The River Lodge Surgery

Malling Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2RD
Telephone: 0844 387 8281

Anchor Field Surgery

30 Anchor Field, Ringmer, East Sussex BN8 5QN
Telephone: 0844 387 8281

"Our aim is to help the individual and the family towards wholeness in body, mind and spirit, and to help them cope with the burdens of disease"

 

WELCOME TO THE PRACTICE

This website has been designed to tell you about the practice and the services that we offer. Please read it carefully. We trust that you will find it helpful and informative.

 

PRACTICE HISTORY / PROFILE

In 1988, the practice, which is not a limited partnership, moved from its old home at Castle Lodge to the new purpose-built surgery at River Lodge. The practice also operates from the branch surgery in Ringmer. The partnership has existed since the 1930s, when Dr Joe Nicholl and Dr Sinclair joined together with Dr Hugh Rice in Ringmer. These three were all active Christians, and this principle has continued. Today, all the doctors working long term in the practice share an active Christian faith. It has a central influence in our lives and work.

We are now a training practice for medical students and patients are asked when making their appointments for their consent to the student being present at their consultation.

 

THE GENERAL PRACTITIONERS

• Dr Frauke Dingelstad
• Dr Gabor Szekely
• Dr Laith Butti
• Dr Sarah Richards
• Dr Simon Sherman
• Dr Bashar Elia
• Jacqueline Brickley
• Dr Clare Laxton

Information on the doctors' availability, what to do when we are closed and how to get help in an emergency can be found on surgery times.

 

East Sussex Downs And Weald Primary Care Trust
East Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust have responsibility for health in our area and can be contacted at Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust at 36-38 Friars Walk, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2PB, Telephone 01273 485300.

Board meetings are held in public every two months and matters can be raised by writing to the PCT at the above address.

Telephone Numbers
Appointments

River Lodge Surgery, Lewes 0844 387 8281
Anchor Field, Ringmer 0844 387 8281

 

Emergencies (out of hours)

An answering machine will direct you to the duty doctor service tel: 03000 24 24 24 In the unlikely event of being unable to contact them please dial 999 for real emergencies.
Please wait until the surgery is next open for non-urgent matters.

Practice News and Notices

Appointment System

The Practice is committed to continually reviewing the current appointment system in order to provide better access for patients.  Last year, the appointment system was altered to allow appointments to be bookable up to four weeks in advance.

This spring, the Practice has introduced a GP Triage system.  Patients who call on the day and need to be seen by a GP will be requested to leave their contact details with the Receptionist.  The Duty Doctor will then contact the patient to assess the problem over the telephone.  If the GP feels the patient needs to be seen, they will be offered an appointment on the same day.  This system is proving to be a more efficient way of dealing with the on-the-day emergencies.

High levels of failures to attend appointments have been a constant concern at the Practice.  On average, patients fail to attend 100 GP appointments and 112 Nurse appointments each month.  We ask that, if patients are no longer able to attend their appointment, that they contact the surgery (preferably at least 24 hours in advance) to cancel their appointment and allow other patients to be seen.

The Practice offers Extended Hours sessions, specifically created for patients who work full-time / commute to work and therefore find it difficult to attend the surgery during normal working hours.  These clinics are available alternatively between River Lodge Surgery and Ringmer Surgery 7am - 8am Mondays and Fridays and Saturdays 8.30am - 12 noon.   These appointments must be booked in advance.

New Telephone System

Following feedback from our patients about the difficulties in accessing both surgeries by telephone, particularly between 8.30am and 10.30am, the Practice will be upgrading the telephone system from June 2011. 

Patients are asked that, if they are contacting the surgery for test results, prescription queries or other non-urgent matters, to contact the surgery after 11am in order to allow better access to more urgent queries between peak times.

New Nursing Staff

The Practice is pleased to announce that we have taken on two new Practice Nurses to compliment our existing Nursing Team.  Celine Campbell will be based at Ringmer Surgery on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Our other new Nurse will commence work at the Practice in July and will be available at River Lodge Surgery on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Minor Injury Unit Campaign

Are you going to the right place for emergency care?

A&E Departments can often be overcrowded and it can sometimes take many hours for patients to be treated.  Minor Injury Units are walk-in clinics that help people with less serious injuries and patients can often be seen much quicker than if they were to attend A&E.

The Minor Injury Units can deal with:

• Sprains
• Simple bone fractures
• Cuts
• Eye infections
• and more...

East Sussex has three Minor Injury Units based at Lewes Victoria Hospital (01273 402504), Uckfield Community Hospital (01825 769999) and Crowborough War Memorial Hospital (01892 603602).

You don't need an appointment - simply walk-in or telephone for advice when the units are open (Mondays to Sundays 8am - 8pm).

Falls Prevention Session

Due to popular demand, the Practice has arranged a further Falls Prevention session to take place at River Lodge Surgery on Friday 1st July at 2pm.  A 30-minute talk will commence at 2pm, afterwhich the speaker will be available to answer questions / discuss concerns on a one-to-one basis.