The Porch Surgery

MA MB BChir Cambridge 1974 DCH David MacArthur qualified in 1974 from Cambridge and London. He had two years in hospital paediatrics before training as a General Practitioner. His clinical interests include diabetes, hypertension, travel medicine and child health. He has old fashioned attitudes about being a GP and is an advocate for what was good in general practice, for example, continuity of patient care. Paradoxically, he is keen to promote further use of computers in general practice, which has brought about genuine improvement in patient care.

MB ChB Birmingham 1982 DRCOG MRCGP Dr Heather Baker qualified from Birmingham Medical School in 1982 and moved to Cambridgeshire to undertake a three year vocational training for General Practice. After posts in General Practice, medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, rheumatology and psychiatry. She moved to the South West and worked at Frenchay hospital in haematology, and care of the elderly, before joining the Porch Surgery as the practice’s first female partner in 1988. Married with two daughters (and a dog) Heather now works half time. She is the named lead doctor for family planning, chronic kidney disease and staffing issues, but considers her main role is as a generalist GP.

MA BM BCh Oxon 1979 DRCOG MRCGP Dr Lesley Starr qualified from Oxford University in 1979 having finished the first three years of pre-clinical medicine in Cambridge. After pre-registration house-jobs she completed the Bristol General Practice training scheme, finishing in 1983. Following this she worked in Geriatrics in Bristol and then, whilst her children were small, worked as an Assistant GP in General Practices in Melksham, Bradford-on-Avon, Bath and Corsham. Lesley became a half-time partner at the Porch in 1994. Alongside this, until 2001, she also worked as a Clinical Assistant in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Her current interests include being practice lead for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and training for GP Registrars.

MB BS London 1990 DRCOG MRCGP Dr Margaret Hatherell qualified from St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, in 1990. After working in hospitals in Bath and Swindon while training to be a GP, she joined The Porch as a partner in 1996. Margaret is a half-time partner at The Porch. She is the lead partner for Coronary Heart disease and blood pressure and the link partner for the Patient Participation Group. She takes a holistic approach to each patient and enjoys the variety of general practice.

BSc MB ChB Bristol 1979 MRCOG MRCGP Simon Burrell qualified in Bristol in 1979. He worked in several hospitals in Bristol and Bath for some years in various specialities, but particularly in obstetrics. He joined the partnership in Corsham in 1985. Like all the partners he is keen to consider health and illness in the context of the whole person and to ensure an understanding of the balance of the benefits and hazards of modern treatments. He looks after the residents of Claremont and Warrington Lodge Care Homes and through this, has significant experience of helping older people and providing palliative care. For ten years he was a medical officer for Bath Rugby Club, and has an interest in sports health. He has been involved in some of the wider aspects of organising health care in Wiltshire for some time; providing clinical input into decisions about how NHS funds are spent. He is currently chair of the North Wilts GP commissioning group. He is also involved in appraising other GPs in Wiltshire

MB ChB Birmingham 1991 MRCGP Dr St.John Mohr qualified from Birmingham University Medical School in 1991. He remained in the Midlands for junior hospital jobs and to complete his GP training. He then temporarily left the NHS to work for the pharmaceutical industry in 2000 before returning to General Practice in 2004. He became a partner at the Porch Surgery in 2005. St.John is a full time partner at the Porch and is involved in Clinical Trial Research. He is the practice IT, finance and prescribing lead and and enjoys minor surgery.

MB BCh Cardiff 2004 MRCGP DCH Qualified 2004 from University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff. He did his House jobs in Medicine and Surgery in Swansea and North Wales before moving to New Zealand for 1 year, spending the majority of the post in paediatrics. On returning to the UK he undertook posts in Psychiatry, Accident & Emergency and General Medicine. He moved to Bath in 2007 to commence the General Practice Training Scheme and has rotated through many specialities, including rheumatology, cardiology, gastroenterology, paediatrics, obstetrics & gynaecology and ENT.

MB BS London 2002 MRCGP DRCOG DFSRH DipMedEd Qualified 2002 from St Georges Medical School, London. She did house jobs in London and Chichester before working in Emergency medicine in Australia. On returning to the UK she moved to Bath and in 2004 undertook GP training posts in Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Gynaecology and ENT. She has worked as a GP in Bath and Wiltshire since 2007. Joanna works as a GP educator in Swindon and is involved in training future GPs. She finds the variety of General Practice interesting and within this particularly enjoys family planning, education and musculoskeletal medicine.