After many years of dedicated service, we wish to announce the upcoming retirement of Dr Mukesh Bhardwaj GP Partner at Frankley Health Centre and most recently Great Park Medical Group.

Dr Bhardwaj will be retiring on 01/06/2025 marking the end of a remarkable career in General Practice. Over the years Dr Bhardwaj has offered compassionate care and unwavering commitment to the health and well being of our patients.

We know that many of you have valued Dr Bhardwaj's support, advice and medical expertise over the years.  While we will all miss him greatly, we are also incredibly grateful for the lasting contribution he has made to the practice and the community.

Please join us in thanking Dr Bhardwaj and wishing him a happy, healthy and well earned retirement.

During COVID many drivers’ licenses have expired. The DVLA initially gave extensions so that drivers could continue to drive and work. For many drivers however, this extension is coming to an end.

Some drivers are now being told by the DVLA to ask their GP if they are “fit to drive” so that they can continue to driver under Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 1988). The DVLA has produced a leaflet which explains RTA 1988.

GPs are not usually qualified, and may not be indemnified, to advise patients whether or not they are fit to drive. In normal circumstances a practice may provide a factual report for the DVLA so that their expert medical advisers will decide upon fitness. If a GP were to provide an opinion that their patient was “fit to drive” and then an accident were to occur, the GP may be liable. This would not be covering by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, as this is not NHS work.

For these reasons, we are advised that if there is any doubts about whether a person is fit to drive, the GP should decline to provide this assurance. As GP’s it is not our place to provide an opinion as to an individual’s fitness to drive per se, but we may offer to provide factual information about a patient’s health, with their consent.

If a GP chooses to produce a bespoke report prepared for the patient to be sent to the DVLA on their behalf, a reasonable fee will be charged as this is not NHS work

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help by calling reception before 10.30am.

Visiting Guidelines

Home visits are routinely available for the terminally ill and truly bed bound patients in whom travel to the surgery by car would cause deterioration in medical condition or unacceptable discomfort. Visits to patients not in these categories may be made at the doctors discretion and based on clinical judgement, but not routinely.

If you are mobile (own legs, using walking aides, wheelchair or scooter) we kindly ask that you see us in the surgery.

Great Park Medical Group offers different appointment types for your healthcare needs. Your appointment will be triaged, which means the receptionists/care navigators will assess your healthcare need, based on the instructions of the GP partners at the surgery. Care navigators are trained to find you the appointment type which is best for you.

A healthcare professional may call you initially to speak about your healthcare need. This can help them to decide if it can be managed without having to come in for a face to face appointment. Many healthcare needs can be dealt with or resolved intially thorugh a phone or video consultation, where you are able to access this.

You may receive:

• a face to face appointment
• a phone consultation
• a video consultaiton 
• signposting to other help and support eg, community pharmacy

The reason for our triage service is due to the high level of appointment requests we receive every day. As every individual is unique, we schedule each appoihtment on a case by case basis. We are doing our best to assisst everyone as quickly as possible with the resources we have available

Some patients prefer remote consultations such as video or phone calls as they can be more convenient and fit around other committments. They can save you time, travelling, work absence and childcare arrangements. However we understand that many people prefer to see a healthcare professional in person. 

Remote consultations are being offered to make appointments more convienient for patients who can assess them and to also ensure there are more face to face appointments available for those who really need them.

GP reception staff/care navigators are a vital part of the practice and ask questions to direct you to the best professional support. They have been trained to ask you the right questions and are bound by the same confidentiality laws as your GP. Your appointment will be triaged by our trained care navigator, meaning we will assess the urgency of your healthcare need. We can then establish the most suitable appointment type for your care needs as well as which specialist professional within the practice team is best suited to care for you. This may not always be a GP.

Paramedic

At Hollymoor you may see our Paramedic whose background means she is used to working with people with a variety of health conditions from coughs and minor injuries, to more serious conditions.

Clincal Pharmacist

Our clinical pharmacist works as part of the practice team to improve value and outcomes from medicines and consult with and treat patients directly. This includes providing extra help to manage long term conditions, advice for those on multiple medicines and better access to health checks.

MSK First Contact Practitioner 

Our team can refer you to College Green to see the MSK practitioner who can help patients with musculoskeletal issues, such as back, neck & joint pain.

Social Prescriber

Social prescribers can meet many different types of non clinical need ranging from support and advice for individuals experiencing debt, unemployment, housing or mobility issues.

Did you know that you can call the booking office at the relevant hospital direct to chase your recent referral.  You do not need to call the surgery.

Queen Elizabeth - 0121 371 7066

Birmingham Womens - 0121 335 8100

Birmingham Childrens - 0121 333 9700

City Hospital - 0121 554 3801

Royal Orthopaedic - 0121 685 4186

If you are under 65 years of age and in an at risk category then you can now book your annual flu vaccination at the surgery.

Please call the surgery and ask a member of our reception team to book your appointment.