About Us
Values
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- We keep up to date in both Women’s Health and General Practice.
- In the field of women’s health we have helped to develop national and international consensus.
- We only offer evidence-based treatments
- We accept that evidence is population based and everyone is different. We therefore provide patients with an evaluation of how what we know applies to their situation. We will discuss the options available to allow people to make decisions that are right for them as individuals.
- We educate and train other healthcare professionals to follow this approach
Dr Abby Farrell
BSc MSc MBChB MRCGP DRCOG FSRH
GP
GMC 7074922
Abby studied medicine in Warwick as a postgraduate, having completed degrees in Physiology & Pharmacology and Forensic Anthropology prior to starting her medical studies. During her undergraduate degree she also studied and worked for a year in the United States within the field of neurophysiology.
Abby was heavily involved in medical student teaching at Warwick Medical School. She was both a facilitator of communication skills for medical students and was involved in the Medical School Admission process. She completed her foundation and specialist training in Warwickshire and moved to Cornwall with her family in 2017.
Abby considers her work as a GP a unique opportunity to be an integral part of a patient’s health journey. She therefore enjoys maintaining a broad interest in all areas of medicine. She is particularly interested in acute and musculoskeletal medicine.
When not at work, Abby enjoys running and exploring Cornwall with her family.
Dr Anna Morris
MBBS MRCGP DRCOG DCH
GP with an Extended Role in Women’s Health
GMC 3557426
Dr Morris attended medical school in London before training as a GP in Cornwall where she has practiced for over 20 years.
She describes herself as generalist but she also has an interest in women’s health issues. She has started specialist menopause training.
She enjoys taking the time to get to the root of the patient’s issue, involving the patient at all times. She believes that the doctor – patient relationship is of paramount importance. Alongside her work at St Erme Medical, Dr Morris works in oncology at The Royal Cornwall Hospital and as a locum GP.
In her free time Dr Morris is a keen runner. She enjoys spending time with her family and dog and trying to keep on top of her unruly garden.
Dr Charlotte Patton
MBBS MRCGP DRCOG DFSRH
GP with an Extended Role in Women’s Health
GMC 7130800
Dr Patton qualified from Newcastle University in 2011 and initially started training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She changed to General Practice, enjoying the opportunities this gives to provide an holistic and patient-centred approach to healthcare. She continued to pursue her passion for women’s health, in particular contraception and menopause care.
Alongside working as a GP, Dr Patton worked for two years as a Specialty Doctor in sexual health at the New Croft Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. In this time, she gained postgraduate qualifications in sexual health and menopause.
Dr Patton recently relocated to Cornwall to be closer to family and now shares her time between St Erme Medical and Derriford Hospital. Charlotte has two children, aged 1 and 4 and when not at work, enjoys trips to the beach with her family, gardening and renovating her new home.
Dr Diana Mansour
FRCOG FFSRH DIPM
Consultant in Community Gynaecology and Reproductive Healthcare
GMC 2608187
Diana provides a holistic approach to women’s health care, ensuring that patients are at the heart of the decision making process and all options are explored. Although she has held several national and international roles developing medical guidelines and standards, her real love is patient care – this is why she went to medical school.
Diana trained at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff and almost completed GP training in Newport. However, she was attracted by the bright lights of London to continue postgraduate studies in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She subspecialised in Community Gynaecology moving to the North East in 1995. She has been an NHS Consultant in Community Gynaecology and Reproductive Healthcare in Newcastle upon Tyne since 1997. She is based at New Croft Centre on Market Street East, Newcastle. Her clinics see women with medical gynaecology problems including adolescent menstrual issues, complex contraception/sexual health problems, psychosexual concerns, heavy menstrual bleeding, premenstrual tension, polycystic ovary syndrome, hypothalamic amenorrhoea and menopausal issues. Diana is a British Menopause Society recognised specialist and trainer.
Dr Kirsty Gillies
MbChB, MRCGP, MRCP, DFSRH, DRCOG
GP with an Extended Role in Women’s Health
GMC 6134672
Dr Gillies qualified from Edinburgh Medical School in 2006. She initially started training in Respiratory Medicine and gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians. She changed to General Practice after having children. She completed her GP training in Oxford in 2017.
Her GP training expanded her interest in women’s health. She has developed this to enable her to provide more specialised contraception and menopause management. She has completed the Advanced Certificate in Menopause Care.
Kirsty works for St Erme Medical both in the Nuffield Hospital Exeter and remotely. She is also a GP in East Devon and is a tutor at the University of Exeter running special study modules for year 1 and 3 medical students on the Menopause. She is passionate about menopause education for both healthcare professions and patients.
Kirsty has two boys aged 9 and 11 years old and a golden retriever, called Ozzie. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, walking and being on the beach.
Dr Louise Price
MBChB MRCGP PG Dip Gynae DFSRH
GP with an extended role in Women’s Health
GMC 6077022
Louise qualified from Bristol University in 2003. She completed 4 years as an Obstetrics and Gynaecology specialist trainee before changing career path to become a GP.
She has maintained her interest and passion for women’s health and became accredited as ‘GP with Special Interest’ in gynaecology in 2013. She went on to set up a successful community gynaecology clinic in west London where she worked for several years.
She is now based in Bath as a GP but also works as a specialty doctor in gynaecology. Her main area of interest is menopause, and she works closely with Dr Sarah Gray and Dr Jane Davis as a board member for the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum.
Dr Rebekah Gibbons
MBBCh MRCGP DRCOG DFSRH
GP with an extended role in Women’s Health
GMC 4538819
Rebekah qualified from Cardiff Medical School in 1998 and went on to train as a GP in Plymouth. She has worked in Cornwall as a GP for over 15 years.
Rebekah has developed a particular interest in Women’s Health and in 2009 after training with Dr Sarah Gray, gained the FSRH Certificate in Menopause Care. She was a GP Trainer and DFRSH Trainer for 5 years and is now supporting doctors through appraisals and mentoring.
In recent years Rebekah also furthered her interest in holistic health, and wellbeing, focusing on Neuro-linguistic Programming and Clinical Hypnotherapy. In 2021 she gained Senior Practitioner level as an EMCC Coach and Mentor.
Rebekah is married with three grown-up children. She enjoys yoga, meditation, swimming and the great outdoors.
Dr Sarah Gray
BSc, MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG, DFSRH, FHEA
GP Specialist in Women’s Health
GMC 3135143
Sarah is an established, experienced and respected GP. She believes that health problems do not exist in isolation. She will take time to achieve an in-depth understanding of your problem. This is then considered alongside your medical, mental health and situational issues to arrive at a menu of suitable options for you to choose from. She takes a science-based approach and will offer evidence-based treatments. She has provided clinics in the independent sector for 20 years
For her, womens’ health requires the same approach but extended with an expert level of knowledge and specialist skills. There is no clear distinction. Sarah ran the only NHS specialist clinic in Devon and Cornwall for 15 years until decommissioned in 2016. She is recognised as an expert at UK and International level, writes text-book chapters and articles for healthcare professionals and offers this experience to patients from her base in Cornwall.
Dr Sarah Gray
BSc, MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG, DFSRH, FHEA
GP Specialist in Women’s Health
I went to the Royal London Medical School and trained as a GP in Southend, Essex. I have been a GP since 1989. We moved to Cornwall in 1992 and I became a full-time GP partner in Truro with on-call responsibilities.
Menopause work started with the Southend Well-Women Foundation in 1987 and continued through GP training. I joined the British Menopause Society (BMS) in 1992. In Truro I offered a menopause clinic once a fortnight within my GP practice. This alternated with the family planning clinic and was in great demand. I gained Family Planning training credentials in 1996. I started to teach our registrar, and this expanded to the rest of the county.
I began group teaching in 1996 with local GP refresher training but the first big event was to an audience of over 700 in Copenhagen in June 2000 when I presented some locality-based research to the European Menopause Society. I was elected to BMS council in 2001 and spoke regularly for them, becoming the chair of the education committee. I served for the next 10 years and worked with the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare to develop the Menopause Special Skills training package. I ran my first course in 2006 and Jane Davis was one of the delegates.
Primary care development funding commissioned a GP based menopause service for practices in Central Cornwall in 2001, and this grew over the next 6 years to cover the whole county. This provided secondary and tertiary level advice to patients from Devon and Cornwall until 2016. The requirement to reduce spending resulted in the decommissioning of this NHS service.
I still provide some services within NHS practices. I have had consulting rights at the independent sector Duchy Hospital in Truro since 2000 and the Nuffield Health Hospital in Plymouth since 2003. In both institutions I have dual registration as a Women’s Health Specialist and an experienced GP. Women’s health covers a spectrum of problems including hot flushes, mood change, bleeding problems, sexual function, contraception, and bone health. Much but not all is menopause related.
My niche is the realm of medical complexity when no-one else knows what to do. This is quite different to gynaecology and can apply just as well to men.
As a GP, I am just as happy to see men and listen to their concerns. I take the same holistic approach. We can offer appointments for immediate health problems and broader reviews; we can arrange regular blood tests to monitor ongoing conditions and referral into the independent hospitals for imaging or consultant review when appropriate. We can offer medical examinations for driving, visa, insurance, and other purposes and in this context, I am an experienced GP rather than an expert.
To offer this to more patients St Erme Medical Ltd came into being in 2019. We are developing bespoke premises in central Cornwall which will open in 2022. We will further expand the team to offer this whole person approach, providing time to talk and willingness to listen, greater availability and a broader range of women’s health, general practice, and associated services.
In addition, I provide clinical leadership and governance for contraception and sexual health to the public health arm of Cornwall Council. Education and training extend from 1:1 practical training to large international lectures but has been largely internet based in 2020. I am comfortable explaining issues to and answering questions from the public: my national credentials include BBC News, LBC, Radio 5 Live, Women’s Hour and the Victoria Derbyshire program as well as Radio Cornwall phone-ins.
I have been the GP on a number of guidance development committees including NICE guidance CG44 and QS47 for Heavy Menstrual Bleeding. My long list of publications includes the quarterly “Tales from the Clinic” for the BMS Journal and a variety of text-book chapters. I wrote the chapter on menopause for the acclaimed “Women’s Health in Primary Care” (Cambridge University Press). Another for Managing the Menopause (2nd Edition) has just been published (July 2020 – ISBN: 9781108798754).
I have been a member of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Medical Committee for 27 years. I was a Team Leader for the Fitness to Practice directorate of the General Medical Council for 10 years but have had to give this up as there are just not enough hours in the day! Any spare 5 minutes is spent in the garden or out and about in the wonderful Cornish countryside.
Declaration of Interest
Doctor Gray is not paid but holds positions as:
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- Trustee and Executive Director of the Primary Care Women’s Health forum
- Training program director for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
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Income is from the following sources:
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- Clinical
- Fees from practices for work within the NHS
- Fees from private patients. These are paid to St Erme Medical Ltd of which Dr Gray is a director and shareholder.
- Consultancy
- Pharmaceutical companies (regarding the world of primary care) – during 2019 this involved Bayer, Mylan, NovoNordisk and Shionogi
- Pharmaceutical companies – during 2021 this involved Bayer, Consilient, NovoNordisk, Theramex, and Viatris
- Education
- Governance
- Cornwall Council
- Clinical
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Dr Gray has no shareholding with any pharmaceutical company.
Professional memberships
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- GMC – General Medical Council 3135143 (registered with a license to practice – last revalidated 2018)
- RCGP – Royal College of General Practitioners (member and clinical advisor)
- FRSH – Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (Faculty Registered Trainer and General training Program Director)
- BMS – British Menopause Society (member)
- EMAS – European Menopause Society (member)
- IMS – International Menopause Society (member)
- HEA – Higher Education Academy (Fellow)
- PCWHF – Primary Care Women’s Health Forum (Executive Director)
- BMA – British Medical Association (member)
- MDDUS – Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (member – they provide Indemnity)
- IDF – Independent Doctors Federation (member)
- IHM – Institute of Healthcare Management (member)
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Premises
St Erme Medical is based in a newly restored traditional Cornish stone barn.
This listed building has been sympathetically renovated to meet building and health care regulations.
Records
We are registered with the Information Commissioner and meet their requirements. These changed with the introduction of GDPR legislation in May 2018.
The information you provide to us will be used only for your healthcare and to enable us to contact you. It will not be divulged to anyone else including your GP without your consent.
We use a security encrypted clinical records and data management system.
Privacy Policy
Company number 11827398
Registered address: St Erme, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, TR4 9BW
The company provides independent sector medical services. We have consulting rights for Dr Gray and Dr Davis in the Duchy Hospital Truro (Ramsay) and Nuffield Health Hospital Plymouth. It also provides education and training for healthcare professionals.
This Privacy Policy covers these services and our administrative and clinical staff. When working for and within other organisations we follow their policies.
This policy sets out how we use and protect any personal data that is provided to us (including personal data provided through the website www.stermemedical.uk (“Website”)). We are aware that this may contain some very sensitive information. We are firmly committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of all personal data received or collected, in strict adherence to Data Protection Legislation (defined below) and General Medical Council Guidance.
How to contact us
If you have any questions regarding your personal data and how we may use it, including any queries relating to this policy, please contact us at mike@stermemedical.uk or in writing to the address above. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Data Control
Our data protection and privacy measures are governed by the
(i) the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”) and any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, as amended or updated from time to time, in the UK and then
(ii) any successor legislation to the GDPR or the Data Protection Act 1998 (“Data Protection Legislation”).
Where personal data is provided directly to us through use of the Website, email, or other means and we determine the way in which that data is processed, then we become the data controller of that information;
We are sometimes required to provide information regarding identity to other organisations. This might include clinic lists prior to hospital appointments, delegate lists for training events or requests for individual patient investigation or onward referral. The receiving organisation will then process this information according to their policies and act as data controller for that information.
Personal data and basis for collection
Personal data means any data or information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data which can be grouped together as follows:
Identity Data includes first name, last name, preferred name, title, and date of birth
Contact Data includes home address, email address, telephone numbers and preferred mode of contact.
Usage Data includes information about how our services are used. Examples might include enquiries through the Website, numbers of new and follow up patients seen.
Special Categories of data (as defined by Data Protection Legislation) include details about race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, information about health and genetic and biometric data. This is the core information we use to provide clinical services but is also a feature of governance. It demands high levels of security.
How is personal data collected?
We use various methods to collect personal data including:
Direct interaction: We are given information when contacted directly or during correspondence by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes the information provided during consultations.
Enquiries information when made through the Website or by email.
Referral from other providers: We may receive personal data from other healthcare professionals when patients have asked for a referral to be made.
How we use personal data
Patients
Your data is used for your healthcare and the interaction between us (including billing processes).
It will be shared only in accordance with this function, but this may include arranging onward referral or investigation, providing required identity data to the hospital and sending clinical information to your GP if you have consented and requested us to do this.
We may contact you directly with appointment reminders, important information regarding medication or other matters judged to be in your medical interest.
Your information will not be shared with commercial organisations.
Other contacts
Your data will be used only for the purpose of the contact and to support the interaction between us (including billing processes).
It will be shared only in accordance with this function: this may include sending delegate lists to a training venue or accrediting body for educational purposes.
We may contact you directly with closely linked information such as training reminders, details of future educational events or changes in guidance.
Your information will not be shared with commercial organisations.
How we store personal data
Current records are stored in remote clinical and financial management systems. Data transfer is fully encrypted using the most secure cryptographic technologies available (256-bit level of encryption). Clinical data is physically stored on servers located in the United Kingdom which have achieved the highest level of security certification, as used by banks and government services. This is the same technology used for online banking and credit card transactions and is known to be the most secure system available.
We hold paper and security encrypted electronic records from the past.
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Personal Data Retention
We retain personal data as follows:
1. Where we act as a data controller purely in connection with contact information, for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for;
2. Clinical data will be retained for seven years after last contact or as required by law.
Your Rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:
The right to be informed – this is information on what personal data we are processing and for what purpose.
The right of access – you have the right to be provided with copies of your personal data that we are processing as well as confirmation of the processing we are doing. You can do this by sending a “subject access request” to the contact details above for our consideration.
The right to rectification – if you think that the personal data, we hold about you is wrong you can tell us and we will fix it.
The right to erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten) – if you want us to permanently delete the personal data we hold for you then you can ask us to do so.
The right to restrict processing – if you do not like how we are using your personal data then you can let us know and we will stop processing it in that way.
The right to data portability – if you want us to pass your personal data on to someone else then please let us know. This transfer should not affect the integrity of or otherwise damage your personal data.
The right to withdraw your consent – you can withdraw your consent for us to process your personal data at any time by contacting us. We will stop processing your personal data at the point you withdraw your consent.
To exercise any of the above rights please email your request to mike@stermemedical.uk
Where you exercise your right to request access to the information we hold about you, you will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is repetitive or excessive.
Complaints
If you would like to make a complaint in relation to how we may have stored, used or processed your personal data, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
External Websites
The Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of respected organisations. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites and you are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal data.
Use of cookies and tracking technologies by us
We do not currently but may place cookies on your computer to help us make your use of our Website better. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Consent for cookies: We will assume that if you continue to use our site after reading this legal notice that you consent to the terms of our use of cookies during your visit to the website
Changes to this Privacy Policy
As and when necessary, changes to this Privacy Policy will be posted here. Where changes are significant, we may also email all our patients with the new details, and where required by law, we will obtain your consent to these changes.
Reviewed 06 July 2020