Our staff
Here we introduce you to a variety of different staff providing health care for you.
Key links
Please check this page regularly for GP, nurse, admin and reception vacancies
Ivy Grove Surgery, Ripley in Amber Valley, the Heart of Derbyshire in the East Midlands
We have no vacancies
Doctors
Partners
The partners are self-employed independent contractors to the NHS who own the business. Between them they have years of experience in the health service. With help from the managers, they are responsible for running the practice, providing services for patients, managing the practice staff, the finances and all administrative work associated with running the practice.
Dr M Wong (male), Manchester 1991
MB ChB, DRCOG, MRCGP, DFFP
Dr Wong joined the practice in 1995. He offers a full range of general practice care. He is the senior and executive partner, has an interest in IT and practice finances, authors the practice website and patient newsletter, is the lead doctor in influenza, the CQC registered manager, the practice representative for ARCH Primary Care Network and an elected committee member of Derby & Derbyshire Local Medical Committee .
Dr L Axten (male), Leicester 2007
MB ChB, BA (Hons), MRCGP, BMedSci
Dr Axten joined the practice in 2012 as a salaried doctor and became a partner in 2013. He offers a full range of general practice care and has an interest in ENT. He is the lead doctor in safeguarding children, clinical governance, audit and quality improvement.
Partners (contd.)
Dr S Francis (male), Leeds 2009
MB ChB, MRCGP
Dr Francis joined the practice in 2014 as a salaried doctor and became a partner in 2016. He offers a full range of general practice care. He is the lead doctor for diabetes and prescribing.
Dr R Greer (female), London 2009
MB BS, DFSRH, MRCGP
Dr Greer joined the practice in 2014 as a salaried doctor and became a partner in 2016. She offers a full range of general practice care. She is the lead doctor in women's health, staff wellbeing, cancer and palliative and end of life care. She is a clinical supervisor for GP trainees.
Dr V Neely (female), Plymouth 2011
MB BS, BEng (Hons), MRCGP
Dr Neely joined the practice in 2019 as a salaried doctor and became a partner in 2021. She offers a full range of general practice care. She is the lead doctor in medical student and GP training, care homes and safeguarding adults. She is an educational supervisor for GP trainees.
Salaried doctor
Salaried doctors are doctors working to a time-based contract.
Dr G Lavender (female), London 2017
MB BS, BSc (Hons), DRCOG, MRCGP
Dr Lavender joined the practice in March 2024. She has an extensive specialist interest in women’s health, including perinatal and postnatal care, common and
complex gynaecology, urogynaecology and gynae-oncology.
Retained doctor
Doctors working under the retainer scheme are offered more flexibility and educational support in order to help them remain in clinical general practice.
Dr J Marval (female), Nottingham 1994
BMedSci, BM BS, MRCP, MRCGP, DFSRH
Dr Marval joined the practice in September 2020. She has an interest in women's health and the menopause.
GP trainees (registrars)
We are an associate training practice and we therefore host GPs trainees. These are fully qualified doctors but who have not yet completed their GP training. They see the full range of conditions and are overseen by their clinical supervisors, Dr Neely and Dr Greer.
Advanced clinical practitioner
Our advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) Alyssa joined the practice in November 2023 and is available by appointment on a wide range of matters.
ACPs are clinicians coming from a range of backgrounds, including nursing, and have been educated to Master's degree level. They have achieved additional qualifications and have developed the skills and knowledge to allow them to take on extended roles in practice.
What does an ACP do? poster ACP page
Practice nurses
Our Practice Nurses, Tracey, Lindsey, Sarah, Kelly and our Health Care Assistant Carissa, are available by appointment for consultation on all nursing matters. They diagnose and plan care, including prescribing a range of medicines. They are experts in many areas of chronic disease management such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart disease and diabetes.
What does a practice nurse do? poster Practice nurse pageAdmin team
Reception
We have a team of receptionists are all here to help you. They answer the telephone and deal with enquiries from all directions, often at the same time! Their job is very demanding so please be patient and polite.
Administrative
We have a team of administration staff who deal with all the clinical paperwork, reports and referral requests by the clinical teams.
Management
Mr Ian Bonser (Practice Business Manager) and our two Operational Managers, Mrs Janette Cavanagh and Mrs Samantha Mair (and Mrs Vicki Layton in training), help to keep the practice running smoothly.
Staff training dates
In common with many other organisations and services, we hold regular training days for our staff. These are for the benefit of our staff and to improve patient care. We hold these generally once a month on a Wednesday afternoon and we will be closed to normal business.
On these days, appointment capacity will be reduced as we need to clear all patient-facing and admin work before closure. We realise this will inconvenience some patients, however, please note that, contrary to the belief of some, Ivy Grove is not unique in closing for the staff training.
On these dates, all nine local practices that are part of the practice network are closed for the afternoon and indeed, on several of these dates throughout the year, all the staff of all the practices gather together for mandatory joint training across the entire network. Medical cover for the practices during closure is provided by the out of hours service.
Closure will be notified on the home page on the day. If you need medical help when we are full, please see our options if full page, and for help when we are closed, please see our out of hours page.
- January 15th, 2025
- February 19th, 2025
- March 19th, 2025
- April 16th, 2025
- May 21st, 2025
- June 18th, 2025
- July 16th, 2025
- August 20th, 2025
- September 17th, 2025
- October 15th, 2025
- November 19th, 2025
Attached staff
District Nursing Team
We have a large team of district nurses who provide nursing care to patients in their homes.
The district nurse team are based at Ripley Hospital and provide nursing care to patients during periods of illness/incapacity in non-hospital settings, such as the patients own home, residential care homes or health centres. READ MORE
Patients include those who are housebound, the elderly, the terminally ill, the disabled and those who have recently been discharged from hospital.
A fundamental part of district nursing is promoting healthy lifestyles and health education/teaching.
The team's work activities include:
- Accepting referrals from GPs, hospitals, other agencies, patients and their relatives
- Assessing, planning, implementing and managing the care of patients
- Offering emotional support to patients, their families and carers, and teaching basic care-giving skills
- Establishing links with patients' families, carers and other health professionals
- Identifying social care problems and liaising with appropriate organisations where necessary
- Checking temperature, blood pressure and pulse readings, administering injections, wound care, leg ulcer care, taking blood and urine samples, continence care, palliative and terminal care
- Assessing for and ordering equipment as required
- Liaising with GPs
Health Visitor Team
The Health Visitor Team are based at Ripley Hospital. They advise on all aspects of childcare and operate the drop in child health clinic. They also organise classes and groups for different patients in conjunction with other practice members such as parent craft classes. READ MORE
Health Visitors are registered nurses with specialist training in family health. The work and activity undertaken by the Health Visiting Service can be broadly broken down into the following areas:
The health of your baby or young child
Every family with pre-school children has a named health visitor who can advise on everyday care, feeding, growth and development and minor ailments, parenting classes, managing behaviour and any special needs your child may have. Routine reviews of your child's progress are held at intervals throughout the first 4 years. The Health Visitors also organise the childhood immunisation programme.
Living a healthy life
Health visitors can help you to make sense of the conflicting media messages about health lifestyles by providing practical advice on how to stay healthy. They run health promotion groups and also represent your views about health needs in the community, influence policies and participate in health service developments.
Supporting families
Health visitors are not just there to support your baby, but the whole family. Health Visitors can:
- Support women with post natal depression
- Advise on employment and benefit rights
- Give information on local support networks
- Advise on options for child care
- Provide support for single parents
- Address conflicts within the family, including domestic violence
Other staff
Community Matron and Care Co-ordinator
We have Community Matrons allocated to our practice, and with Micheala, our Care Co-ordinator, they all manage and co-ordinate care for patients with long term conditions in their homes.
Community matron page Care co-ordinator pageMidwives
We have Community Midwives attached to the practice. The midwives operate the antenatal clinics and visit both antenatal and postnatal patients in their homes.
Midwife pageEven more staff!
General Practice is changing. There are new roles in place to help you get the help that you need. Please visit our GP team page for a walkthrough of who else provides care for you.
GP team page© Dr Michael Wong 2022