Practice/Business Manager
Mr Christian Aitken (M)
Practice/Business Manager
The Practice Manager manages all of the business aspects of the Practice such as making sure that the right systems and the right people are in place, at the right time, in order to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises, equipment and IT (information technology). The Practice Manager supports the Admin Team, GPs and other medical professionals to deliver patient services and also helps to develop extended services, enhancing patient experience and care.
Our Medical Reception Team
Our receptionists are your first point of contact with the Health Centre and will assist you in every way that they can. They are trained to deal with queries sympathetically and confidentially. They are bound by the same confidentiality rules as other members of the Red Practice, Whitefriars Surgery.
When you call the Health Centre a receptionist will ask you for some basic information. A GP or Nurse Practitioner will call you back as soon as possible, on the same day, and this information will help to prioritise your call. Please stay near your phone and be sure to answer a call from a Perth number.
The reception staff attend to patients on the phone and in person. They coordinate and organise appointments and documentation to facilitate the smooth running of the Practice, and support delivery of quality patient care. The reception staff have a very demanding role. They are there to assist you and we would ask you to be patient during peak times, when the staff have to handle a large volume of calls and enquiries. They will ask you a small amount of personal information about your medical condition – this information is used to ensure your call is dealt with by the correct Clinician and assist fellow Healthcare Professionals who work within the Practice to manage your healthcare and well-being.
Our reception staff can provide information on services and results. They can also help you with other important tasks such as issuing repeat prescriptions, assisting with prescription enquiries, dealing with patient records and carrying out searches and practice audits
Office Manager
Alison Webster (F)
Alison manages the reception team to ensure the business runs smoothly day to day. She offers support and encouragement to all team members.
Supervisor Cate (F)
Jane (F)
Hazel (F)
Charleen (F)
Kasia (F)
Adam (M)
Administration Team
Susan (F)
Norma (F)
Care Navigation (Signposting)
Please do not be offended when asked what the problem is when you ring to book an appointment. This is called Care Navigation and it is all about helping you get to the service you need.
About Care Navigation
You will have noticed that the reception team have begun to ask for a brief outline of your problem when you ring to book an appointment. The reason we do this is because we have introduced a signposting system called “Care Navigation”. Our receptionists and clerical staff have been trained to help you by identifying the most appropriate place for your care. Through the specialist training, our practice team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate health clinician for your needs.
Receptionists will never offer clinical advice or triage; this is about offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals, whether that be in the practice or even somewhere else such as the chemist. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means you may not need to see the GP at all. By working this way it helps to free up time for GP’s to care for patients with complex or serious health conditions that can only be managed by a GP. More importantly it means people are seen first by the clinician that is best placed to mange their clinical problem.
The choice is always yours and you will never be refused a GP appointment but we hope next time you contact the GP surgery and speak to a receptionist you will see the value of seeing another health professional if they are able to help
All staff adhere to the Practice’s Confidentiality Policy and Data Protection Act 2018.