The Exchange Surgery

We are located on the 1st floor of Gracefield Gardens Health and Social Care Centre.

We are a small GP surgery with a team of experienced staff.

We are a member of the Family Doctor Association.

We work to promote the benefits of continuity of care, and to ensure that your doctor knows you as an individual. There are benefits to you in being able to see the same GP for your appointments and to know that they are aware of you and your family’s situation.

For this reason we encourage that your whole household is registered with us to allow us to co-ordinate your care where this is beneficial.

Partners

Dr Emma Rowley-Conwy

Dr Rowley-Conwy was appointed principal in April 2003.

She was previously a principal for over 11 years in a practice in Streatham Common (Streatham Common Group Practice) when she led on the development of a derelict church hall into new practice premises.
She was employed a a facilitator by the Out of Hours Project in June 1995, and was instrumental in the setting up of SELDOC, the local out-of-hours GP co-operative.
Until September 1997 she was a medical manager and chair of the SELDOC Management Board.
In February 1998, she became involved in locality commissioning for the Streatham locality, and she was Chair of the South Lambeth Primary Care Group until April 2002.
She was then a GP member of the Professional Executive Committee (PEC) for Lambeth Primary Care Trust, where she was lead for out-of-hours and emergency care, and diagnostics, until 2006. She still occasionally works for the PCT as a GP advisor on urgent care and pathology services.
Since 2007 she has been employed by the PCT on a sessional basis as a GP champion for the improvement of services to patients with alcohol problems, and has developed the LES for alcohol screening and brief interventions.
She was GP lead for primary care practitioners working in A&E at St Thomas' Hospital during 2003, and worked with the Trust as a GP advisor to help them achieve the 4 hour target in A&E. Until 2008 she also worked sessions as a GP in A&E in St Thomas', but now just works for SELDOC.
She is an Educational Supervisor and approved to take GP registrars for Out of Hours training, and to supervise an F2 placement.
She is a member of Lambeth Local Medical Committe and is the LMC representative on the PCT sterring committee overseeing the implementation of Practice Based Commissioning.

Dr Debbie Hipps

Dr Hipps joined the practice as a partner in December 2008.

Dr Hipps qualified from Imperial College, London in 1999 and she has been working as a GP in Fulham since 2004. Prior to that she did her registrar post and hospital jobs in the Chelsea and Westminster Riverside VTS.
She has a PhD and research experience in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology prior to having started at medical school.
External clinical interests include providing an in-reach GP service to the West London Mental Health Trust in-patient unit at Charing Cross Hospital as part of a study into improving physical health care provision to clients with mental health problems.

Dr Helen Fowler

Dr Fowler joined the practice as a partner in December 2009, although she has been with us as a salaried GP since April 2009.

Dr Fowler completed her GP taining at St Thomas' and has worked in Lambeth and Southwark since 1994. She was a GP Principal at The Gardens Surgery in East Dulwich for 7 years until 2005. She then re-located to Japan for 3 years where she was involved in medical student teaching. She has an interest in medical education and is a GP tutor for GKT medical students as well as participating in supervision of our FY2 doctor. She also has a clinical interest in dermatology and acupuncture.

History
The practice was started over 80 years ago by Dr Jones and was originally sited in Stanthorpe Road.  In the 1930’s he was joined by Dr Bruce and they opened a branch surgery in Streatham Vale.  Dr Myint joined the practice in the 1970s and when Dr Bruce retired, she moved the practice to Prentis Road and the branch surgery was closed.  Dr Myint ran the practice as a single-handed principal till 1998, when she was joined by Dr Galazka.

On Dr Myint’s retirement in 1999, Dr Galazka was appointed as principal.  She appointed a salaried doctor to work alongside her, Dr Castro, in 2000. 

Dr Galazka resigned as a principal in July 2002, leaving the practice in the care of Dr Castro.  Between October 2002 and April 2003, the practice had managerial support from Herne Hill Group Practice.

In April 2003, a new principal was appointed, Dr Emma Rowley-Conwy.

Dr Castro left the practice in January 2005, and Dr Kok Ching Ng joined in his place.

In February 2008 Dr Rachel Baggaley joined us as a salaried GP.

In December 2008 Dr Debbie Hipps joined as a partner.

In April 2009 Gracefield Gardens GP Centre opened providing Walk-in Services to the wider population. This service meant we needed extra capacity to provide both this service and our practice services.
As a result Dr Helen Fowler and Dr Iram Zaidi joined us on the 1st April 2009

Dr Helen Fowler then became a partner in December 2009.

In April 2010 Dr Rachel Baggaley moved to Geneva to work for the World Health Organisation developing and implementing HIV polices worldwide. Also in April 2010 Dr Iram Zaidi left to return to locum work, but will return as a locum intermittmently. As a result of this, and becuase of the growth in the practice list, the practice was again in need of extra capacity.

We were joined by Dr Jenifer Mason as a salaried GP in April 2010.

Dr Emma Rowley-Conwy also went on sabbatical at this time and Dr Nicola Hunt joined us as her sabbatical cover, however, Dr Hunt will be staying with the practice for the time being.

Premises
Dr Myint owned a house on Prentis Road which she used as surgery premises.  On her retirement, the practice was forced to relocate and due to lack of alternative premises the surgery was housed in the basement of the South London Synagogue on Prentis Road for 3 months.  During this time, there was only one telephone, and no office space.  The basement was also flooded.

In May 2000 further temporary accommodation was found in a first floor office block over the Post Office, on the corner of Streatham High Road (A23) and Woodbourne Avenue.  The original intention was to re-develop the whole office block, including installing a lift, to make premises for both the Exchange Surgery and a neighbouring practice.  However, these plans were not approved by the landlord.

The practice occupied one wing of the office block over two floors.  Building works were completed that included redevelopment of the waiting room and reception desk and installation of a toilet, division of the nurse room into two and installation of new cupboards, and division of the office space into two to provide an administrative office/kitchen and an interview room/staff room.  There were still problems ensuring adequate maintenance of the communal areas and the fabric of the building by the landlord, and there was no disabled access.

For this reason we have recently relocated to Gracefield Gardens Health and Social Care Centre. This is a purpose built premises in which we should be able to develop our services to fulfil the needs of the local population.  These premises were developed as part of the Lambeth LIFT project, and house two practices, including the Exchange, as well as a wide range of community services.

We have now been in the premises for over 3 years and they are living up to their expectations. They provide a light and comfortable environment for the practice to provide a high standard of care to it's patients.

Location and Practice Area
The practice is located in central Streatham, close to the Odeon Cinema on Streatham High Road.  Parking locally is unrestricted, but often difficult to find as most spaces are occupied.  There are excellent public transport links, with several bus routes on Streatham High Road and Streatham and Streatham Hill station within walking distance.
Historically the practice had a large practice area, taking patients from anywhere in Lambeth south of Brixton, and from around Tooting Common in Wandsworth.  Patients were often retained despite moving away from the practice.  The area was been redefined as a much more condensed area between Streatham and Streatham Hill Stations and wholly within Lambeth.  Patients who resided outside this area were removed from the practice list in 2003. We are have recently re=expanded our area to include some of the area previously included. We now take down to the southern and western border of Lambeth, up to Acre Lane in South Brixton and over to Tulse Hill / Knights Hill on the eastern side.

The list has been open since April 2003 and we are currently registering about 50 patients a week.  The list size is currently around 4,200, but we have a very high turnover of patients.