PPG Minutes 11th December 2023, 7pm

 

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

 

Present

  • Jean Poole ( Chair and secretary)
  • Dr Vicky Smith
  • Ellie Bakhda
  • Rob Munden
  • Tess Munden
  • Lee Atkins
  • Dave Powell
  • Mike Woodward
  • Maureen Woodward
  • Sharon Shaw
  • Kerry Harding
  • Ann Tunstall

Welcome: Jean welcomed everyone to the meeting

Apologies: Barbara Bird, Mike Garett, Cindy Garret, Trudy Gwatkin, Lee Davit

 

Approval of Previous Minutes

The minutes of 9th October were approved by the group.

 

Matters Arising From Previous Minutes

  • Advance care planning – It had been agreed that a presentation to patients across the 5 surgeries within the local PCN should be planned for next year. Jean suggested that as Dr Appleton was willing to do a presentation , it would be helpful if he could join a PPG meeting to talk about the subject first ( perhaps the 5th February meeting)  and outline what might be best included for a wider audience. Ellie and Dr Smith to follow up
  • Appointment availability – things were continuing to improve.  A new urgent care practitioner has been appointed which helps relieve the numbers requesting a GP appointment.
  • Role of healthcare professionals within the practice – information about the different roles is available on the website and also posted on the PPG noticeboard.
  • NAPP membership – it has been confirmed that the PPG membership of  of the national association was renewed earlier in the year.
  • New way of messaging – the surgery had not received any feedback from patients on how this was working. It was mentioned that the receipt of text messages from the main NHS site (eg vaccination invites) and some providers did not always identify the patient , so this can be confusing, especially for parents and carers.  However, texts from the surgery are usually patient specific. - Anna (IT manager) to investigate where possible
 

PPG issues

Dates of meetings for 2024 - The group agreed that at a full list of meeting dates for the year would be helpful to enable members to note their diaries. The meetings would continue to be every 7/8 weeks. A list would be attached to the minutes.

 

Courtside Issues

  • Staffing update – There had been the usual changes to the trainee doctors attached to the practice as well as a part-time physio starting recently. Nurse Rose has also left and some changes to the nurse rota have been implemented.
  • Flu / Covid clinics – the clinics went well with over 3000 flu injections given and similar numbers of Covid injections administered, resulting in all the targets being met. The PPG volunteers were thanked for their support with the marshalling.
  • New telephony service – this was launched on 4th December. The group gave some useful feedback including some ideas about simplifying the initial choice menu greeting callers. Patients wishing to discuss prescriptions or referrals are now able to speak to the admin team direct or provision to leave a message on voicemail which allows the reception team to concentrate on appointments and other queries. There is also an opportunity for a ring back arrangement if the patient is waiting in a busy queue. The new system allows the practice to amend / update the details locally which means changes can be made quickly.  The group were asked to continue to feedback any thought to Ellie and Lee
  • GP improvement programme (GPIP) – the surgery had signed up for a 6th month intensive programme working with a facilitator looking at a  number of aspects of the service identified from data collection and discussion. A key area currently being assessed is the number of different pathways patients use to access services.  The PPG will be kept updated and invited to contribute where appropriate. 
 

AOB

  • The issue of hospital letters sent to patients and copies being specifically addressed to long retired GPs rather than the practice generally was raised. This may not be possible to address but will be investigated. - Ellie to ask the referrals team to follow up
  • A suggestion that information about clinician appointments running late should be made available in the waiting area was discussed. It was agreed that delays were sometimes unavoidable and specific information would be very difficult to manage across the services. The group accepted that a personal apology from the clinician was always welcomed in those circumstances. 

Jean wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thanked them for attending.

 

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 5th February 2024 - 7pm