Westbury Group Practice holds a contract with Wiltshire Primary Care Trust to provide general medical services. There are eight GP's:

Dr Debbie Beale

Debbie Beale was born in Cwmbran, Gwent, but moved around the country due to her father's work. She attended Manchester Medical School and graduated 1983. Her post graduate hospital training in medicine and surgery took place at South Manchester Teaching Hospital and Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport. She then secured her GP rotation scheme as a Senior House Officer in Medicine, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 1986 she moved to Wiltshire with her husband and completed her GP Registrar year at Eastleigh Surgery with Dr Ager as her Trainer. She gained full acreditation as a GP in 1987.

She went to Wales for a short post as a Registrar in Geraitric Medicine in Cimla Hospital, Neath and then returned to Westbury in a part time post, replacing Dr Kate Crofts, on her reirement. Initaially she was the only female doctor in the Westbury and Warminster area. Dr Beale has remained with Eastleigh Surgery since 1988, becoming a partner in 1991 and has been Senior Partner since 2004. She has extensive experience in the care of the Elderly and Palliative medicine through her work at Westbury Hospital. She served as clinical assisstant to the ward and day hospital and has fought strongly for nearly 20 years to maintain services in Westbury. She has seen many changes in that time and has helped to develop and adapt services to secure a future for as long as possible. She has post-graduate qualifications in Palliative medicine, Acupuncture, Family Planning and Chronic Respiratory medicine. She is a GP appraiser, Trustee for Dorothy House and Govenor for Matravers School.

Married with 3 children, family life fills most of her time outside work, but she enjoys cooking and gardening, although she is allergic to housework. In a less hectic phase of her life she bred and showed English Setters, but is currently content with her cats. Occasional departures from her responsible life have included abseiling and zip sliding down the Avon George to raise money for charity and she hopes to enter the annual pantomine horse race for Dorothy House.

Dr Michael Gumbley

Born in Cardiff some 40-something years ago, and too small to play rugby professionally for Wales, MG elected therefore to go into medicine, after moving to Bournemouth and receiving a Grammar School education. Training at St Thomas' Hospital London, he obtained a BSc in Anatomy in 1981 and qualified MBBS in 1984. Various posts in hospitals south of the M4 culminated in further qualifications of DCH, DRCOG and MRCGP, and eventually starting in Practice in Westbury in 1991.

Since that time, he has held posts in Cardiology at Royal United Hospital Bath, has obtained an MSc in Prescribing Sciences from Liverpool University in 2001 and is currently an Associate Member of the GMC, sitting on their Fitness to Practice panels. He heads Westbury Group Practice clinical trials unit and has interests in Cardiology and Therapeutics.

But to stay sane, he plays the violin for Bath Symphony Orchestra and has his own string quartet (available for Weddings, Functions etc....!), and sings tenor voice for The Paragon Singers in Bath. He may look grey-haired these days, but that's on account of his 2 teenage daughters.

Dr Richard Edwards

Dr Edwards trained at Nottingham medical school and qualified in 1988 before starting work in a variety of hospital jobs in Yorkshire. He came to Westbury Group Practice in 1993 and now spends nearly all his time working in the Bratton surgery which looks after most of the patients of Bratton, Edington and Coulston as well as some people from Steeple Ashton and Erlestoke.

Dr Julia Taylor

Dr Taylor qualified at St Mary's Hospital London in 1990, then trainied to become a GP in Yorkshire before joining the practice in 1995. She is married with 4 children and assorted animals and is in the process of developing a smallholding. Her special interests include womens health, diabetes and asthma, but she also has an interest in alternative medicine and has recently completed courses in homeopathy and acupuncture. She enjoys playing the guitar and piano, singing and drawing.

Dr Emma Evans

Dr Evans qualified as a doctor in 1999 from Oxford, and went on to do several years work in the hospitals around Burton-on-Trent before moving south to become a GP in Westbury. She has a special interest in Womens Health including Family Planning. With 3 small children, relaxation time usually involves trips to local playgrounds and swimming pools, with the occasional game of squash to keep fit.

Dr Emma Simpson

Dr Simpson joined Westbury Group Practice in August 2005. She was brought up in Surrey and then attended Birmingham medical school qualifying in 1994 . Following this she moved to Devon to complete her GP training and subsequently became a partner in a GP practice near Totnes until getting married in 2005 and moving to Bath with her husband. Her medical interests include paediatrics (childrens health), womens health and mental illness. Outside of work she enjoys music and is a member of Bath Symphony Orchestra in which she plays the oboe. She is currently on maternity leave but will be returning to work in September 2006.

Dr Zak Mohiuddin

Dr Mohiuddin, also known as Dr Zak, was born in and attended Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, where he graduated in 1997. Initially his training in medicine and surgery took place at the Civil Hospital, Karachi. He moved to the UK in 1999, passed his PLAB exams and started working at Barnsley District Hospital in 2001.

Dr Zak then started his GP rotation scheme as Senior House Officer in medicine, paediatrics, obstetics and gynaecology, dermatology, and ENT at Royal United Hospital, Bath. He completed his GP Registrar year at Hope House Surgery in Radstock under two excellent GP trainers, Dr Douglas and Dr Harris. His special interests include dermatology, hypertension and diabetes.

He is married with one son, enjoys cycling and is a keen cricketer playing for Lansdown Cricket Club in Bath.

Our locum doctors

As a practice we try to use locum doctors only when absolutely necessary; for example, to allow our GPs to be involved with major development work at the Primary Care Trust. We also try to use the same locums wherever possible to assist with continuity of care. They are a much needed and welcome part of our team.