GP ARRS role – fixed term

Based: Mereside Medical Practices (mainly Staploe Medical Centre, but as needed at Haddenham Surgery, and Cathedral Medical Centre) 

Basis: Fixed term until 31 March 2025. Up to 12 clinical sessions per week available, ideally shared by 2 GPs  

Eligibility: You must be eligible to work in the UK and to participate in the GP ARRS scheme. 

About Us 

Mereside Medical is a flourishing group of three East Cambridgeshire practices in Ely, Haddenham and Soham. As a group, we’ve grown rapidly and now employ more than 160 people across the three practices. We are people-centred in our approach to work and believe that every contact that a patient has with our staff is as valuable as the next in the patient journey. We believe in clinical excellence, and that general practice is the cornerstone of well-being in our community. Our approach is innovative and forward-looking, and we embrace technology to help us work together more efficiently and collaboratively. 

Our goal is to deliver on the ambitions laid out in the GP forward view in a way that is locally relevant, valued by patients, and satisfying for our staff. We are proud to have been an early adopter of the Covid Vaccination Programme and have, together with our Ely Primary Care Network partners, delivered over 150,000 vaccinations to our local communities. In addition to our core general practice work we run a large clinical research trials unit and we work closely with the ICB to develop innovative ways to improve local service provision. We are the lead practice for one of the two local PCNs and are represented in both. 

General Practice at Mereside 

Our approach is innovative and forward-looking, and dedicated to excellent clinical outcomes. 

We want you to be able to do the best work of your career, confident in your care and proud of the outcomes you achieve for your patients. We work hard to ensure that our GPs are motivated and engaged in contributing to a supportive culture of mutual learning. Mereside practices are well-regarded for GP, student and nurse training. We enjoy weekly clinical meetings, quarterly half day closures, and daily coffee meetings for clinical discussions and case sharing. 

We are purposeful in our efforts to manage GP workload and ensure sustainability, having developed a diverse and large team of support staff over recent years. Admin teams process letters, enact medication changes, and undertake medication reviews. We have clinical support from a large nursing team and Advanced Practitioner team. The duty team consists of a duty GP supported by Advanced Practitioners and nurses working together in the same room, creating a collaborative, supportive

environment in which to manage the on-the-day workload together. 

We embrace technology to enable more effective and efficient ways of working. All practices use SystmOne and AskMyGP for managing patient queries, meaning our waiting time for appointments is zero and our accessibility rating is excellent. We use MS Teams to enable regular video meetings across sites, cascade critical information, share audits and learning, and facilitate more rapid collaborative working. 

The GP ARRS Role 

For Financial Year 2025/25, in order to alleviate GP unemployment amongst recently qualified GPs, emergency funding has been made available through Primary Care Networks to create fixed term GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme roles. There are strict eligibility requirements attached to this funding (see Annex to this Job Description). Please ensure that you meet these requirements before applying. 

The funding must also be spent by 31 March 2025. While extension of the funding is anticipated, this is not currently guaranteed. Therefore the offer currently is for a fixed term contract until 31 March 2025, subject to extension of funding. 

For the session rate offered you will be expected to carry out 13 clinical contacts per session or 25 per day. These will be a mix of remote and face to face. You will not be expected to hold a patient list. You will be located primarily at Staploe Medical Centre in Soham but may occasionally be asked to work from one of our other nearby practices in Ely and Haddenham. 

Who we are looking for 

We are looking for GPs to join Mereside Medical who believe in our vision for high quality, locally relevant primary care, at scale, and who wants to actively engage in our delivery of that vision. You will have a passion for medicine, for learning, and for finding solutions or new ways of working. You will be excited by the prospect of embracing new technologies and keen to transform the way we deliver care. You will be the kind of GP who thrives in a collaborative team, are confident to seek support when you need it and supporting of your peers when they do. You will seek learning from challenge, and humour from life. 

We offer a substantive benefits package to all of our GPs, and have put in place comprehensive mentoring from a Partner or Lead GP for all salaried GPs, including this fixed term GP ARRS appointment. For permanent salaried appointees, we offer a range of additional benefits listed below that may become available to you, if the ARRS GP funding is extended. 

We understand how important it is to offer genuinely flexible working, and are always open to a conversation about what working arrangements would suit your personal circumstances. If you’re the right fit for us, then we’ll do our best to be the right fit for you. 

We offer the following benefits under this fixed term ARRS GP appointment:

• Mentorship from a Partner or Lead GP 

• Medical Defence Organisation fees paid 

• Six weeks holiday plus bank holidays and one week study leave (pro-rated) 

In addition, for permanent salaried GP appointments we offer: 

• Contribution to relocation costs 

• Flexible working arrangements to balance your commitments in and outside of work 

• Tier 2 Visa sponsor 

• GP career progression framework 

• Support to newly qualified GPs on the Fellowship scheme. 

To join our team please send your CV and covering letter to: cpicb.mereside-recruitment@nhs.net 

For informal enquiries please contact: 

Dr James Howard (jhoward11@nhs.net), or 

Dr Antoinette Hadida Savvas (anttoinette.hadidasavvas@nhs.net) 

See more here: JD – GP ARRS Role – Staploe – November 2024