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The Abbey Practice, situated in the village of Temple Ewell on the outskirts of Dover, Kent was 
founded by Dr A.Stellon in November 1992. The Practice provides general medical care with additional options for treatment using complementary medical techniques as well as traditional drug based procedures. The Practice has its own on site dispensary. Other services provided include Sports Medicine,Travel medicine , Occupational Health, Acupuncture, Epilation and Chiropody.
The Practice was awarded a Government Chartermark whilst an NHS practice in 1998. The Abbey Practice was the first single-handed practice to achieve this award.
Dr Stellon became a Private Doctor on 3rd January 2005 providing the same type of excellent medical services that it had provided for the previous 12 years in his NHS Practice.
We believe in the importance of taking a patient centred approach to medical care which has been vindicated in the Patient Satisfaction Questionaire recently completed and published at the bottom of this webpage.
We are not interested in targets, we are interested in you.
Mission Statement
We will care for each individual patient to the best of our ability through modification of life strategies and the use wherever possible of natural methods and products. Where these strategies are not found to promote the patient’s good health then allopathic medicine (i.e. drugs) will be used.
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Latest Health News
The surgery is now an Independent (Private) Medical Practice and is open to any person wanting a medical consultation. The opening times can be obtained by clicking on surgery information and clinics under the banner The Practice.
Consultation Charges
From the 9th January 2012 we will have to make some price changes for the services we offer at the Practice. All new charges are shown on the right of this webpage. We are sorry we have had to do this but we have had to bear a large number of price increases in both goods and services we have to provide to continue working as a medical practice.
Patient Questionnaire
The Patient Satisfaction Survey for 2011 has been completed and is available for your viewing by clicking on the link at the bottom of this paragraph. The Patient Satisfaction survey for 2011 continues to show that this Practice offers both a high quality medical service at affordable prices with excellent patient satisfaction. The full audit can be seen by clicking on the following link papers/2010_pss.pdf
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Patient Comments Survey 2011
Always a joy in visiting
Am very glad that I came for treatment here and will continue to come back when necessary
Excellent Service throughout. I wish there were more like the Abbey Practice
I recommend this practice to friends and family
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Why choose the Abbey Practice?
Dr Stellon at The Abbey Practice has been the chosen Company Doctor for Stagecoach East Kent, Dover Depot for a number of years.
The Abbey Practice has always accommodated the needs of Stagecoach and provided in my opinion an exceptional level of service. I have always found the Practice helpful, approachable and professional from the moment of first contact with receptionist to the receipt of an clear, informative and constructive written report.
The surgery has proven it can provide Stagecoach with a level of service suitable to our business needs and I would not hesitate in recommending the Abbey Practice to other local businesses.
Operations Manager
Stagecoach in East Kent Dover Depot |
GP Hour (New service)
Due to frequent requests by patients attending the Practice we have decided to introduce a GP hour. The GP hour will be one hour in the day when patients can attend for short GP style consultations lasting up to 15 minutes. The cost will be very affordable at £20-00 / consultation. The aim of these short consultations is to deal with minor problems that require just a quick examination, explanation of the condition or
general advice as to the nature of the medical problem and its treatment. Should medication be required the cost will be added to the consultation fee although most medication including antibiotics are cheaper than a prescription charge. Please note management that may require treatment such as acupuncture will not be given in these short consultations due to limitation of time.
We believe by offering this service we offer an affordable high quality GP type medical service to any patient that attends the Practice and which compares very favourably with other Private Healthcare providers.
This has been confirmed by our Patient Survey which found that 98% patients thought the services offered by the Practice were affordable and gave value for money.
Appointments online
We are able to offer you appointments by email, if you have had difficulty making an appointment on the telephone or if the surgery is closed. Just email the day and approximate time you would like to be seen and for what reason to stellon@btinternet.com and we will confirm by return, confirmation of your appointment. Alternatively if you would like us to confirm your appointment by telephone please leave the number to return the call to in your email.
Patient Consultations
There appears to be some confusion as to what information is passed to a patients General Practitioner after attending the Abbey Practice for a consultation. The simple answer is that you sign a document, when seen at the Abbey Practice, which allows you to decide whether your doctor is informed of the consultation or not. It also allows us to pass important information on to your doctor, in particular, if we find a problem that should be in your general medical records. Your decision on sharing this medical information is always yours and cannot be given without your consent.
Remember you have freedom to medically see who you want at anytime, otherwise how would you ever see a Consultant for a second opinion. Consultations at the Abbey Practice differ in that you do not need permission from your GP to consult with us about your medical problem and require no referral letter.
Malaria
Lots of you are now preparing for holiday breaks to Africa and South America. Visiting these countries may require you to have a yellow fever vaccine and anti-malarial tablets. Both the vaccine and anti-malarials can be obtained at this Practice.We have also updated our malaria webpage http://www.abbeypractice.co.uk/default.asp?id=18&mnu=18 and have included a video, courtesy of Seafarers Health Organisation, which highlights what can be done to prevent you contracting malaria. We hope you find it both enjoyable and informative.
Sports Medicine
We are now able to offer medical advice on Sports injuries and treatment. Dr Stellon has obtained a Certificate in Sports Medicine from Queen Mary's University , London .
Dr Stellon will be attending the Olympics in London 2012 and will be working at Greenwich Park where Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events will be taking place.
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| Snout Balm- a new treatment for prevention of chapped / cracked lips |
Snout balm is a new natural oil based product that is used to treat dogs and stops them getting dry and cracked noses . It contains vegetable butters and oils such as Karitè and Mango, Babassù and Jojoba to deeply moisturise and nourish the mucosa. However this has led many dog owners and others to start using it as a prevention and treatment of dry and chapped lips on themselves with dramatic effects. Many are now saying that this is the best product that have used for this condition and beats putting petroleum jelly based products on their lips which they have used in the past. Also because it is natyral and does not contain alcohol it makes it an even better product.
A model Helena Christiansen has also endorsed the product and her comments can be found on the following link
http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/news/2011/10/19/helena-christensen-dogs-trust-snout-balm
If a model uses a product like this then it has to be very good!! | | | Rectal Examination is now considered a waste of time by some GP's |
Dr Spence, writing in the June issue of the British Medical Journal, informs us that digital rectal examination is now bad medicine because it is unpleasant, invasive, and has unknown specificity/sensitivity (1). Rectal examination now joins a list of other recently publicised clinical examinations that would appear to be of little clinical significance such as pelvic, breast and testicular examinations during some medicals (2,3). What Dr Spence forgets is that the other tests he is suggesting are just as invasive, unpleasant and although they may have a known specificity and sensitivity still are unpleasant and can cause potentially unnecessary harm ie. Colonoscopy and mammography for instance.
An example of a failed rectal examination that recently comes to mind was of a 45year old man with a learning disability who was admitted for colonoscopy for unexplained diarrhoea. He had been referred to and seen by a Consultant who ordered the investigation without performing a rectal examination. Bowel prep and a digital examination prior to the colonoscopy resulted in a bed-full of faeces. Diagnosis - overflow incontinence which if he had been examined properly at the initial presentation would not have resulted in this wasted referral. There are other cases that I could describe that highlight the wasted opportunity of a rectal examination.
Clinical medicine is based on the premise of a good history and examination before further tests are considered. The reverse appears to be now creeping into medicine. This demeans the clinical examination as well as deskilling physicians. This simple test like the others does not take long, is cheap, can lead to a diagnosis but importantly gives the patient the knowledge that they have been listened to and examined, a now increasing forgotten consideration.
Any comments www.abbeypractice.tumblr.com | |
| Homeopathy- why are we still debating its use in medicine? |
There is an article in GP news asking how are GP’s going to help fund homeopathy in Primary Care in this era of financial cuts and states that 1 in 3 PCT’s are still funding homeopathy.
This whole issue is a nonsense. I have tried the use of homeopathy to treat patients in the past having undertaken a year of training at the Homeopathic Hospital. At most I obtained a placebo type response and usually only in patients who have subjective symptoms such as tiredness, PMT and others which are difficult to measure. Even when patients were referred to the Homeopathic Hospitals the medical improvement was non-existent. So personally and with other studies showing it does not work how can we continue to fund this treatment? Thre is no scientific evidence to substantiate its mode of action and certainly no placebo controlled clinical trials showing its benefit.
If patients want homeopathic treatment those GP’s who want to prescribe it can issue a private prescription with minimal cost to the patient. Those wanting homeopathic treatment for chronic conditions can like all other patients have to fund it themselves like patients do for other therapies such as osteopathy. chiropractic and reflexology.
There is nothing to debate on this issue.
Any comments visit www.abbeypractice.tumblr.com | | | Continuity of care- Are GP's losing the plot? One example |
Continuity of care in General Practice has always been one of the reasons for having a GP who knows you and takes care of you. Most definitions ofcontinuity of care talk of uninterrupted health care for a condition from the time of first contact–eg, to the point of resolution or long-term maintenance.
What was surprising to read in the Kent LMC newsletter January 2011 was of an article by an LMC representative that brings the whole concept of continuity of care into question. The article talks of hospitals requesting GP’s to undertake MRSA swab testing as part of a pre-operative assessment. The GP in question feels that this is not his responsibility in that although he has referred the patient for surgery he should not undertake this procedure and that it should be done by the hospital concerned. I can see his point to some extent in that if we were to do this we may end up taking bloods etc pre-operatively. Where his argument starts to fall apart is when the hospital requesting these swabs may be many miles away ie in London as opposed to a local hospital in Kent. His argument goes that the patient should travel to London at both great expense and time to have these swabs done. However 10 minutes is the total amount of time should this be done by his Practice Nurse and that includes writing the forms and labelling the swabs. Please also remember that this is easily a Practice Nurse type job for which the GP receives subsidies for her wages from the NHS.
The impression by the LMC Rep was “I want payment for this or don’t ask” despite the fact that his patient maybe massively inconvenienced by this decision.
I work as an Independent Doctor and any requests I have received I have personally fulfilled at NO EXPENSE to the patient and I hope I have upheld my definition of what continuity of care really means.
Is the Kent LMC position on this going to change?
Any comments visit www.abbeypractice.tumblr.com | |
| Vitamin-D seems to prevent some cancers |
There is now increasing evidence that Vitamin-D prevents the development of both breast and colon cancer. Two studies looked at Vitamin-D levels in healthy people and then followed them up for up to 25 years.
In the Breast cancer study 1760 patients were studied and those with the lowest levels of Vitamin-D were more likely to develop breast cancer. They were able to calculate that by taking in 2000 international units of Vitamin-D per day was able to give you a 50% reduction in developing breast cancer. To obtain the 2000 units of Vitamin-D / day they calculated you would need to spend at least 15 minutes in the sun / day. To ingest this quantity of Vitamin-D / day was difficult as there are only 400 units in a pint of milk although oily fish has a high content. It was suggested that you may need to take vitamin-D supplements to reach this level of intake if you were not able to get out in the sun.
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