Brora and Helmsdale Medical Practice was formed by the merger of the two village practices in 2003. The practice premises are owned by NHS Highland.
We are a rural & remote practice serving 2,500 people of all ages, covering a large geographical area of East Sutherland. This is a beautiful rural county in Scotland that has one of the lowest population densities in Western Europe. Our patients primarily live in the main settlements of Brora, Helmsdale and Golspie, but we have a significant number who live in sparsely-populated crofting settlements and farms along Strath Brora and Strath Kildonan. It can take our GPs over an hour to reach some of our most outlying patients on home visits.
In addition to providing comprehensive primary health care to our patients, our GPs also help to run the community hospital and minor injuries unit at the Lawson Memorial Hospital each week.
Our aims
We are proud to serve our patients and be an integral part of the community. Our aim is to provide accessible, high-quality primary care to our patients in an NHS that continues to be free at the point of provision for all. We, however, can only achieve that aim by working in partnership with our patients, community, hospital and social services. That means us trying to do our best to help you, but also for patients to do their best to access services responsibly. We look forward to working with you to achieve those aims.
Our staff
Without high quality, committed staff our service would not function effectively. We feel honoured to have the team working for us who manage to do a difficult job at times with good humour and a strong sense of camaraderie Here you can find out some more about our team members:
Doctors
Dr Monica M Main MBChB DRCOG DFSRH MRCGP
Monica is our senior partner and has been with the practice since 1990. She trained at the University of Aberdeen. She has clinical interests in Womens' Health and Family Planning, and undertakes contraceptive coil fitting for the practice. Monica is also a trained BASICS Scotland emergency response GP. In addition to her medical role, she serves as Lord Lieutenant of Sutherland. As such she is probably the only GP in the United Kingdom to have her own warship on call, HMS Sutherland!
Dr Alan A Woodall MBChB MPH PhD DRCOG DFSRH MRCGP
Alan joined the practice in April 2008 after training in general practice and medical research at universities in the UK (Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham) and USA (University of California, Berkeley) and has clinical interests in child health, preventive medicine and medical education. Alan also is trained as a BASICS Scotland emergency response GP. He also undertakes minor surgery, joint injections and contraceptive implant (arm) fittings for the practice. In his spare time he enjoys the outdoors, military history and music. Alan is the GP on the Brora and Helmsdale Patient Participation Group. He also serves as the clinical lead for East Sutherland Local Health Partnership.
Dr Anthony Doherty MBChB MRCGP
Tony joined the practice in May 2010. He qualified in Edinburgh in 1995, and worked in the UK and Queensland, Australia, until he settled in Inverness and completed his GP training in 2001. He has worked in many practices in the Highlands and has developed an interest in medical photography and skin disease. Ouside of medicine he enjoys ski-ing, cycling and running.
Practice nursing support staff
Our nurses and Healthcare assistant (HCA) undertake the majority of our blood taking, ECGs, spirometry, chronic disease managment clinics and wound care management. Our practice nurses will also shortly take over all childhood immunisations after appropriate training to free up GP time to see sick patients.
Meg Mackenzie, RGN
Meg joined the practice in 2001 and mainly runs our nurse-led clinics on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at Helmsdale Health Centre
Joan Gunn, RGN
Joan joined us in 2004 and mainly runs our nurse-led clinics on weekdays at Brora Health Centre.
Liz Bruce (HCA)
Liz recently began training as a Health Care Assistant to improve access to nursing support. She is attending accredited training courses for this at Raigmore and Wick Hospitals. Liz now undetakes blood taking for the practice, and will shortly expand her skills to include ECG, blood pressure, spirometry and urine analysis to free up GP and nursing time for more complex clinical skills.
Practice Manager
Margaret Coull
Margaret took on the role of our practice manager (probably the hardest job in the practice) after a long career in banking in January 2008. She is interested in staff management, oversees our finances and developing the practice.
Reception and Administration Staff
We are fortunate to have the following members of staff working for us in our reception administration teams; without their help the smooth running of the practice would be difficult to achieve:
Lynne Murray - IT manager and receptionist
Angela Macdonald - Office manager and receptionist
Mary Sutherland - relief receptionist
Denise Macdonald - receptionist
Sharon Fennell - receptionist
Anita Mackay - receptionist
Liz Bruce -receptionist and Health Care Assistant
NHS Highland Health Professionals we work alongside
The following staff do not work for us, but we spend a lot of time working alongside them as professionals in their own areas in the primary health care team, and their support and advice is invaluable:
District nursing/community midwifery team
Janice Macrae (District Nurse/Community Midwife)
Kay Mackinnon (District Nurse/Community Midwife)
Donna Macbeath (District Nurse/Community Midwife)
Caroline Cowie (District Nurse)
Annabel Murray (District Enrolled Nurse)
Health Visitor/Public Health Nurse/School Nursing team
Louise Richardson (Health Visitor and public health nurse)
Joy Wonderly (Early Years/Surestart Careworker)
Community Psychiatric Nursing (CPN)Team
Sam Brightwell (CPN Adult Mental Health)
Debbie Sutherland (CPN Older People Mental Health)
