Notes from West Meon Surgery

Patient Participation Group (PPG) meeting held at the surgery

22 February 2012

The meeting was opened by Nigel Sharp the Practice Manager, it was attended by doctors Christie and Harris and 10 members of the PPG. Nigel gave a brief overview of where the PPG was currently.

The PPG has 25 members, which is broken down into the following categories.

Practice Population = 2489		PPG Profile = 25 members
Age
% under 16	15.6%	% under 16	0.00%
% 17 – 24	7.47%	% 17 – 24	0.00%
% 25 – 34	7.31%	% 25 – 34	4.00%
% 35 – 44	12.93%	% 35 – 44	0.00%
% 45 – 54	17.72%	% 45 – 54	8.00%
% 55 – 64	17.32%	% 55 – 64	16.00%
% 65 – 74	12.05%	% 65 – 74	44.00%
% 75 – 85	7.12%	% 75 – 85	28.00%
% over 85	2.41%	% over 85	0.00%

52% Female

48% male

40% are regular attendees

56% Occasionally attend

4% rarely attend

Of this group 8% are carers

Practice on a whole		PRG
White		White
% British Group	13.34%	% British Group	88.00%
% Irish	0.04%	% Irish	0.00%
Black or Black British		Black or Black British
African	0.04%	African	0.00%
Other ethnic group	0.4%	Other ethnic group	12.00%
Many patients have refused to comment on their ethnicity on their records

The Practice Manager explained what the purpose of the PPG was - for the group to ask / canvass the surgery patients on ways that the service could be improved. Members of the PPG asked patients attending the flu clinic in October 2011to carry out a small questionnaire from which the PPG received 120 responses.

The questions asked were:

Would you object to the surgery closing for lunch, to enable staff to carry out administration (Emergency calls would only be accepted).	111 patients stated they would be happy for the surgery to close for lunch. Further discussion by the doctors and the surgery staff felt that although many patients would be happy for us to shut for lunch it was decided in the best interest of the patients that we remain open for the collection of medication, prescriptions and any other matters the patients wished to bring up.
Would you like music in the waiting room.	85 said they would not like to listen to music in waiting room. As patients did not want music it was agreed that we will not have it in the waiting room. If we did, we would have to choose a station / type of music which will not suit all.
Would you like to join the Patient Participation Group (PPG)	54 application forms were taken away stating they would consider joining the PPG. To date only 25 have returned the registration forms
Patients were also asked to comment on how the surgery could improve the service for the patients. Their comments are listed below and he number in brackets is the amount of times the same comment was made.
1. Perfect as it is (2). 2. Keep open for longer. 3. Be open for longer in he evening for people who work (2). 4. Repeat prescriptions for longer periods (2). 5. Very good as it is – Thank you (10). 6. Drop in centre / Clinic in East Meon perhaps. 7. Fine as it is thank you (5). 8. No, I think you give excellent service (2). 9. I’ve always enjoyed excellent service from all of you over 44 years. 10. All ok (6). 11. Tea, biscuits & Cake in waiting room! 12. Is the OOH service OK? 13. Service I find is very good – never had any problems, kind & courteous. 14. Your service is excellent. 15. 1^st class service now. 16. Quite happy as it is (3). 17. All OK thank you (2). 18. We do well just lack of doctor Friday to Monday. 19. Would be handy to collect medicines on a Saturday. 20. You can’t improve the service (1). 21. Ok as is. 22. It is excellent already (2). 23. It is perfect as it is. 24. Put a clock up in the waiting room. 25. Don’t think you can (2). 26. Home visits. 27. More young ladies to look after us. 28. More on website – like appointments with nurse. 29. Just being there when we need you.

Items raised by the group.

1. Calling the doctor at any hour was discussed, in the past patients were able to contact their GP and get them to visit when the surgery was closed.

Dr Christie explained that when the GP contract was changed several years ago the out of hours (OOH) component was outsourced to another company who were to deal with patients concerns.

2. This discussion then led to the fact that if an ambulance was called then sometimes they will not attend unless it has been called by a doctor. Doctors Christie and Harris both explained that they had to go through the same criteria with Ambulance control as any patient would have to to get an ambulance to attend. It appears that the criteria for calling for an ambulance has changed and the practice manager would investigate with the ambulance service what the criteria is now and feed it back to the PPG.

Practice manager contacted the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), who made the comment that they have a series of questions to ensure the call is valid and depending on the severity of the call will determine if an ambulance is sent to the callers location.

3. The Doctors also highlighted that they also wanted to know the bad points of the surgery so that we could make changes and rectify them. I was suggested that a comments box be placed in the waiting room for patients to offer feedback of any sort to the staff and the PPG.

The practice manager has now ordered a suggestions box and will locate it in an appropriate place so that patients who make comment do not feel they are being watched.

4. A comment about doctors running late was mentioned and if this was the case would it not be in all the patients interest to be told why there was a delay and how long the delay was. Both Dr Christie & Harris agreed that it was in the interest of the patients who had to wait and the staff will be informed that they are to let patients know there will be delay and the reason why.

Staff have been advised to let patients know if there is a delay in appointment times.

5. Better magazines in the waiting room and perhaps some aimed at the male patients. Dr Harris explained that many of the current magazines were donated by patients, which were kindly accepted.

On further discussion with the doctors it has been agreed to place a daily paper in the waiting room.

6. Opening hours on Saturday mornings and a late evenings was mentioned.

The doctors stated that there had not been the demand for the service as it was aimed at those who could not attend the surgery during the working day, and those that had been seen on Saturdays were better suited to attend during the normal working day.

7. The discussion of the group taking ownership of itself and proposing a chair person to manage future meetings. Although nobody volunteered all agreed they would consider it after the meeting and get back to the Practice Manager.

The surgery is happy to host the meetings or if another venue (possibly the village hall) if all members of the PPG were to attend.

8. This also brought up the matter of the timing of the meetings and it was suggested that a later time, after 6pm when many of those in the group had returned from work.

The doctors stated that this was a decision for the group to make as they take ownership of the PPG and hold regular meeting as they felt necessary.

9. The practice Manager was also asked to forward a copy of the terms of reference (TOR) to the PPG to give them all an idea of what will be required.

Copy enclosed in the email or letter sent out.

A copy of draft Terms of Reference are attached and will be placed on the PPG section of the surgery website.

10. The final matter was that due to the recent bus timetable changes the surgery should have a list of willing patients who will help those who cannot drive. This was felt to be a good idea and a sign will be put up in the waiting room shortly to ask for volunteers.

The practice manager will place an advert in the parish magazine asking for volunteers with cars to help patients who rely on the limited bus service to get them to and from the surgery.

After the meeting.

11 Two members of the PPG who did not make the meeting apologized and felt we offered a wonderful service, but would like to see the staff with name badges so they could get to know the staff better. Another member came to the surgery the following day and was given an overview by the practice manager.