After over 14 years of serving the people of Southwell and the surrounding villages, Dr Stuart Ockelford has left Southwell Medical Centre.
At a private leaving party held at the practice, Dr Ockelford thanked all the staff and Doctors he had worked with during his time in Southwell but said that his family were now going to Canada to try and get a better balance of work and an outdoor lifestyle.
Dr Ockelford will be practicing as a GP on Vancouver Island in British Colombia whilst also pursuing his hobbies of skiing, hiking, cycling and climbing. Southwell Medical User Group (SMUG) presented Dr Ockelford with a cheque to show the high level of respect and appreciation that the people of the area had for his work whilst in Southwell.
A new Doctor will be starting at the practice in November. She is Dr Dayani Bartholomeuz, who will be joining Southwell from a practice in Worksop.
Flu Vaccinations
The surgery is starting Flu vaccinations this month. It is advised that everyone over 65 years old has a flu vaccine, along with anyone who has previously had a vaccination because they are at risk of Flu.
At Southwell Medical Centre, flu clinics are taking place in booked flu clinics. Please ring the surgery to book into an appointment on any of the following dates:
Saturday September 27th 8am – 12.30pm
Saturday October 11th 8am – 12.30pm
Saturday October 18th 8am – 12.30pm
Saturday November 1st 8am – 12.30pm
To save NHS resources, the practice will not be sending out invitations this year, so please tell your friends about these clinic times.
Donation
Meanwhile SMUG has donated toys and a toy cupboard for children to use while waiting at the surgery. New Duplo bricks, sticklebricks and jigsaws have been given, along with a bright orange cupboard to store them in.
Practice Manager, Nigel Kenward said, “we are really grateful to the members of Southwell Medical User Group for providing new toys and somewhere to store them. At their meetings they sometimes hold raffles etc to raise funds, and they wanted those funds to be used to help make the surgery more child-friendly”.
The User Group meets at the surgery quarterly and also holds education meetings. The next education meeting takes place on Tuesday 23rd September at the Methodist Church Hall in Southwell. Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr Simon Page from Nottingham will be presenting a session entitled, “Diabetes, it’s not all sweetness and light”.