Profile
Professional History
The National Health Service - 1986 - 1997
One of the most enjoyable and informative projects that I worked on was the development of the Primary Health Care Team Workshops.
In this programme my colleagues and I developed a programme based on the, then named, Health Education Authority primary care programme.
In this programme we took away a whole primary health care team for three days to a hotel. This consisted of the GP and a full cross section of the staff in the practice.
The programme sprang from an idea that was picked by a local GP and put before Julia Cumberlege, now Baroness, who was the Chairman of SWTRHA. She put it on my desk and asked if we couldn't get involved. I was happy to pick up this programme which was never really fully supported by the NHS.
In this programme I was able to develop both my training skills and psychotherapy skills. We worked with the teams to first deconstruct them and then rapidly help them to reconstruct along lines that they developed. Our role was that of facilitator. My experience of HIV/AIDS training meant that I felt I could be sensitive to the needs of the teams and yet still provide support and direction when needed. Many hidden talents were finally allowed expression from usually the most unlikey sources.
It was also great fun and I made some long lasting colleagues.
We developed a marketing programme to ensure that GP surgeries knew about our programme. The picture above (right) is also a link to the full text of the inside and back of the leaflet.
This is my organising team after our first event. We held it at Sandbanks Hotel in Bournemouth. We all learned a great deal about our professional abilities as well as our personal qualities and expertise over those three days in November 1990.
The Team was:
Back (L to R):
Dr. Peter Jenkins - GP tutor and Deryck Lambert from the HEA's Primary Health Care Unit.
Front:(L to R)
Felicity Owen - Primary Care Facilitator Surrey FHSA
Lizzie Wagstaff - Health Promotion Manager Mid Surrey DHA
Camilla Peterken - Primary Care Facilitator Surrey FHSA
Martin Weaver - Health Promotion Adviser SWTRHA
In 1998 Pat Dark at SWTRHA commissioned an evaluation of the Teams that developed from our own.
The evaluation was very positive and suggested that the programme develop. It has, however, fallen far short of the promise that it showed in 1990. This promise was present in both the material that was presented at the workshops and from the enthusiasm and professionalism of all the organising teams that grew up around the programme.
A programme that is similar to the one developed for the Primary Health Care Teams has been adapted and developed and is available for NHS teams and private companies who wish to increase both the quantity of the work they produce as well as its quality.
Details are available on request.
