Welcome to our blog

We are delighted that you have given us a chance to tell you about what we do and who we are. 

I started Oxford Private Medical Practice in 2007. I was looking for the opportunity to spend more time with my patients to allow me to get to know them better and set up a small practice at The Manor Hospital. The practice grew quickly and before long needed a bigger working space. I found a bright top floor office in Summertown and fitted it out to provide a home for the new practice. When the practice in Summertown opened in December 2010 I was working on my own with my PA Tillie. 

As the practice grew I invited other doctors and healthcare professionals to come and work alongside me at the practice. The growth was largely driven by patient demand and there are now 4 GPs, 3 practice nurses, a psychologist, child psychologist, family therapist, therapist and couples counsellor working with me. There is a visiting psychiatrist and neonatologist (who does new baby check ups). There are 2 full time support staff and a chief operating officer. 

People wonder what sort of people would use a private GP. Here are the sorts of people who come. 

- a percentage of our patients use us for all their medical problems and have no other GP. They seem to value the personalised confidential service, ease of access and good service delivery - others keep their NHS GP and use us for more important or complicated things, and things that they are worried about or that are less well served by the NHS 

- another group who use our service is people visiting Oxford who are looking for a convenient service, where they can be seen quickly and given the correct paperwork for their travel insurance 

- another group will use us for travel advice 

- a similar group will use us for immunisations not available on the NHS such as chickenpox and meningitis B We often ask ourselves what our patients value about our service. 

 Here is what we think that they like

 

- access. This means that we answer our phone, have same day appointments available and so there is no wait to be seen 

- time. Some patients come in with several different problems, or quite a complicated story and we are able to give them the time that they need 

- delivery of care. Things like taking blood from our patients at the consultation mean that a second trip is not required, results are emailed the following morning and referrals are made on the same day. This makes for a fast and efficient service which sees our patients having minimal waiting times, and allowing them to get back to what they are normally doing as quickly as possible 

- knowledge of the private sector. We know of and use the best consultants in their fields, both in Oxford and London. 

It is such a privilege to work with our wonderful patient group and in my opinion the relationship that we have with our patients is the key to being good at our job. I am lucky enough to have a significant number of patients who I have looked after for more than 20 years, some who were babies when I first started working as a private GP in London, now young independent adults and others who I have seen through many different seasons in their lives. 

If you have found this blog interesting and would like to know more about us and what we do, please give us a call at the office or come in to see us, or have a look at our website. We are open 8.30 to 6pm on weekdays. More to follow from others working with us. 

With best wishes 

Amanda Northridge 

(GP, founder and Medical Director Oxford Private Medical Practice)