental Biology (2004), MRCS, MRCGP. Dr Whatling relocated from London in 2017, having trained as a General Surgeon with a special interest in Renal Transplantation.  For lifestyle reasons he decided to retrain as a GP in North Devon and worked at Litchdon as a registrar for 12 months before joining as a registered GP in 2020.  He has joined the Practice permanently and normally works on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  He has a special interest in Minor Surgery.

Our Team of practice nurses and healthcare assistants are available for routine and some evening appointments, Monday to Friday.

Practice nurses carry out a wide range of services such as dressings, vaccinations, cervical smears and weight loss advice.  They work as an integral part of our Same Day Team and also run our Diabetes, Asthma/COPD and Coronary Heart Disease Clinics. 

Nurse Team Manager

Glenys qualified in 1984 and worked initially on surgical wards specialising in acute bowel and urology surgery for around 7 years.  She then worked in Private Health care for 10 years caring for both surgical and medical patients and assisting with minor operations and procedures before joining a GP Practice in Truro and was there for 15 years until 2016. Glenys moved to North Devon and joined the Litchdon Nursing team in January 2016 and has been the Nurse Manager since October 2018.  Nurse team responsibilities: nurse rotas, annual leave, training, appraisals, policies and procedure update and recruitment, working closely with other head of department and members of the management team.

Area of work: Treatment room duties/Student Mentor/Child immunisation lead/Wound care/Doppler Assessment/Travel Health/Diabetes/CHD/Phlebotomy/Urine testing/cervical screening.

Contraception and Sexual Health and Urgent Care Team Nurse

Caroline qualified in 1993 and initially worked on the wards and in A&E before working in a Health Centre in Bristol as a practice nurse.  Caroline started work at Litchdon Medical Centre in 2004 as a treatment room nurse and soon found her main interest was in women's health so undertook further training in this area and now holds clinics specialising in contraception and sexual health.  Caroline has been a nurse prescriber since 2016 and also works as an Urgent Care Team nurse working alongside the G.P's carrying out telephone triage, dealing with urgent health enquiries and treating minor illness and minor injuries.

Area of work: Nurse Specialist in contraception and Sexual Health/Urgent care nurse/Nurse Prescriber/deputy to Nurse Manager.

Diabetic Specialist Nurse Lead/Chronic Disease

Tina qualified in 1988 and initially worked on a gynaecology ward for a few months before going to South Molton Community Hospital.  She did her District Nurse training in 1991 and went on to be a Sister on the District until 2007.  Tina always had an interest in Chronic disease, especially in diabetes so became a Diabetes Specialist Nurse at NDDH for 5 years before heading back to South Molton to become lead Practice Nurse until she started work at Litchdon Medical Centre in 2013.  Tina is also a Nurse Prescriber.

Area of work: Nurse prescriber/Chronic disease lead (excluding respiratory)/Diabetes/CHD/CVF/CKD/Hypertension management/Student Assessor/Treatment room duties/Travel Health/Child immunisation/Phlebotomy/Urine testing etc/Cervical Screening.

Treatment Room Nurse

Paula qualified in 2006 and has worked in Northam Surgery and in Weymouth before moving back to North Devon and started at Litchdon Medical Centre in 2010.  Prior to qualifying as a nurse Paula's roles included being a dinner lady, classroom assistant, Care Home worker and a Phlebotomist.

Area of work: Treatment room duties/Student Assessor/Wound care/Doppler assessment/Child immunisation/Travel Health/Phlebotomy/Urine testing/Cervical Screening.

Treatment Room Nurse

Gail qualified in 1982 and worked initially in the Maternity Unit and SCBU.  She has worked on surgical wards, has been a Marie Curie Nurse, worked on the District and spent some time in Special Needs Nursing, before coming to Litchdon Medical Centre in 1996!

Area of work: Treatment room duties/Student Mentor/Child immunisation/Travel Health/Wound care/Urine testing/Doppler assessment/Learning disability/Cervical Screening.                    

Treatment Room Nurse/Respiratory

Alan qualified in 2005 in Blackpool initially working as a respiratory nurse before relocating back to his beloved Northern Ireland where he worked as a community and rehabilitation nurse.  In 2010 he moved back to Blackpool working as a District nurse and progressed to District Nurse Manager before moving to North Devon.  Alan has been at Litchdon Medical Centre since 2017 and has a special interest in respiratory.

Area of work:  Respiratory (COPD and asthma), Treatment room duties/Student Mentor/Wound care/Doppler assessment/Child immunisation/Travel Health/Phlebotomy/Urine testing etc.

Respiratory Nurse

Ruth qualified in 1978 and has a variety of Nursing experience including Medical and surgical wards, Intensive Care, Ophthalmics, A&E and respiratory.  For the past 18 years Ruth has been Practice Nursing with a specialist interest in Respiratory disease.  Ruth has been at Litchdon Medical Centre since early 2019.

Area of work: Respiratory-COPD and asthma/Treatment room duties

Urgent Care Team Nurse

Lorraine qualified in 2009 and worked for 5 years in A&E, then spent 5 years working as a Community nurse.  Prior to undertaking her nurse training Lorraine achieved a degree in English Literature and French, and although loves the fact she is Welsh she lived in France for a year and travelled around Europe before deciding her pathway was Nursing as several family members before her were.  Lorraine joined the Nursing team at Litchdon in December 2019.

Area of work:  Urgent Care Team nurse working alongside the G.P's carrying out telephone triage, dealing with urgent health enquiries and treating minor illness and minor injuries.

Urgent Care Team Nurse

Laura qualified in 2009 in Southampton and has worked in a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Medical Admissions and has more recently enjoyed working on the Community and with the Lymphoedema Service.  Laura Joined the Nursing team at Litchdon in January 2020.

Area of work: Urgent Care Team nurse working alongside the G.P's carrying out telephone triage, dealing with urgent health enquiries and treating minor illness and minor injuries.

Allison qualified in 2001 and initially worked in Musgrove Park Hospital before finding her main interest lay in Community and Practice Nursing.  She was a Community nurse for almost 10 years and has been a Practice Nurse since 2016 working in the Ilminster area before moving back to North Devon with her family.  

Allison will work for 2 days a week in the treatment room from July 2020.

Area of work: Treatment room duties/wound care/immunisations/Travel health/INR Star/phlebotomy/urine testing/cervical screening etc.

Our healthcare assistants undertake a number of procedures including finger-prick INR testing, smoking cessation advice and clinics, blood tests, ECGs, and blood pressure readings.

HCA/Chronic Disease Clinical Support/Phlebotomist

Helen has been a Health Care assistant for 17 years, and completed her NVQ training in 2010.  She has experience to draw upon from working in a Nursing Home, with the District Nursing Team and in a GP Practice.  Helen started work at Litchdon Medical Centre in 2010 and has shown an increasing interest in diabetes, cardiac disease and hypertension and has now progressed to supporting the Chronic Disease team.

Area of work: Supporting role to Chronic Disease nurses/Pre-assessment diabetic clinics/diabetic foot check and referral/BP clinic/Home BP menitoring/Phlebotomy/INR Star/Urine testing/Smoking cessation etc.

HCA/Phlebotomist/Health check nurse

Dawn has been a HCA for around 12 years initially working at NDDH.  Dawn worked in the area of pharmaceutical quality assurance for 18 years, has been a hairdresser, and worked in a pharmacy.  Dawn started work at Litchdon Medical Centre in 2015 as a phlebotomist and has developed her role and interests to include some treatment room procedures, health checks and mental health reviews.  She is hoping to do her Nurse Associate Course in the near future as she has almost completed her NVQ in Health and Social Care.

Area of work: INR Star/Phlebotomy/Health Check lead/Learning disabilities/Ear irrigation/ECG's/BP's/Urine testing/Minor dressings etc.

Phlebotomist

Martine first started as a HCA 17 years ago and worked on general and Maternity wards.  She came to Litchdon Medical Centre in 2009 initially, staying for 4 years before working with the Ambulance Service as a Care assistant.  She missed her team at Litchdon and returned to work here in 2017 to a mainly phlebotomy role.

Area of work: Phlebotomy/INR Star/Urine testing/Smoking cessation/HBPM calculations etc.

Phlebotomist

Wendy worked for several years as a community phlebotomist in Kent having moved there from London.  She then spent time at Maidstone hospital on the wards and oncology clinics before moving to North Devon.  She came to Litchdon in 2018 to provide 18 hours p/w of maternity cover.  Due to our increased work load we welcome Wendy back to Litchdon from July 2020.

Areas of work:  Phlebotomy/INR Star/Urine testing

Ali Cousins (Dermatology Manager)

Ali has been working within the NHS since 2010 predominantly in General Practice. Following a relocation to Swindon in 2015 she worked as the Business Manager for the Community Nursing Team which involved working closely with both GP’s and the Great Western Hospital. North Devon has always been home though so Ali and her family moved back here in January 2018 when she joined the Dermatology team at Litchdon House as Deputy Dermatology Manager. Ali then became the Dermatology Manager in December 2018.  

Sharon Bates (Management Partner)

Sharon is our Practice Manager.  She joined the Practice in June 2014. 
She started her career working at Litchdon Medical Centre in the late eighties and then worked at the North Devon District Hospital for the last 20 years so has spent all of her working life in healthcare services.

The Practice Manager is responsible for the smooth running of the Practice, making sure that systems, staff, equipment and finances are all in place to provide a high quality service to our patients.

The Healthcare Administration Team are members of the practice team and it has been agreed they should ask patients “why they need to be seen”. Healthcare Administration Team staff are trained to ask certain questions in order to ensure that you receive:

• the most appropriate medical care


• from the most appropriate health professional


• at the most appropriate time
  
  

 Healthcare Administration Team are asked to collect brief information from patients:

• to help doctors prioritise house visits and phone calls


• to ensure that all patients receive the appropriate level of care


• to direct patients to see the nurse or other health professional rather than a doctor where appropriate.

They are there to assist you, so please ask if you need help or have any queries. 

The

We offer antenatal clinics on Tuesdays and Fridays. We will care for you throughout your pregnancy and at home after you have had your baby. We also offer a choice on place of birth whether it be in the hospital or at home.

If you need to contact us please call the Labour Ward on 01271 322605 which offers a 24 hour service.

The community nurses care for patients in their own homes. 

A health visitor is a registered nurse who has received training particularly related to babies, children and pregnant women. Their role is to provide families with children under five years old with support and advice around the general aspects of mental, physical and social wellbeing.

Hospice Care Nurses

The nurses are based at Deer Park Hospice in Newport, Barnstaple and liaise closely with the GPs and Nurses.  The Hospice has a bedded unit, day care facilities and a team of nurses who see patients and families in their own homes.

Physiotherapist

Litchdon Medical Centre also offers in house NHS physiotherapy. This service provides advice and treatment for the improvement of musculoskeletal problems and can be accessed through referral from your GP.

Sarah is a clinical pharmacist and works for the Barnstaple Primary Care Network on quality improvement in prescribing.

Sam is our Social Prescriber for the Barnstaple Alliance Primary Care Network. Social Prescribing seeks to address people's needs in a holistic way. 

Charlie is a First Contact Physiotherapist (FCP) for the Barnstaple Alliance Primary Care Network. Patients can book directly into his clinic without the need to see a GP first. He can assess, diagnose and advise on joint and muscular pain/conditions and make onward referrals to traditional NHS Physiotherapy, Orthopaedics or X-Ray as neccessary.