About Us
Berkshire West Primary Care Alliance is a primary care provider collaborative. We have 30 general practice members. Following a vote by members, the Alliance incorporated as a Private Limited Company in June 2023.
Our mission is to support and sustain the practice ownership model. We seek to do this through:
Acting as a “united face” of primary care across Berkshire West.
Supporting the collaboration of members whilst preserving local identity.
Giving members access to skills and capabilities they could not access by working alone.
Contracting for services that need to be provided at scale.
We are not:
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Commissioners of health care services. We bid for services we think would best be provided through our primary care partners.
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Legal or contractual representatives of general practices, these are the respective roles of the Local Medical Committee and the Integrated Care Board.
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Competitors with practices and PCNs. If a component of primary healthcare is to be commissioned and is most appropriately delivered at practice or neighbourhood level then we are quite clear that the GP practice is sovereign, and in its turn, the PCN.
You can read our Business Plan here.
Meet the team
Dr Amit Sharma
Chair
Amit works as the partner lead for strategy and partnerships at Brookside Group Practice. The practice is a large four site, single practice PCN in the Wokingham borough. He is passionate about enabling patients holistically and supporting colleagues to achieve their potential. He has an interest in organisational development and has supported change management in practice locally, regionally, and nationally. He has helped develop numerous new services including segmented digital triage and health and wellbeing services. His main clinical interests include mental health and paediatrics.
Dr Andy Cieciersk
Deputy chair
Andy qualified in 1991 from CXWMS and following GP training in Reading became a GP Partner at Emmer Green Surgery in 1999. He ran a GPSI ENT Clinic for 19 years. Andy was involved in the inception of NWR CCG in 2011, acted as Deputy Chair, then Chair from 2015-18. He was actively involved in Urgent Care across Berkshire West until the CCG merged into the BOB ICB. Andy is the Clinical Director of Caversham PCN, Deputy Chair for the BW GPLG and a Director of BW PCA.
Dr Jim Kennedy
Director
Originally from Ireland, James is a GP principal at Wargrave Practice and has for some time been an LMC representative for Berkshire West.
Adrian Chamberlain
Operations Director
Adrian was the previous Head of Primary Care for Buckinghamshire, his diverse background has included the CBI, community outreach, humanitarian aid, and several years working across a number of primary healthcare settings, including a spell managing a practice in East London. Adrian had a MSc in Social Policy Analysis from Bath and from time to time, works alongside their Department of Life Sciences.
Andrew Price
Programme Manager
Andrew has worked in the Berkshire West system since 2000, first joining Wokingham Borough Council before moving to the NHS in 2008. Prior to this he worked in local government in London. Andrew has a degree in Economic History as well as general, project and programme management qualifications.
Ramandeep Jhattu
Service Development Officer
Ramandeep (Ram) is our new service delivery officer on behalf of the GPLG. Ram has had several roles both in GP federations and general practice, with his most recent role as Chief Operating Officer in Barnet. Ram will be supporting the GPLG with the same day access workstream and other future projects.
Sophie Stephenson
Project Officer
Sophie started her career in the sports sector as an Operations Junior Manager before attending Oxford Brookes to complete her Bachelor of Laws. Whilst at university, after working with law firms she went onto work in care homes and hospitals in Sussex.
Maia Gehrmann
Administrator
Maia recently graduated in English Literature and Education Studies from Oxford Brookes. Prior to joining us she worked in a team management and support role in the retail sector.
John Clack
Finance Manager
John is originally from SW London before moving to Wokingham/ Earley 40 years ago. John qualified in finance via Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and subsequently worked for NatWest, BG Group, Mace Macro, Tarmac and the NHS.
Dr Elizabeth Mottram
Lizzie has been a GP Partner at Thatcham Medical Practice for over 8 years, a GP trainer and has a special interest in group consultations and de- prescribing. She has joined us as the Clinical Lead for the health inequalities outreach programme.