Our Team

Our healthcare team includes our GP partners as well as practice nurses, health care assistant and GP trainees.  They are supported by our practice manager, and administrative, secretarial and reception staff.

General Practitioners (GPs)

  • Dr Mike McMahon (Senior Partner, Male), MBchB, DRCOG, DFSRH, MRCGP qualified in 1994 and came to Farmdene in 2001 and became a partner in 2004. Full time (2/3).

    Dr Barbara Hershey (Partner, Female), MBchB, BMedSci, DOHNS, MRCGP qualified in 1999 and came to Billingshurst in 2005. Full time.

  • Dr Carlos Ezquerra (Partner, Male), MB BS, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP, MRCGP, qualified in 1996 and came to Billingshurst in 2003. Full time.

  • Dr Cassandra Anderson (Partner, Female), BM , MRCGP, qualified in 2004 and came to Farmdenet in 2011. Part time (2/3)

  • Dr Henry Flint, MB.BS, DRCOG, DFSRH, MRCGP, qualified in 2007 and came to Billingshurst in 2014. Full time

  • Dr Galen DeMarco, MB.BS, MRCGP, qualified in 2008 and joined us in 2013. Part time (1/2).

duty team 

We have a team of clinicians who work with the support of one of the GPs to deal with our same-day emergency appointments

Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP)

  • Tasmin Holbrook joined the practice in 2020 and works as part of our Duty Team for same-day emergency appointments.

Nurse Practitioners (NP)

  • Lauren Welsh joined the practice in 2020 and works as part of our Duty Team for same-day emergency appointments. Laura also works for us as a practice nurse.

  • Anna Svensony joined the practice in 2021 and works as part of our Duty Team for same-day emergency appointments. 

PARAMEDIC PRACTITIONER (PP)

  • Lucas Eldrick joined the practice in 2018 and works as part of our Duty Team for same-day emergency appointments and Home Visits.

Nurse Managers 

  • Janet Robinson & Heidi Lumberg have been with us for many years and became a joint team managing our nurses and HCAs (Health Care Assistants) in 2019. They are responsible for all nursing matters.

Nurses

  • Claidia Hughes - Nurse - Joined us in 2010

    Debbie Jones - Nurse - Joined us in 2013

  • Grace Owen - Nurse - Joined us in 2022

  • Lauren Welsh - Nurse Practitioner - Joined us in 2020

  • Hannah Kleinberg - Nurse - Joined us in 2018

Health Care Assistants (HCAs)

  • Charlie Bates - HCA - Joined us in 2018

  • Nicola Michaels - HCA - Joined us in 2014

  • Kirsten Hansen - HCA - Joined us in 2011

Practice Management

  • Executive Manager: Jenny McGruder joined us in 2018 and is responsible of the overall management of the practice, including the provision of high quality patient services.

  • Operations Manager: Richard Wilkinson joined the practice in 2018 in the role of Medicines Manager dealing with medication queries, and has now taken up the position of Operations Manager. He is responsible for the day to day functionality of the practice.

  • Admin Managers: Nina Bowden has worked for Farmdene Health Centre for over 20 years and Rachel Burden joined in 2020 as a receptionist, as of January 2022 she also shares the Admin Manager role.  As our Administration Managers they are responsible for a team of around 20 members of staff running all the day to day administration, front desk and phone lines.

  • Medicines Manager: Freida Johannsent joined us in January 2021. She is responsible for answering medication queries and auditing the use of medicines in our practice. 

primary care network (PCN) Staff working on behalf of the surgery

As we are all aware the needs of our community are greater than ever. Our population as a whole is being impacted by more and more complex health needs and with an ageing population the impact of complex long term conditions are becoming apparent. These new pressures have meant that Chanctonbury Primary Care Network is employing new professionals to provide a proactive, personalised and more integrated service for our population.

  • Clinical Pharmacists: Hamad Salah, Jack Higgins
    Clinical pharmacists work in primary care as part of the multidisciplinary team in a patient focussed role to clinically assess and treat patients using expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas. They work with and alongside the GPs and wider general practice team, taking responsibility for patients with chronic diseases and undertaking clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex medication use, especially for the elderly, people in care homes and those with multiple conditions.

  • Pharmacy Technician: Martina Skrtel
    Pharmacy technicians play an important role within general practice and complement the more clinical work of clinical pharmacists through their technical skillset. Working within primary care settings allows them to use their pharmaceutical knowledge in tasks such as audits, discharge management, medication reviews and where appropriate, informing patients and other members of the PCN workforce. Work is often undertaken independently but always in collaboration with clinical pharmacists or GPs as part of the PCN team.

  • Physician Associate (PA): Suzanne Pugh
    Physician Associates are healthcare professionals with a generalist medical education. They are clinical graduates trained in the medical model (intensive 2-year university course at diploma or masters level to learn clinical knowledge and skills after completing a 3-year biomedical or healthcare related degree). They train in both the acute sector and primary care to gain a rounded patient centred clinical experience. PAs work alongside doctors providing medical care as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team. They are practitioners who can work autonomously, but always under the supervision of a fully trained and experienced doctor. They bring new talent add to the skill mix within teams, providing a stable, generalist section of the workforce which can help ease the workforce pressures that the NHS currently faces. 

  • Care Co-ordinator: Naomi Coombes
    Care co-ordinators provide extra time, capacity, and expertise to support patients in preparing for clinical conversations or in following up discussions with primary care professionals. They work closely with the GPs and other primary care colleagues within the primary care network (PCN) to identify and manage a caseload of identified patients, making sure that appropriate support is made available to them and their carers (if appropriate), and ensuring that their changing needs are addressed. They focus on the delivery of personalised care to reflect the local PCN priorities, health inequalities or at-risk groups of patients. They can also support PCNs in the delivery of enhanced Health Care in Care Homes.

  • Health and Wellbeing Coach: Lucinda Sergeant
    Health and Wellbeing coaches will use predominantly health coaching skills to support people to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to become active participants in their care so that they can reach their own health and wellbeing goals. They may also provide access to self-management education, peer support and social prescribing. They will support people to identify existing issues and encourage proactive prevention of new and existing illnesses. Using strong communication and negotiation skills supporting personal choice and positive risk taking. They will work alongside people to coach and motivate them through multiple sessions, supporting them to identify their needs, set goals, and help them to implement their personalised health and care plan.