Our Staff

Doctors

  • DR LARA BELLE

    MBBS BSc MRCGP

    Lara is our Senior Partner, she joined the Brow as a partner in 2003 having been a Registrar here for 18 months previously. She has a special interest in Dermatology and is a GP trainer. Lara lives in Surrey with her husband and family.

  • DR LAURA CLARKE

    BSc(Hons) MBBS MRCGP(2012) DRCOG DFSRH

    Having worked here as a registrar Dr Clarke became a permanent member of The Brow team and is now a partner. She has a special interest in fertility and family planning and runs the implant and coil clinics. She lives in Sussex with her young family. Outside of work she enjoys travelling and, when time allows, doing crafts.

  • DR JOSH RUBENSTEIN

    MA (Cantab), MBBS, MRCP, PGCert, MRCGP (2019)

    Josh is a Partner, he qualified in 2011, having trained in Cambridge and Barts and the London medical schools. He moved to Sussex in 2014 and worked in the local hospitals before undertaking GP training. He lives in Sussex and enjoys cycling and baking bread.

  • DR KAREN EASTMAN

    MB BS FRCGP DRCOG DFFP

    Karen is a GP and qualified from the London Hospital Medical College in 1992. She has been at the Practice since 1998 and specialises in pain management and women's health. She lives locally with her family and enjoys running and cycling.

  • DR HARRIET WOOD

    MBBS, BA (Hons), MRCGP

    Harriet completed her GP training at The Brow and has stayed on as a salaried GP at the practice. She has a special interest in Diabetes. She lives in Sussex with her husband and 2 children.

  • DR AIMEE ODEDRA

    MBChB, BMedSc, MRCGP

    Aimee graduated from the University of Birmingham medical school in 2013. She trained at The Brow before staying on as a salaried GP. She lives in her hometown of Brighton and enjoys hiking, travel and crafts.

  • DR JESSIE GULSIN

    MBBS, BSc, PGCert, MRCGP

    Jessie qualified from University College London in 2009. She completed her GP training in the Mid Sussex scheme. After qualifying from her GP training, she spent a year working as a locum and also on a project for the Clinical Commissioning Group. She returned to The Brow as a salaried GP and also completed her qualification to become a GP trainer. She lives in Sussex with her young son.

Pharmacists

Christina and Claire are the practice Prescribing Clinical Pharmacists. They deal with all medication reviews or queries around medication. You can book a telephone appointment with them up to a month in advance, or on the day if necessary. Christina's working days are Wednesday and Thursdays, Claire's working days are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Nurses

Caroline and Scarlet - Practice nurses are qualified and registered nurses. They can help with health issues such as family planning, healthy living advice, blood pressure checks and dressings. The practice nurses run clinics for long-term health conditions such as asthma or diabetes, minor ailment clinics and carry out cervical smears.

Healthcare Assistants

Hazel, Anna, Jess - Healthcare assistants support practice nurses with their daily work and carry out tasks such as phlebotomy (drawing blood), blood pressure measurement and new patient checks. They may act as a chaperone when a patient or doctor requests one.

Reception

Receptionists/Care Navigators provide an important link for patients with the practice and are your initial contact point for general enquiries. Please remember they have a very difficult task to perform, and they must follow the doctors' instructions. Please understand that they may need to ask a few questions when dealing with certain requests, particularly when assessing urgency. We appreciate that patients with medical needs are sometimes distressed and hope that our staff's professional manner and courteous approach creates a helpful atmosphere. The receptionists are all experienced and fully trained Care Navigators redirecting patients to healthcare professionals other than GPs (“signposting”), and reducing paperwork to save time and money. At The Brow, we have been doing this for a couple of years now, by training our reception staff to get you to the right person – maybe a nurse, or pharmacist rather than the GP. That is why, when you call us, our receptionists ask you a few questions to make sure that you get to speak to or see the right person, which will nearly always be on the day that you call. Receptionists make most of the patient appointments with the GPs and nurses. They also perform other important tasks such as dealing with prescription enquiries and patient records.

Practice Management

The practice manager is involved in managing all of the business aspects of the practice such as making sure that the right systems are in place to provide a high quality of patient care, human resources, finance, patient safety, premises and equipment and information technology. The practice manager supports the GPs and other medical professionals with delivering patient services and also helps to develop extended services to enhance patient care.

  • JANE FAIRFAX

Administration

Behind the scenes, we have a large administration team who provide support to the entire practice team and ensure the smooth administrative running of the practice. By training our admin staff to handle paperwork differently the doctor does not have to use valuable time on it, but can see patients instead. Our specially trained admin team has been able to cut the GP workload for dealing with paperwork by 85% without compromising your care in any way. The team also deal with issuing repeat prescriptions, either handed in to reception or received via Patient Access (GP online services).

Care Co-ordinators

The service is designed to help support patients with long term conditions in a practical way to help them access the many varied services, available both within the NHS and the local community. Services we commonly help with include: Transport links - Blue Badge, taxi vouchers, etc, Carers Support, Equipment for the home, Befriending, Continence issues and many more. If you feel you would benefit from this service, or someone you care for would benefit, please make an appointment or ask for a telephone call with our Care Co-ordinator. Alternatively, you can email them on sxicb-wsx.browcc@nhs.net Our care co-ordinators are: Charlie, Ali, Jacqui and Sam. Our care co-ordinators also carry out social prescribing. To find out more about this service, go to: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/social-prescribing-link-worker-A5.pdf

Health Visitors

A health visitor is a registered nurse who has received training particularly related to babies, children and pregnant women. Their role is to provide families with children under five years old with support and advice around the general aspects of mental, physical and social wellbeing. They offer 10 month hearing tests and 2 year developmental reviews by appointment. 3 year developmental reviews are offered if you have concerns about your child and parents are invited to contact the team to discuss a wide range of child related issues from minor childhood illnesses, weaning, diet, toilet training, behavioural management, etc. The health visitors are based at Sidney West Primary Care Centre. They can be contacted by ringing 01273 696011 extn 6605. Please ring if you have any concerns regarding your baby/child's development. The health visitors also run postnatal support groups and a child health drop-in clinic is held at the Gattons Family Centre on Mondays between 9.30-11.30 am and at the Sidney West Family Centre on Thursdays between 9.30-11.30 am.