THE next time residents book an appointment at their local surgery they might not see their GP.

Changes being made by East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which covers Bracknell, Ascot, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead, will mean one of a range of healthcare professionals may now respond to patient’s needs at surgeries instead of a general practitioner.

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From this year clinical pharmacists and social prescribing link workers will become central figures at surgeries, before being joined by physicians and physiotherapists from 2020.

By 2021 first contact community paramedics will also be part of this new arrangement.

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Dr Andy Brooks, GP and Chief Officer of East Berkshire CCG, told the News the added roles would provide “really good and wide access”.

He continued: “With the number of GPs decreasing, which will happen, we need to make sure we find different ways of providing a service.

“Sometimes some of those other professionals might well be better at providing a service than GPs will be.

“A pharmacist will know much more about medication than I will as a GP.

“It might even be a better service.

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“A paramedic would be much better at doing a home visit than I would as a GP, and maybe even be able to see people quicker than I would as a GP.

“As a GP we do our morning services and then we get our visitors come in and then we go and see patients – but if you’ve got paramedics around they could maybe even go much earlier in the day and so people might be able to see them more quickly.

“If people have got muscular-skeletal problems, by seeing a physiotherapist they might be able to give them advice and again they may be much more skilled than I would be as a GP.”

Dr Brooks was speaking at the annual general meeting of East Berkshire CCG on Tuesday, September 17.

Earlier at the event a range of healthcare and wellbeing organisations set up stalls to tell people more about their services.

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Later, Slough locality lead Dr Jim O’Donnell spoke about how some of these changes at Herschel Medical Centre in Slough, such as the introduction of some pharmacists at the practice, meant it was “ahead of the game”.

Dr Brooks continued: “I see it as a really positive way that people can see the right professional and get the right advice from them.

“To reassure people, that doesn’t mean that the GPs aren’t there, that doesn’t mean the GP hasn’t got overall sight of what’s going on.

“A pharmacist or a paramedic or a physician will be able to request help from the GP and say ‘actually, I still think you need to see your GP or talk to them’.

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“With any change, people may get anxious, but I really do see positive ways of making this work.”