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Dr Wharton cordially invites you
to celebrate his retirement at a
farewell tea party at
Newbridge Surgery on:
Saturday 11th July
10.30am- 3.30pm
A FAREWELL FROM DOCTOR WHARTON
My time at Newbridge
It seems impossible that it is over 30 years since I arrived at this practice. I had been living in
Cornwall and moved to Chippenham to take advantage of an opportunity to train as a GP there.
Once qualified, I looked for a chance to join a practice and was eventually offered one in
Malmesbury and Evelyn Road on the same day. Dr Brian Conway took me for a drink and
persuaded me that together we could develop the practice and build a new surgery, so I decided to
come to Bath.
Evelyn Road surgery was cramped and old fashioned at that time. All the doctor's rooms were
upstairs and patients had to respond to a buzzer, walk up the stairs and find the right doctor's room.
Sometimes there were arguments about whose turn it was next. The records were quite basic and a
lot of our work was done from memory or guesswork. My predecessor Dr Powell always had
several dogs with him, and his patients found it strange that they were not under the table when I
first introduced myself. He also often watched “Coronation street” with patients in their homes after
evening surgery. I didn't continue either of these traditions.
Brian and I set about introducing modern records including lists of problems and medication, and
by 1988 we had an early computer system and plans for a new surgery across the road. We
appointed Sue Cooper as the first female partner and her enthusiasm and energy reinvigorated the
practice. We waded through the bureaucracy and eventually bought and built on part of the
Newbridge school grounds, but it took us six years.
The new surgery took a lot of thought, and we visited the building site most days. One day when it
neared completion I passed by on my way to work and noticed the name being engraved above the
entrance. It said “The Newbridge Surgery”. For some reason this really upset me! I ranted at the
poor stonemason “we don't call it 'The!' It's just Newbridge! Get rid of the 'the'!”. He had already
carved the T into the stone, so he thought for a minute, and cleverly turned it into a logo-and put
one to match it at the other end. Have a look next time you go in.
When we built it, we were told by the NHS advisors that the surgery was too big, but we were
pleased that we had room to expand and now we are using every part of the building. We were
pleased that we were able to add in a lower floor, which has allowed us to provide more services
over the years. Then in 2009 the pharmacy arrived adding to the services on the site.
In the last 25 years GP services have changed out of all recognition and we now have a much larger
team including highly skilled nurses, district nurses, midwives and health visitors, along with
committed receptionists and administrative staff. We provide a wide range of services and tests, and
are always looking to improve this. Ruth Grabham joined us in 1993, and more recently Matt
Brooks and Shan Mantri have joined us. We have a great team of doctors and nurses, with the
energy and enthusiasm to give you the best of care, and the practice is very involved in innovation
and improvement in primary care, working closely with the Commissioning group.
Computers may seem to now rule our lives but the standard of care we can provide has improved
enormously, and IT has helped this process. Since 1996 we have been “paperless”, so for nearly 20
years our records have been largely digital and this works much better than paper notes. But
throughout this period, patients have been the centre of our focus, and we try hard not to let
computers dominate our care.
In 1988 we started teaching doctors to be GP s and I have been involved in helping around 30
doctors on this path. This has been a great pleasure and privilege, and I have learned so much from
them, I hope they learned a little from me! I'm proud that all of these doctors qualified first time and
passed all their exams, and many of them work locally, such as Clare Amos, Nicole Howse and
Patrick Eavis.
From 1990, Gps needed to continue to educate themselves regularly, and we created a charity, the
Bath GP Education and Research trust. I have been in turn convenor, treasurer, chairman and trustee
of this excellent organisation, and I am still involved. I truly believe that this charity gives GP s in
this area the best educational opportunities in the west of England. From 2008, I worked in the
Severn Deanery (the education arm of the NHS) in Bristol on appraisal and GP education which
was challenging and interesting work.
In 2012 I was proud to be created a fellow of the College of GP s for my educational work. From
2011-2013 I was Medical Director of the old PCT in BANES, and was pleased to be able to transfer
my duties to NHS England in 2013, Where I work to maintain standards of care in the NHS.
Meanwhile the Clinical Commissioning Group has taken over local NHS commissioning and is
one of the leading organisations of its kind in the country.
I have had an interesting and varied career in the NHS, and still believe strongly that it is the jewel
in our crown in this country. It is widely viewed as the best health care system in the world, and we
must do everything we can to keep it effective and patient friendly, and keep continuity of care as
much as we can.
I will be sad to leave my patients, some of whom I have known for 30 years and seen grow from
childhood to parenthood, a great honour and privilege. I will be leaving the practice at the end of
June. I hope that some of you can attend an informal drop in at the surgery on Saturday 11 th
July between 10.30 and 3.30 for tea and coffee so that I can say goodbye.
I am pleased that the practice remains strong, friendly and in my opinion (unbiased of course!) one
of the best practices in the West, if not the UK. Any of my colleagues can take over your care, and
you can make your own choice who you want to see. They are all great doctors! Dr Shan Mantri
will however be seeing many of my patients and I'll be talking this through with him over the next
few weeks.
I will not be leaving this area, and me and my wife Teresa will still be living at our farm, where I
will be more involved with looking after the sheep, cattle, pigs and hens! We have three children,
aged 27 to 32, but no grand-children yet! No doubt we will bump into some of you at concerts and
events in this great city.
Meanwhile I wish you all well for the future.
Best wishes
Richard Wharton