- NHS GP Services
- Visitor Services
- Practice Nurses
- Community Nurses
- Physiotherapist
- Midwife
- Dietitian
- Counselling
- Other Practitioners
- Asylum seekers and refugees given leave to remain in the UK, or awaiting the results of an application to remain, are regarded as ordinarily resident and entitled to full NHS GP treatment.
- EEA nationals carrying form E128 (short-term posted workers or students and their accompanying dependants) are entitled to free NHS GP treatment. EEA member states are listed here.
- EEA nationals carrying form E112 (specified medical conditions) are entitled to free NHS GP treatment for that condition.
- Any person, whether ordinarily resident or not, requiring treatment that a GP regards as emergency or immediately necessary shall receive that treatment free of charge, whether registered with a GP or not.
- Why does it take 48 hours for my repeat prescription to be ready?
- Why does my medicine have two different names?
- Why does my medication need to be reviewed before it can be issued?
- Why will you only give me 28 days’ worth of medication?
- Why can’t I get through on the repeat prescription phone line?
- Why has my medication been changed?
- How can I get my medication delivered?
- Hand the paper repeat slip into the surgery
- Post the paper repeat slip into the surgery
- Hand the paper repeat slip to the delivery driver
- Use our swish, secure website ordering service
- About free drug delivery
- Delivery schedule
- Register for drug delivery
- Volunteer with the delivery team
- Severe difficulty in breathing
- Severe chest pain for more than 15 minutes, especially with sweating and nausea
- A major accident
- Any other case where you think someone’s life may be in immediate danger or there is severe pain
I need to register with a doctor
We welcome new patients at Exmoor Medical Centre.
Click here to download the NHS registration form and here to download the lifestyle questionnaire , print out a copy of each for each member of the family, sign them and then bring them in or send them to the surgery.
Our Ethos
As GPs and as a practice team, we all believe in old-style family medicine and putting the patient at the very forefront of what we do. In today’s NHS, it is unfortunate that we sometimes have to fight strongly on patients’ behalfs, but we do this where necessary and see that as part of our job.
We are committed to excellence and are constantly seeking to improve the quality of the clinical care we offer. We recognise that different people have affinities to different GPs and any patient is free to see any GP in the practice for any problem.
Our Area
We are fortunate to be located within the picturesque ‘capital’ of Exmoor National Park, Dulverton, and our practice area covers much of this spectacular park and its surrounding area. Exmoor is one of the most remote areas of England with a strong local heritage and one of the very few places in the British Isles where light pollution levels are so low that you can easily see the Milky Way at night.
Our 3,900 registered patients live mostly within the area:
Wheddon Cross – Exford – Simonsbath – Sandyway – Molland – Knowstone – Rackenford – Oakford – Bampton – Morebath – Skilgate – Upton – Luxborough – Timberscombe – Wheddon Cross
If you live just outside this area, but still want to register at the practice, please ask us. We try to be flexible and may be able to accommodate you.
We do weekly branch surgeries at Wheddon Cross, Exford and Winsford (all on a Friday morning).
Dr Andrea Trill
Dr. Trill is our Austin A35 doctor (more…)
Services we offer
NHS GP Services
We offer the full range of NHS GP services, including minor surgery.
The NHS pays us to provide GP services to our registered patients. More information about what these are can be found on the British Medical Association website. This includes most of the things which you would think of as appropriate for a GP to provide.
It does not include things like certificates for travel insurance, certificates of illness during exams, driving, insurance or occupational medicals etc. We are very pleased to provide such services, but a charge will be made and the receptionist can advise you what that will be when you make the request.
Visitor Services
Most visitors to Exmoor are eligible for free treatment
We get a large number of visitors to Exmoor and most are resident in the UK and as such are eligible for free NHS treatment from us. Simply make an appointment at the surgery and we will attend to your needs as if you were one of our own patients, sending a brief report on to your own GP.
What if you are not resident in the UK?
Free GP treatment is based on residence in the UK, not on nationality, the payment of UK taxes or National Insurance contributions. A person who is regarded as ordinarily resident in the UK is eligible for free treatment by a GP. A person is ‘ordinarily resident’ for this purpose if lawfully living in the UK for a settled purpose as part of the regular order of his or her life for the time being. Anyone coming to live in this country would qualify as ordinarily resident.
Overseas visitors to the UK are not regarded as ordinarily resident if they do not meet this description. For example, a person who emigrated from the UK, but returns sometimes for visits is not seen as ordinarily resident, regardless of any previous UK taxes or contributions they have paid or receive. He or she would not normally be entitled to free NHS treatment from a GP. Any person who leaves this country to live abroad should be removed from his or her GP list after 3 months.
There are however some circumstances which entitle overseas visitors to free treatment:
We will happily see any visitors who do not fit into one of the above categories (and this will include many visitors from North America and Australia / New Zealand), but they should expect to pay a charge for the service. This charge will likely be covered by their own travel insurance.
Practice Nurses
Our practice nurses, Paula Williams, Clare Floyd, Anna Morgan and Judy McKeon and our Healthcare Assistant, Andrea Phillips, offer a full practice nursing service, including blood monitoring for warfarin. They are always pleased to help and can often answer your medical queries.
Community Nurses
We work closely with our efficient and helpful district nurses, Helen Shaw, Dawn Partington and Sharon Priddis, to provide an integrated community nursing service. They offer the full range of nursing services for those who genuinely can’t make it into the surgery and they play a huge role in things like end of life care. We’re very lucky to have them. Please don’t abuse the service they provide and make every effort to get into the surgery if you can.
Physiotherapist
We are lucky to have a physiotherapist come to the surgery once a week from Minehead. Referral is from your doctor.
Midwife and Health Visitor
Both these groups of professionals operate out of our surgery. Appointments can be made through reception.
Dietitian
Caroline Colvyn visits our surgery once a month. She will give advice on special diets, such as those for diabetes and coeliac disease and can help you with that difficult, but so important, task of losing those excess pounds. Appointments can be made through reception.
Counselling
The Right Steps counselling service visits the surgery on a regular basis. Referral is through your doctor.
Other Practitioners
We have a variety of other practictioners who use the building to provide non-NHS services. These include Mike Cohen, a down to Earth psychologist who provides Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Ed Wilmot, an osteopath, Katie Cross, an audiologist (hearing aid specialist), Zoe Williams (beauty therapist) and a chiropodist. Further information is available and appointments can generally be made through reception.
Medicines FAQ
Why does it take 48 hours for my repeat prescription to be ready?
The medicines we prescribe are extremely powerful and we need to check it is safe to issue them in every case. This is to try and minimise medication related side-effects and medication interactions, which can be unpleasant and even dangerous. Sometimes the issue of a particular medication will need to be queried with the doctor.
All this takes time and we want to be sure we get it right.
Why does my medicine have two different names?
This can be very confusing. All medicines have a generic name such as atorvastatin, which is the name of the substance itself, but many also have a brand name, such as Lipitor, which is the name given to the substance by a particular manufacturer. Generally, we try to prescribe by generic name, but when you get your medicine packet it may be plastered with the manufacturer’s brand name. When ordering repeat prescriptions, please try to use whatever name for your medicine appears on your printed repeat prescription sheet, attached to the prescription itself.
Why does my medication need to be reviewed before it can be issued?
All repeat medication is put on a six or twelve month review cycle. This is to ensure that we check that the medication is still appropriate and that all necessary blood tests, blood pressure checks, ECGs or other tests have been carried out.
Your doctor my well be able to review your medication simply by looking through your notes on the computer. However, you may be requested to come in and see the doctor or nurse for a consultation or some tests. Even if this is the case, we will issue you enough medication to be going on with in the meantime.
Why will you only give me 28 days’ worth of medication?
Don’t blame us, blame the government! We are under very strong pressure by the NHS to prescribe only 28 days’ worth of medication at a time. There is good evidence that this reduces wastage across the NHS, but we do understand that it can be aggravating and inconvenient for patients on stable medication. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it.
The only exceptions to this rule are for oral contraception and HRT, for which we can dispense three months’ worth at a time. We can also occasionally dispense up to two months’ worth of other repeat medication for holidays etc.
Why can’t I get through on the repeat prescription phone line?
Many practices do not have a repeat prescription phone line at all and in fact we are strongly discouraged by the authorities from operating one. This is because most of the errors which occur when prescriptions are issued occur as a result of misunderstandings over the phone.
We recognize that it is useful for our rural population to be able to order over the phone and so we keep the line open for a limited time, but we would encourage you as strongly as possible not to use the phone and instead to order your medication in one of the following ways:
Why has my medication been changed?
There’s usually a good reason for it and we try to let patients know why. If you have a question about your medication which the dispensing staff cannot answer, please phone in and ask one of the doctors who will be pleased to answer it for you.
How can I get my medication delivered?
If you are classed as a dispensing patient, which means you live more than one mile from the surgery and pick up your medication from us rather than the chemist, you may request for your medication to be delivered to your home or to one of our outlying collection points. This is a free, volunteer-run service. Ask at the surgery or see here for further details.
I need my medication sent to me
About free drug delivery
Our volunteer-run, free drug delivery service started in June 2006 using a Subaru Justy and a team of volunteer drivers, coordinated by Vicky Belam. The community raised funds for a new car in 2010.
This service is for the 70% of our patients classed as ‘dispensing patients’ and means those rural patients who live more than a mile from the surgery and who receive their medication directly from us, rather than from the chemist.
To register, email the surgery at dispensary@exmoormc.nhs.uk or tick the relevant box below.
We deliver to your door if you genuinely need that service or to the local shops in Winsford, Exford and Withypool or the Auction Rooms at Wheddon Cross. If you request, we can leave the drugs in a sealed box that must be waterproof and child and animal proof or else with a designated neighbour. If you’re not there and none of these options are available, we return the prescription to the surgery and you will then have to make arrangements to have the drugs collected yourself.
Delivery schedule
Although we have a set route each day we have no set order for deliveries. It is up to each driver and depends on just who is getting deliveries that week, so one week you may get your drugs in the morning, but the next week it may be in the afternoon. In the event of flood, blizzard, earthquake, nuclear war or asteroid impact our regular delivery schedule may be interrupted, but we will do our best to let you know as soon as we can.
These schedules are likely to change from time to time, but we will let you know and post that information here.
MONDAY: BAMPTON – EXEBRIDGE – BRUSHFORD – OLDWAYS END – EAST ANSTEY – WESY KNOWLE – ANDREWS HILL
TUESDAY: MOREBATH – SKILGATE – UPTON – WITHIEL FLOREY – LUXBOROUGH – CUTCOMBE – WHEDDON CROSS – LUCKWELL BRIDGE – EXFORD – SIMONSBATH
WEDNESDAY: BROMPTON REGIS – EXTON – BRIDGETOWN – WINSFORD – WITHYPOOL – SANDYWAY – HAWKRIDGE
THURSDAY: RACKENFORD – OAKFORD – STOODLEIGH – ROACHILL – KNOWSTONE – MOLLAND – YEOMILL – WEST ANSTEY – CHILCOTT – MARSH BRIDGE – ASHWAY
FRIDAY: BURY – BROMPTON REGIS – WINSFORD – WHEDDON CROSS – CUTCOMBE – EXFORD
Register for drug delivery
Get your medicines delivered. It’s simple.
We offer free delivery of medication to all our dispensing patients. Dispensing patients are those who live more than a mile from the surgery and who pick up their medication from us, rather than the chemist.
There are three ways to register for this service:
1. Tick the relevant box on the Repeat Prescription order form on this website
2. Email dispensary@exmoormc.nhs.uk
3. Tell the surgery in person or by telephone
Once you have registered, we will contact you to confirm delivery arrangements.
Volunteer with the delivery team
Give something back and become a volunteer driver
We always want to hear from people who are interested in becoming volunteer drivers. This is a super way to become involved in our local community, see parts of the moor which no-one else ever gets to see and meet some truly extraordinary people.
Please email Vicky Belam on vicky47lb@aol.com to register your interest. (Please note, all specific queries about medication and delivery should be directed to the surgery. Vicky’s email address is only for those who wish to discuss volunteering or have suggestions about the service in general.)
I have an emergency
GP surgeries do not offer an emergency service. We cannot get to a patient as quickly as an ambulance. Nor do we have the emergency equipment which they carry.
Please call 999 in the case of:
In all other cases, please phone the surgery, alerting the receptionist to the urgency of the situation. A doctor or nurse can usually phone you back within minutes to give further advice.
Dr Carol Bird
Dr. Bird is our vegetable doctor (more…)
Dr David Berger
Dr. Berger is our flying doctor (more…)
Sessional GPs
Sessional GPs, formerly known as locums, are the GPs who plug the gaps which occur in all practices as a result of holiday, illness, maternity and study leave. This used to be a fill-in kind of role for GPs who were between jobs and for some it still is. For many, though, this has become a profession in itself and, without exception, the GPs we aim to hire in Dulverton are all highly trained and expert at what they do. (more…)