Mersey Faculty
We support over 2,400 members, Fellows, GP registrars and students across Merseyside and Cheshire in their career and continued professional development. The Mersey faculty covers Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, Halton and St Helens, East and West Cheshire, and Isle of Man.
Get involved
Upcoming events
23 November 2024
Effective out of hours training | part 1, emergency work, safeguarding, complaints & safety, COVID-19, ethics and organisational aspects
A two-part online course for GP Trainees and GPs new to OOH working towards urgent and unscheduled care competencies. Delegates can sign up to both sessions separately (23 November 2024, 09:00-13:25 and 30 November 2024, 09:00-13:25) to complete the course, however each part can be undertaken as stand-alone sessions.
23 November 2024
GP Registrar Conference - Empowering Tomorrow's GPs
GP Registrars are invited to attend this free all-day conference in Manchester. This conference offers an unmissable opportunity for both personal and professional development, with a diverse program designed to inspire and support your journey in general practice. It aims to ‘empower tomorrow’s GPs’ with a broad range of inspiring speakers, workshops and panel discussions to engage GP Registrars in hearing about opportunities to enhance their training now and beyond CCT. We hope you will be able to join us. Breakfast, lunch, tea/coffee are all included free for RCGP members
23 November 2024
GP Registrar Social (Post Conference)
GP Registrars are invited to attend this free social get together following the Empowering Tomorrows GP's conference in Manchester. This social will allow those attending a chance to network with other GP Registrars, talk to some of the speakers and meet Northwest England Faculty board members. There will be food and drinks provided, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available. Don't miss out on the chance to network with peers and experts, This conference is offered free for RCGP members.
25 November 2024
Five Key Concerns – Starting Work as a GP
This session is run in conjunction with Wesleyan and will be discussing the options available for working as a GP, and how it can impact your finances (and your plans). We’ll discuss the benefits of each role, and what to look out for as well as looking at key financial plans you should review as part of the change including income protection, mortgages and savings. We’ll also cover the NHS Pension scheme and how that will work.
Veteran friendly GP practices
We are working with NHS England to accredit GP practices as 'veteran friendly'. This programme supports practice to deliver the best possible care and treatment for patients who have served in the armed forces.
Over 2,000 GP practices in England are already accredited through this programme. We provide accredited practices with access to free online training, support them to identify and code their veteran patients, and offer advice on referrals. While each accredited practice must nominate a clinical lead, training content and activities are suitable for the whole practice to enhance your delivery of veteran healthcare.
To find out more information, please visit the Veterans' healthcare toolkit on our eLearning platform.
Our board
Our Faculty board meet four times per year in February, June, September and November, usually via Zoom. We rely on volunteers to play an active role locally, give views, feed in information from local groups and shape local general practice via the Mersey Faculty board. The board have a number of opportunities for you to become more active with the local faculty, for example: committees, council representatives, First5 lead, GP registrar lead, Education advisor and Officers of the board. If this is something you would consider then please contact us.
Peer groups
Merseyside, Cheshire and IoM
Peer groups, (or support groups), are run by local GPs to support other GPs. They offer support and advice to anyone in their region, hold small clinical CPD evenings, group chats to find best practice and offer general advice to anyone who needs it.
The group leads can be contacted at any time but often run scheduled sessions that you can attend. Please see below for your local lead.
- St Helens First5 Group:
Dr Clare O’Toole & Dr Rachel Skelly
sthelensprimaryenquiries@cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk - Knowsley support group:
Dr Adit Jain
adit.jain@knowsleyccg.nhs.uk - Sef10 support group:
Dr Raj Patel
raj.patel4@nhs.net - Warrington Non-Principal and F5 group:
Dr Ipsita Chaterjee
ipschat@gmail.com - Chester sessional GP group:
Dr Sarah Lazorowicz
sarah.lazarowicz@googlemail.com
If you run a support group, please let us know.
RCGP Mersey can support with venue hire and speak fee costs.
Awards and prizes
Mersey Faculty Excellence in Primary Care Awards 2024
We are delighted to announce our series of awards to recognise excellence in primary care in Mersey. Awards are in the following categories:
- GP registrar award
- Practice team award
- GP award
- Team member award
For further information and how to nominate, please check our awards page.
Medical Student Poster Prize 2024
The RCGP Mersey Faculty is delighted to announce the Medical Student Poster Prize 2024. This prize is open to undergraduate medical students attending the University of Liverpool and Edge Hill University in Year 3, 4 or 5 of study. We invite eligible students to submit an A1 Poster detailing an original research or quality improvement project they have undertaken in Primary Care on a Primary Care topic.
All prize winners will be invited to the RCGP Mersey Faculty Annual Awards Evening to be presented with their prize and certificate. Date and venue for the 2024 Annual Awards Evening to be confirmed for November 2024 in or near Liverpool City Centre.
For further information and how to nominate, please check our awards page.
The marking criteria for this prize can be found in the judging criteria and scoring guidelines (DOCX file, 101 KB).
Fellowship
Fellowship is an honor and mark of achievement recognising a significant contribution to:
- health and welfare of the community
- science or practice of medicine
- aims of RCGP, or any organisation which benefits general practice
Full details of applying for fellowship can be found at RCGP fellowship. If you are unsure about any part of fellowship or want to know more about the process, RCGP Mersey have a team of volunteers on hand who have been through the process themselves to answer your questions. Please contact us for more information.
Meet your faculty
Faculty Officers
- Dr Michael Van Dessel FRCGP - Provost
- Professor Steve Cox FRCGP - Chair
- Dr Heather Ryan - Interim Deputy Chair
- Dr Shiv Pande, FRCGP - Treasurer
- Dr Abdul Zubairu - Honorary Secretary
Representatives
- Council representative – Dr Jonathan Griffiths
- Deputy Council Representative – Dr Euan Strachan-Orr
Representatives
- Dr Euan Strachan-Orr
- Dr Elinor Frizelle
- Dr Lynn Hryhorskyi
- Dr Abeer Hamid
- GP registrar representative – Vacant
- Sustainability representative - Vacant
- Mid-career representative - Dr Heather Ryan
- Late career and retired members representative (LCARM) - Dr Surendra Kumar
Contact us
RCGP Mersey Faculty
The Outset
Sankey Street
Warrington
WA1 1NN
Email: mersey@rcgp.org.uk
Office opening hours: 08:00 to 15:00, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Closed Wednesdays.
Useful links
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