Caversham Practice Newsletter - Spring 2025

Dear Caversham Patient,

Last edition we introduced GP Partner Dr Frances Blackmore and Dawn Williams-Powell our Deputy Practice Manager. This edition we are introducing Dr Myles Simpson, recently appointed GP Partner, and welcome Dr James Conole who joins us in June to care for Dr Seegobin‘s patients whilst she is on maternity leave.

Introducing GP Partner Dr Myles Simpson

Hello, I’m Myles and I initially came to the Caversham as a UCL medical student in 2012 and they’ve been unable to shake me off! I subsequently trained in South London and the south coast before returning to the Royal Free and the Caversham to finish my GP training. I have now worked as a GP at the Caversham for 6 years and have really enjoyed getting to know the wide variety of patients we have and their unique life experiences.

Outside of the practice, I have an interest in Sports and Exercise Medicine and work within rugby at a professional level. I want to make sure we preserve what makes general practice good and look forward to being a partner here for many years to come!

Spotlight on: Health Checks

If you are aged between 40 and 74 and do not have a pre-existing health condition, you should be invited to a NHS Health Check by your GP every 5 years. It is a free check up of your overall health and can help with the early detection of health problems like heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, stroke and how to reduce your risk of these conditions. The health check is completed by our Health Care Assistants and takes about 20 to 30 minutes. You can read more about what happens at the health check by clicking on this link.

We run reports regularly to identify patients due a health check and invite you in for an appointment. If you think you’ve been overlooked, then please get in contact with us and we will make an appointment for you.

Come and talk to us about the garden on 27th May

Everyone tells us how much they love The Listening Space Garden and we want to use this space more. However, to do this we need to have some shade from the sun when it shines and some shelter from the rain. With this need in mind, we are hosting a community meeting so you can share your experiences about places where you feel ‘settled’ as a way to develop ideas about the sort of structure we need, and how we might use the garden more to benefit staff, patients and our community. If you would like to take part in this conversation then join us on Tuesday 27th May, from 5pm to 8pm (includes food), please let us know you are coming by sending an RSVP to us and put GARDEN in the e-mail title, this will help us make sure we have chairs and food for everyone.

Come celebrate with us !

Helping Hands our informal information session run every Wednesday 10:30am to 12:30pm, celebrates its Cotton anniversay in May. During this year we’ve spoken to over 750 patients, invited others to join us on our Long Term Conditions Festival day and much more. Come and celebrate our 2nd birthday with us on the 21st May 10:30am to 12:30pm, we will have cake!

Digital Inclusion

Many of you, have told us how you want to be able to find information yourselves, and whilst technology can help, it can also make life harder. So we’ve responded by partnering with Camden’s Digital Inclusion team to delivery some help and support sessions on a Wednesday alongside Helping Hands, you can make a booking for a 1:1 session at reception.

Zen in Mind

During the winter months we’ve been participating in the River of Hope initiative running throughout our community. As part of this we were able to secure some funding to run a “Zen in Mind” afternoon at the surgery on the 27th February, in partnership with Mind and the Zen Project. Over 40 patients took part in chair massages, meditations, sound baths and general chilling.

Mind & Body

In March we ran a pilot Mind & Body exercise programme for people with ADHD, with funding from the River of Hope. We had lots of interest in the programme, and attendees told us how supportive and useful it was. Castlehaven Community Association kindly hosted the group and have applied for funding so we can host more of these sessions.

Fingers crossed we get it.

Get in touch

To enquire or join any of these groups or activities, please contact us online and put NEWSLETTER in the e-mail title and we will get in touch.

Published: Aug 21, 2025