Our Services
Pendleside Medical Practice has been offering patient-centred care in the Ribble Valley market town of Clitheroe for over 80 years. The practice philosophy centres on a personal and continuing relationship between Doctor and Patient.
We are a group practice with 6 partners including two females GPs. All partners possess the Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) as a standard of excellence, and 4 of the partners also hold the Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (FRCGP).
In addition to the provision of the full range of standard General Practice services we offer additional services including cervical screening, contraception, vaccination and immunisation, child health surveillance, maternity services and minor surgery. We are also able to offer anti-coagulation monitoring (Warfarin testing), coil fitting, contraceptive implants and acupuncture.
We offer a full home visiting service during office hours (8:00 – 18:30 Monday - Friday), outside of these hours cover is provided by East Lancs Medical Co op. You will automatically be diverted to this service if you ring out of hours. Patients can be seen out of hours at dedicated centres based at both Clitheroe and Royal Blackburn Hospitals. Should your condition be an emergency then you should dial 999 immediately.
Appointments are available within 48 hours during the week and it is possible to book appointments up to 4 weeks in advance.
The practice has been computerised since 1983, with computers in all consulting rooms. All appointments, consultations and prescriptions are run from the EMIS computer system. It is now possible to book your GP appointment on line and order repeat prescriptions.
We also provide a full treatment room service offering nursing assessment and full nursing services, minor injuries care and blood tests. We have closely attached community nursing services including District Nurses, Health Visitors, School Nurses and a Community Mental Health team.
All the GP partners are also employed as Hospital Assistants at Clitheroe Community Hospital, run by our local Primary Care Trust (PCT), where we are able to offer intermediate care facilities, thus avoiding unnecessary acute hospital admission, or enabling early discharge, together with care closer to home provided by a familiar doctor.
The practice has a firm grounding in teaching, training and development of medical students, foundation year doctors and GP registrars. Two partners (Dr John Zak and Dr Nigel McMeekin) are accredited as trainers.
Finally the practice is dedicated to the provision of high quality primary care – we were one of the first practices in England to achieve the RCGP Quality Practice Award (QPA) award in 2001 and also 2006. We are also holders of the Investors in People award with an outstanding report in 2004.
All these services and achievements need frequent feedback from our patients – we operate regular questionnaires to monitor our services, and have an active patient participation group which meets regularly in the Health Centre.