Whickham Practice

23/03/2026

After 22 years of dedicated, loyal service our wonderful receptionist Jane has decided to hang up her NHS lanyard and retire at the end of March. Jane has been a friendly and reassuring presence for patients, and a valued, reliable member of the team. Your kindness, professionalism and calm approach has made a real difference to so many patients over the years. You will be greatly missed but we're so pleased for you as you begin this next chapter. We wish you a long, happy and well deserved retirement filled with all the things you enjoy.

23/03/2026

UPDATE (11:21am) - Our clinical system is now up and running again so you can contact us as normal.

*** PATIENT INFORMATION ***

(10:55am) We currently have no clinical system due to a national outage. This means that we are unable to deal with requests such as appointment bookings and ordering prescriptions.

We are awaiting updates from engineers.

I'm the meantime, if you have a non-urgent request please can we ask that you delay contacting the practice until our clinical system is up and running again.

23/03/2026

19/03/2026

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust have just released updated self-help guides that are free to access.

The guides contain verified information and are written by NHS clinical psychologists with contributions from service users, and healthcare and voluntary sector staff.

Users can also interact with the guides directly on the website with the option to type into a guide and save their own personalised version. This feature allows individuals to tailor the content to their specific needs and preferences.

The guides cover a wide range of topics such as depression, anxiety, stress and problems with sleep. The guides offer the opportunity to find out more about the causes of mental health issues and provide tools to work through feelings and emotions.

To access the self-help guides, follow this link: https://selfhelp.cntw.nhs.uk/

18/03/2026

We are seeing an increasing number of people parking in our car park and then leaving the car park by foot to go to the high street without coming in to the medical centre to use our services.

This is causing issues for patients who have appointments and are unable to park, especially those patients who have mobility and disability issues and are unable to access the disabled parking bays.

Please can we ask that you park considerately and only use the car park if you are attending the medical centre.

We are currently in conversation with our landlord regarding those users who are abusing the car parking on a regular basis.

If you experience issues with parking whilst attending the practice we would encourage you to report it to NHS Property Services on 0808 196 2045 or email them at customer.service@property.nhs.uk

18/03/2026

📊 A Snapshot of Our 2025 Activity

It’s been an incredibly busy year at The Whickham Practice, with our team working hard to support our patients every single day.

In 2025 alone, we handled over 92,000 calls, delivered 54,000+ face-to-face appointments, and carried out nearly 20,000 telephone consultations. Alongside this, we issued over 63,000 prescriptions and processed almost 10,000 eConsult requests.

However, we also saw 1,676 missed appointments (DNAs) – the equivalent of over 33 days of clinical time lost. This is time that could have been used to care for other patients in need.

💡 If you can’t attend your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer it to someone else.

Thank you for your continued support and patience – and for helping us make the best use of our clinical time.

18/03/2026

We are aware of recent national reports of Meningitis B infections.
At this time, there is no impact on our local area, and we are waiting for official advice from the government. We will update you as soon as guidance is issued.

General symptoms of meningitis can include:

* a high temperature (fever)
* being sick
* a headache
* a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it (but a rash will not always develop)
* a stiff neck
* a dislike of bright lights
* drowsiness or unresponsiveness
* seizures (fits)

These symptoms can appear in any order. You do not always get all the symptoms.

Babies may show different signs, such as poor feeding, irritability, floppiness, cold hands/feet, or difficulty waking.

Call 999 for an ambulance or go to your nearest A&E immediately if you think you or someone you look after could have meningitis or sepsis.

Trust your instincts and do not wait for all the symptoms to appear or until a rash develops. Someone with meningitis or sepsis can get a lot worse very quickly.

Call NHS 111 for advice if you're not sure if it's anything serious or you think you may have been exposed to someone with meningitis.

If you've had medical advice and are still worried or any symptoms get worse, get medical help again.

For further info on meningitis follow this link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis/

If you want to check your medical record to see if you have previously had a meningitis vaccination then you can do this by signing up to the NHS App: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/login

Read about meningitis, an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Find out about the symptoms, vaccines and treatments.

09/01/2026

03/12/2025

After over 30 dedicated years of service to our patients and the Whickham community, our Senior GP Partner, Dr. Kirk, will be hanging up his stethoscope and retiring on 31st March 2026. Dr. Kirk has been an integral part of Whickham Practice's journey and development over the decades, and we want to extend our deepest gratitude for his unwavering commitment and care. We wish him a wonderful retirement filled with joy, relaxation, and plenty of cycling holidays!

As we bid a fond farewell to Dr. Kirk, we are delighted to announce that Dr. Davies, one of our salaried GPs, will be joining the Partnership team as a GP Partner from 1st April 2026. We warmly welcome Dr. Davies to this new role and look forward to his continued contributions to our practice.

Please join us in wishing Dr. Kirk all the very best for his retirement and in welcoming Dr. Davies to the Partnership!

19/11/2025

Our next Patient Participation Group meeting is Wednesday 10th December 2pm. We appreciate it is difficult for some of our patients to attend face to face. If you would like to join the meeting via Teams please email nencicb.thewhickhampractice@nhs.net or contact Debra Charlton Assistant Practice Manager.

Thank you.

12/11/2025

‼️Patient Notice‼️

The Practice will close this afternoon at 12.30pm (Wednesday 12th November) for Gateshead wide staff training. We reopen at 6pm for planned routine appointments.

Please remember that you can visit your local pharmacy for minor ailments or you can call or visit 111 online for clinical advice.

Please ring 999 if you have a medical emergency.

Thankyou for your cooperation.

11/11/2025

We still have appointments available at the Practice for free Flu and Covid Vaccines for eligible patients. You can book online or via reception. If housebound contact the surgery on 0191 4885555 and we can refer to District Nurses.
Please note the Covid Autumn Booster will only be offered this year to
●Adults aged 75 years and over.
●Residents in care homes.
●Patients who are immunosuppressed.

Book your appointment today.