About Us

Giffords has a dedicated team of health professionals and administrative staff working together to offer health care, observing the principles of access, quality, continuity and a connection with social and healthcare networks in our locality.

Our Mission:

To provide the best healthcare through evidence based medical practice delivered in a responsive and caring environment.

Giffords Surgery

Giffords is a long established, well organised practice, with 14,000 patients founded in 1947 by the joining together of 3 single handed practices – Drs Spence, Keir and Campbell.

Giffords surgery moved to its current purpose built surgery in August 2000 and we offer a wide range of services including care of the elderly, minor surgery, travel, contraception, maternity, diabetic, heart and asthma management, young persons services and support to stop smoking.

The surgery is situated in the market town next to the community hospital which provides X-ray facilities, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and other out patient clinics. We have the Health Visitor Team based in the surgery, and the Midwife runs clinics two days a week from the surgery. Our District Nursing Team is based at the community hospital and we have close working relations with them. Our practice area covers Melksham and the surrounding areas including Atworth, Shaw, Whitley, Holt, Keevil and Broughton Gifford.

We run an open list system, patients are registered with the practice and they can choose which Doctor they wish to see.We have a growing patient participation group who are very keen to help the practice celebrate good practice and improve services where needed. We recently had a very successful open day supported by our PPG to promote the services offered by the practice and our PPG; this was very much appreciated by our patients. We would like to increase patient participation in the day to day running of the practice. The practice works hard to achieve high QOF scores every year.Dr Iggulden has overall responsibility for the QOF programme in the surgery and she is assisted by the Practice Manager, the lead QOF nurse and the QOF administrator.

We now have 3 trainers in the surgery: Dr Burgess, Iggulden and Garmston, the trainees are supported by the other GPs in the surgery as well.

Registration

It is quick and easy to register with a GP using our simple online GP registration form. Whether you are new to the area or have never registered with a GP practice before, there is usually no need to come to the practice to complete your registration and no proof of address is required. We are a local GP Practice and have a catchment area for home visiting purposes, but we welcome patients from outside our practice boundary.

Image of woman sitting in wheelchair at computer screen

Accessibility Needs

We aim to ensure that staff are aware of our patients with particular needs.

The practice booklet is available in Braille and large print and we have an induction hearing loop installed at our reception.

All areas of the practice are accessible by wheelchair and there are disabled toilets in the front lobby and on the first floor.

Meet our Team

Giffords is constantly developing services and improving standards.

The development of the multidisciplinary team with targeted specialist services and increased engagement with community health care is testament to our innovation and drive to improve health care.

The health professionals are supported by the Managing Partner, Emma Fletcher, The Business Manager and The Operations Manager and a large number of administrative staff.

The ‘on the day’ appointment system using trained care navigators, allows instant access to appropriate advice and care. The practice has invested in telephone lines, increased numbers of care navigators and health professionals, including advanced nurse practitioners and doctors.

SEE OUR TEAMS PAGE

Training Practice

Giffords Surgery is proud to be an accredited training practice.

STs (Speciality Trainees) are fully experienced in hospital medicine but require further general practice experience before entry into practice independently.

F2s (Foundation Year 2 Doctors) are qualified doctors in their second year after qualifying as doctors. They rotate between hospital specialities every 4 months and may spend 4 months in general practice. They are supervised by their trainer and also supported by the other GPs in the practice.

Practice Information

Facilities

Large car park
Disabled access
Automatic external door
Children and baby changing facilities
Toilets with wheelchair access
A wheelchair is available by request at reception
Induction hearing loop system in reception area
Lift

Children and Babies

Pushchairs can be left in the front lobby that is covered by CCTV however the surgery takes no responsibility for property left in the surgery.
There are baby-changing facilities in the disabled toilet.

Patient Group

We are interested in hearing your views about the surgery, how well we are doing and how we may be able to improve the services we offer you – we can only do this with your help. You can find out more here

See Our Reviews

We encourage our patients to let us know about their positive experiences at our practice. If you'd like to leave a review, please do so on the NHS website

You can see what other patients have said about us here

Alternatively, if you've had a bad experience we'd also like to know. Please contact us and let us know how we can improve.

GP Patient Survey

The GP Patient Survey is an independent survey run by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out to over two million people across England. The results show how people feel about their GP practice.

SEE OUR RESULTS

Our overall CQC Rating was: GOOD

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) makes sure hospitals, care homes, dental and GP surgeries, and all other care services in England provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care and encourages them to make improvements where possible.

SEE THE FULL REPORT