A Suffolk GP is launching a private practice so that he can offer patients a more rounded service.
Bryan Anglim is a partner at the Hadleigh Boxford Group Practice where he will continue as an NHS doctor.
But he is branching out with Anglim Health – a private Bury St Edmunds GP surgery which he will run from Moseleys Farm Business Centre, Fornham All Saints from September 1.
Although he loves his NHS work, he feels frustrated at some of the limitations. “The ability to give patients what they want and need is getting worse and worse,” he explained. “There are restrictions on treatment on the NHS which all doctors find frustrating.”
He will continue to work as an NHS practitioner at Hadleigh on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends will devote himself to his private practice.
“I’m an NHS GP and I really enjoy that work and I’m continuing to do that alongside this,” he said.
His NHS practice in Hadleigh – which he joined in 2012 – serves 16,000 patients. He is one of eight GP partners and there is one nurse partner and five salaried GPs.
“The NHS is excellent when it comes to any urgent care,” he said. But other lesser ailments which can affect people’s ability to carry out their normal activities could take a back seat, he added. Despite this, Hadleigh performed well, he said.
“I’m really proud of what we do on the NHS – what we do with the resources available. It does an excellent job,” he said. This was all for £13 a patient per month. “I pay more than that for my haircut or my mobile subscription,” he said.
But it was “really frustrating” when as a doctor he knew of a treatment that could really benefit the patient and that isn’t available on the NHS. “This is a way of taking away that handbrake and giving patients more choice,” he said.
The reason for choosing Bury St Edmunds was because he feels there is a demand and it won’t interfere with his NHS work. It provides him with a different geographical patch and therefore patient group as there are rules around seeing NHS patients privately.
“I live in Beyton so I’m almost directly between the two,” he explained. “It’s a thriving town and it seems to have everything going for it.”
The doctor – who qualified in 2005 and worked first in Ipswich before moving to the Hadleigh practice – said he was keen to develop “an ongoing personal relationship” with patients, where he could follow up and offer a more personal service.
“I think that’s what’s unique about our offering in the area,” he said.
It would be “a bit like an old-school 1980s GPs” where the patient could contact his doctor on an evening or weekend, he added.
It took about two years from concept to set up the new practice and register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – which Bryan sees as important to offering a holistic service.
He will be helped by wife, Amelia – who has a background in accounting – with backroom functions at his new venture.
Patients will be able to pay for an appointment or become a member and have access to unlimited appointments and round-the-clock care.
“I enjoy providing high quality care where patients are at the centre of decision making,” he said.
“The reason I have set up this business is to help patients who struggle to balance their own personal or work lives with their health needs and to allow me to provide some of the best treatments and tests which are currently not available through the NHS.”
Among the services he is planning to offer is Trucheck – an advance cancer screening test.
He and his wife are funding the new business from their own resources and from a business which they sold.
“It’s always a bit scary when you start something new and I don’t know how people want to use it,” he said.
“I think we are hopeful and confident there are going to be people who want to use this service.”
(Adapted from Sarah Chambers, EADT Business)
