Practice Ethos
The Rycote Practice is committed to delivering the best possible care at Thame Health Centre and to ensuring that patients’ physical, psychological and social needs are met. Our care is defined by the values that all staff share and is summed up in the term "Excellent Care by Working Together". We believe that continuity of care helps to ensure high standards and therefore every patient has a named GP allocated to their care. The practice is committed to the founding principles of the NHS, that it should be free to all.
Doctors
Partners |
Dr Dan Faller

BMedSci, BMBS, MRCS, MRCGP, DCH |
Dr Richard Harrington

BA, MBBS (London 1985), DCH, DGM, DRCOG, FRCGP |
Dr Kilian Keaney
MSc, MBBS, MRCP, DRCOG, DCH, MRCGP
|
Dr Jacqueline Makris
MBChB, MRCS, DRCOG, MRCGP
|
Dr Merrell Vaughan
BSc (Hons), MBBS, DCH, MRCGP, DFFP |
Associate GPs |
Dr Cheryl Conely

BA, MBBS (2003), MRCGP, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP |
Dr Melanie Strachan
MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG, DRFSH, MRCP (currently on maternity leave until April 2018) |
Dr Kara Vaughan
BMedSci, MB, BCh, BAO, MRCP (Irl), MRCGP
|
Dr Rebecca Geyton
BSc(Hons), MBBCh, RCGP (covering Dr Strachan's maternity leave until April 2018) |
Registrars |
Dr Rebecca Cox
MBBCh (Hons), DRCOG |
Dr Kate Tizzard
BSc, MBChB, DRCOG |
Nurse Practitioners
A nurse practitioner is an advanced practice nurse that helps with all aspects of patient care, including diagnosis, treatments and consultations. Our nurse practitioners are also able to prescribe some medications. |
Susie Smith (f)
RGN, BSc (Hons), MSc Advanced Healthcare Practice, DMS, RCS |
Nurse Janet Mackintosh (f)

|
Nurse Ruth Tossell (f)

|
Nurses
Valerie Gilbert (f)
RGN
Valerie is our Nursing Team Lead |
Practice nurses are qualified and registered nurses. They can help with health issues such as family planning, healthy living advice, blood pressure checks and dressings. The practice nurses run clinics for long-term health conditions such as asthma or diabetes, minor ailment clinics and carry out cervical smears. |
Treatment Room Nurses
Ruth Cox (f)
RGN
|
Louise Hope (f)
RGN
|
Annette Beesley (f) |
Healthcare Assistants
Healthcare assistants support practice nurses with their daily work and carry out tasks such as phlebotomy (taking blood), blood pressure measurement, lifestyle advice and new patient checks. They may act as a chaperone when a patient or doctor requests one. |
Linda Pusey (f)
HCA |
Mandy Cubbage (f)

|
Wendy Howland (f)
HCA
|
Phlebotomists
Phlebotomists are people trained to draw blood from a patient for clinical or medical testing. |
Tania Livesey
 |
Practice Management
The practice manager is involved in managing all of the business aspects of the practice such as making sure that the right systems are in place to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises and equipment and information technology. The practice manager supports the GPs and other medical professionals with delivering patient services and also helps to develop extended services to enhance patient care. |
Karl Savage (m)

|
Administration
The IT team maintains the increasingly complex computer system and supports its use in the clinical setting. |
Reception
The reception team manager is Angela Paterson. Our reception team perform a whole host of important jobs, for example staffing our reception desk, organising prescriptions, organising and booking clinics, filing hospital communications and maintaining our paper records. Please remember that reception team are not clinically trained but will help in every way they can to assist you with your problem. |
Secretaries
The secretarial team is led by Pauline Tighe. This team looks after communication with hospitals and clinics, and generally help make sure the whole practice runs smoothly. |
Community Midwives
Midwives share routine ante-natal care with the doctors and undertake regular visits to mothers and new-born babies. They can be contacted on 01491 826037 or by leaving a message with the reception staff. More information about the midwives is available here. |
Wendy Newby
 |
Community Nurses
The district nurses, in partnership with the health centre staff, provide nursing care to the terminally ill, elderly and disabled individuals and their families. Additionally they offer advice about continence problems, skin care and leg ulcer management. They may be contacted on 01844 210868 or by leaving a message with the reception staff. |
Health Visitors
The health visitors provide a full range of children’s services including child health surveillance and well baby clinics. They work in a team consisting of health visitors, a school nurse, staff nurses and nursery nurses. The service offers advice, information and support to all members of families with children aged 0-19. The team can monitor children's growth and development and can give advice about all aspects of family health, including parenting concerns, healthy lifestyles, relationships, sexual health, family planning and substance misuse. Health visitors work in partnership with parents and, if necessary other agencies to ensure children have the opportunity to grow up safe, healthy and able to reach their full potential. People can be seen in their homes, at clinics, at school and The Rycote Practice. Other specific services include post natal and baby massage groups, a breast feeding support “café”, behaviour workshops, drop in and one-to-one work with children at school and an enuresis (bed wetting) clinic. These run in and around Thame. Please call 01844 212353 between 09:00 – 10:00 and 16:00 – 17:00. |
Counsellors
Talking Space is an NHS service offering quick and easy access to talking therapies, practical support and employment advice for any person experiencing anxiety or depression. They are a fast acting service who can work with you on the telephone or at various locations around Oxfordshire. You may self-refer for this service, please click on the link below for further information: http://www.talkingspaceoxfordshire.org/contact-us/ |
Attached Staff
The Rycote Practice also has links with Dental and Podiatry Services and the local Community Mental Health Team. There are also specialist nurses who visit the practice, for example palliative care nurses, heart failure nurses and diabetes nurses. |