Corby Lakeside welcomes its four newest GPs 

Corby Lakeside has recently welcomed four new GPs to its team, three of whom trained there and another who was a locum before joining permanently. 

Each of the doctors have an area they would like to specialise in, including women’s health, musculoskeletal or geriatric studies.  

Doctors Alafaka Tobin, Jassim Navas and Raluca Boanca all completed their final year of GP training at the practice and their positive experiences made them want to join permanently. Dr Kirti Mittal started as a locum and, after 14 months with the team, has become a salaried GP.

Dr Tobin, who qualified in Nigeria, said: ‘I did a GP rotation in a smaller surgery and couldn’t wait to come back to Lakeside because there was a lot of support and teamwork. Lakeside is like home to me, and everyone is very supportive so when I was offered a job here I was more than happy.’

Dr Boanca trained in her native Romania and worked in the UK in Accident and Emergency during the pandemic before becoming a GP.  She said: ‘I wanted to stay here as I am familiar with how the system works and they are good compared to other smaller surgeries. We also have a lot of Romanian patients so it will be great to be able to talk to them in their own language about their concerns. I have an interest in women’s health and am doing a diploma in contraceptive implant fitting and hope to also do one in sexual and reproductive health.’

Dr Navas, who was a junior doctor in London, has a Master's degree in sports and exercise medicine, and he wants to help our patients with musculoskeletal issues.

He said: ‘For the majority, probably over two years of my GP training, I was in Lakeside, so I am familiar with the practice, surroundings and community.  Lakeside is one of the busiest GP practices and I love the team here.

‘Being fully qualified we have more responsibilities and are seeing more patients. I like to have a holistic approach, learn new things and improve my knowledge and skills. As a sports enthusiast my long-term plan is to go into musculoskeletal medicine, long term pain clinics or maybe give joint injections as evidence shows that up to 30% of patients have those sorts of injuries or issues.’

Dr Kirti Mittal qualified as anaesthesiologist in India and, after working as the same in the NHS for six years, did her GP training. She said that the Lakeside team has always been encouraging, particularly when she first joined as a locum GP.

‘I have definitely felt supported and so it has been the right move to become a salaried GP. It is nice joining at the same time as so many other new GPs. I am interested in geriatric medicine so I am hoping to do further studying and maybe set up special clinics for geriatric patients in due course.’