Award-winning Wakefield doctor who beat Long Covid launches new home-visiting healthcare service

Dr Ben Sinclair works part-time as a Prison Doctor, and while treating inmates, despite wearing PPE for protection, he contracted Covid-19.

He then also suffered severe, longer-lasting symptoms from Long Covid.

After making a full recovery, he drew on his own experience of the illness in July last year to pioneer the launch of what is thought to be Britain’s first-ever specialist online clinic for Long Covid sufferers.

Dr Sinclair, who trained in Yorkshire for 10 years and supported patients in York District Hospital’s A&E and Special Care Baby Unit, now heads a Leeds-based team of GPs treating all medical conditions, including Long Covid.

His new home-visiting service, Dr Finlay’s Private Practice, is named after the fictional GP Dr Alan Finlay, from the long-running BBC TV drama ‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook’.

The practice will be based in Leeds with doctors working across the city, also supporting patients in Wakefield, Bradford, York, Harrogate, Barnsley, Otley, Ilkley, Skipton, Pateley Bridge, Boroughbridge, Easingwold, Thirsk, Wetherby, Boston Spa, Pickering, Malton, Hovingham, Beverley, Tadcaster and the wider North Yorkshire region on request.

Dr Sinclair said: “Dr Finlay worked hard to become a trusted, dependable and friendly family doctor whose home-visiting service and sympathetic bedside manner were much valued by the community he served. Our practice, which shares those same values, is named after him and is a tribute to him, 50 years on.

“At a time when staff are facing huge increases in demand, we can take the pressure off the NHS because every patient we deal with is one less patient relying on the hard-pressed resources of the NHS.

“I’ve spent more time in my life in Yorkshire than anywhere else, so launching our new home-visiting, private GP service from Leeds near my university is like coming home for me.

A Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery (MBChB) and a Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP), Dr Sinclair is leading three Yorkshire GPs who have expertise in all medical conditions, supporting patients with home visits, face-to-face and online appointments with additional support from two local nutritionists and four dedicated online psychologists.

Dr Sinclair, 46, who studied for a five-year medical and surgical degree at the University of Leeds in 1996, and qualified as a GP in 2006, developed specialist Covid and Long Covid expertise after contracting the virus himself two years ago.

Last month, he and his healthcare service Dr Finlay’s Private Practice were honoured by industry leaders when he won Business of the Year at the prestigious Phoenix Business Club Awards 2022.

The Dr Finlay’s Private Practice Yorkshire team will announce the location of its Leeds surgery later this month, while the home-visiting service has now officially launched.

The other GPs and specialists working with Dr Sinclair are:

Dr Samantha Rosenberg MBBS BSc MRCGP, who trained as a GP in York and qualified at the University of Leeds in 2004. As well as her experience in general practice, she also specialises in substance misuse.

Dr Aaron Brown MBBS MRCS PGCME MRCGP developed an early interest in medicine as a sixth-former in Leeds. He initially trained as a surgeon, then moved over to community practice as a GP in York. He maintains an interest in urology and health conditions related to the ear, nose and throat. He feels special empathy for patients with long-term health conditions and has personal experience of Cystic Fibrosis having been diagnosed with CF as a baby.

Dr Maria Wrest MBBS BSc (Hons) MRCGP, was born and raised in Worsbrough, Barnsley. Since qualifying as a GP, she has worked locally at Darfield and Brierley. She was the regional lead GP for all 9 prisons across Yorkshire. Dr Wrest has a particular interest in women’s health, Menopause, mental health and dermatology.

Nutritionist Sally Duffin has worked for over 20 years in the natural health industry and over a decade as a nutritionist & nutritional therapist. Sally has a degree in Nutritional Medicine, is a Qualified Registered Nutritionist (MBANT) and Registered Nutritional Therapist (rCNHC). She is the author of the acclaimed guidebook: ‘Natural Nutrition for Perimenopause – What to eat to feel good and stay sane’.

Registered Nutritional Therapist Natasha Rosenberg specialises in gut health and the impact of nutrition in connection with female hormones. Natasha believes in the power of a good-quality, wholefood diet together with lifestyle adjustments to reclaim your health, restore energy levels and heal from the inside out. Her passion for gut health helps patients discover the impact it can have on all aspects of their health, including hormone balancing, skin problems such as eczema and acne, low energy, weight gain, IBS, insomnia and Long Covid.