Help shape the future of urgent care at Greenbrook Healthcare
Greenbrook Healthcare is the largest provider of urgent care centres in London. They are currently looking for experienced GPs to work in a high quality, primary care led urgent care environment.
From flexible shift work and minimal paperwork to competitive rates of pay, Dr Jon Craig, deputy medical director at Greenbrook Healthcare, tells us more about what it’s like to work for its urgent care centres.
Tell us more about Greenbrook and your urgent care centres
We run seven urgent care centres across London - four in North West London and three in South East London - all of which are primary care led. These are designed to see, treat and discharge (or refer directly to specialties) ambulatory patients whose injuries or illnesses are not so serious as to need full Emergency Department care.
Most of our centres are co-located with large acute trusts, acting as a front door for those hospitals’ emergency departments. We are proud to be clinically-led and always have senior management on-hand to talk to and seek advice and guidance when needed.
What kind of people work for your urgent care centres?
The clinicians who work with us are predominantly GPs and emergency nurse practitioners (ENPs). Our GPs typically deal with patients presenting with acute illnesses while the ENPs deal with injuries. No special qualifications or experience are needed - illness cases are those that any GP would be comfortable seeing from their experience in daytime general practice or out-of-hours work, for example acute respiratory or gastrointestinal problems.
Why did you decide to join?
It was too good an opportunity to miss! I joined six months ago having been approached by Greenbrook directly. My background is in general practice and more recently in out-of-hours, so I jumped at the chance to come and help shape the future of urgent care in an organisation that truly cares about what it does.
I particularly like the small organisational feel, the teamwork and the clinically-led management model, which make Greenbrook a great environment in which to work and grow your career.
What roles are you recruiting for?
We‘re always on the lookout for good, caring GPs who are interested in urgent care work. We have a number of opportunities including self-employed GP roles where you can choose ad hoc shift work, self employed work with regularly scheduled shifts on a service level agreement and salaried roles with full or part time options. There are numerous vacancies within our urgent care centres across London.
Why would a GP want to work for Greenbrook Healthcare’s urgent care centres?
It’s enjoyable and offers a change from routine general practice work. We operate a high quality primary care led service, so you won’t be required to do anything other than what a GP would normally do. All this in an exciting and ever changing environment, working as part of a committed team of clinicians who like to help each other out.
Part of the excitement is being at the ‘front door’ as patients arrive, working with hospital colleagues whilst dealing with cases that are still within a GP’s remit. You can opt for flexible shift work and there’s very little paperwork to do so you’re free to go home once your clinical work is done.
What benefits do you offer GPs?
We offer highly competitive rates of pay for all our roles. In addition, as a salaried GP you can benefit from our generous study leave and annual leave, access to the NHS pension, as well as indemnity cover and a range of career progression options.
What career opportunities do you offer?
We offer all staff basic training such as life support and safeguarding sessions. We also invest in staff who want to take on management roles as we recognise that in order to provide good quality medical services we need good leadership.
All of our senior medical team have grown into leadership roles having started out as a GP. One of our GP leads has recently been appointed as clinical director for one of our geographical clusters. We also have plenty of staff who started with us on an ad hoc shift basis and enjoyed it so much that they’ve gone on to permanent roles with us.
Why is urgent care a great career choice for GPs today?
It’s interesting clinical work, different to normal daytime GP practice, and very team-oriented. It can give you the opportunity to work in a portfolio manner whilst keeping your career and skills fresh. Urgent care is receiving a lot of attention and focus from the NHS, and rightly so as demand increases. Integrated care delivery and co-operation between different organisations and providers are key so it’s a very exciting time to work here.
What exciting projects will the new recruits be involved in?
A lot of innovation is happening in our urgent care centres as we increasingly aim to develop services according to patient needs. We are taking a central role in the development of integrated urgent care in London and look forward to novel clinical pathways and increased co-operation with primary care, social care, mental health and acute providers.
Sum up what it’s like to work at Greenbrook Healthcare
I love it. It’s a great team - everyone cares very much about our patients and their experience. We trust and rely on our colleagues to work together for the best clinical quality.
