Dr Spellar 

 

Dr Spellar reflects on her 29 years at New Queen Street and Stanground

Doctor Paula Spellar is the longest serving GP Partner at New Queen Street and Stanground Surgeries, having spent nearly 30 years at the practice.

She qualified in Glasgow in 1994 before doing her GP training in both Peterborough and Scotland. Over the years she has seen patient numbers virtually double and new roles and technology introduced, but it is the stability and community that makes working at the practice so special.

She said: ‘I joined Whittlesey because I liked the people. I had spent some time doing locums in the Peterborough area and realised that it's difficult to get a sense of a practice in an interview - being part of the team, even for a few days really lets you see what a practice is like. It was nice, stable practice with nice partners, staff and patients. I still get people coming in asking how my twin babies are, and they are now 18! It is things like that that make the difference. People I remember as babies are now having families themselves and one, whose mother I looked after, now works in our admin team, so it really makes you aware of the passage of time.

dr-paula-spellar

‘We had 9,000 patients when I joined and we have 19,000 now so the range of specialisms and support that we offer has changed massively. This has included the introduction of roles including healthcare assistants, specialist nurses and prescribers and the health and wellbeing teams. This allows us to offer wider and more personalised care and allows everyone to work to their strengths.

‘I don’t think any of us could have foreseen how the profession would change and the uptick in demand that we have experienced however, it has been a privilege sharing the lives of the patients and continuing to work together as a team, with both long-standing and new colleagues, including our recently joined GP Partners.’

In her spare time Paula and her husband enjoy keeping fit and dog-walking and have recently resumed ballroom dancing. One claim to fame is that she appeared on Ainsley Harriott’s ‘Meals in Minutes’ in 1998.  One patient was very surprised when watching a rerun a few years later to hear Paula’s familiar Scottish lilt as he introduced the guests!

Published: Apr 15, 2025