Ashworth Street Patients Group (APG)

Ashworth Street Patients Group (APG)

Furnace Green Surgery

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

Thursday 28th July, 2016 12:30

Minutes

Present –

Barbara Baker – Office Manager FGS

David Cumberland – Practice Business Manager FGS

Dr K Weedon - GP

Christine Ollis

Mr and Mrs Guest

G Callus

J Harris

C Longhurst

  1. Welcome

David welcomed everyone to the first ‘proper’ meeting of the Furnace Green PPG whilst acknowledging that there had been a preliminary meeting in May. Everyone then introduced themselves to the group.

He explained what the purpose of a PPG is in that a group is there to discuss the services offered by the practice and to suggest any improvements that it is thought could be made.

  1. Ground Rules
  2. Group should not be seen as a complaint platform.
  3. As per patient confidentiality no personal issues should be discussed.
  4. Everyone’s views must be listened to and respected.
  5. No discrimination will be tolerated.
    .
  1. Staff update

David introduced three new members of staff.

  1. Dr A McGloin – Dr McGloin joined us on 9/6 from another Crawley practice.
  2. Suzanne Bunch – Suzanne is an experienced Practice Nurse and joined the team in early May.
  3. Carol Garrod – Carol started as our new receptionist on 17/5.
  1. Communication

David indicated that the team at FG are keen to improve communication with the patients and to this end a newsletter had recently been introduced. At the previous meeting it was mentioned that the print on the newsletter is also quite small and whilst the group liked the professional ‘feel’ to the booklet it was agreed that a larger version will be made available for those that find the current text size too small and this has been done. The newsletter and all PPG documentation are of course available on our website.

  1. Accessibility

DC introduced the fact that the new Accessibility Standard comes into operation on 1/8/16 and that the surgery had made significant strides in preparation for this. The website had been updated and a translation option made available. The group felt that the website could be more widely advertised and it was agreed that there would be a notice in the reception area to this effect. ACTION DC.

The group discussed the current appointment situation and whilst all acknowledged that there are times when it is difficult to get an appointment the reasons for this were understood. Also discussed was the means of getting an appointment and all patients agreed that more online availability would be desirable. Dr Weedon explained that getting the balance right between getting an appointment via online or by phone or by face to face is crucial and that online had not been available at Furnace Green for that long and that the surgery is reviewing how appointments can be made. DC said that whilst some surgeries have most if not all their appointments available online there is a flip side to this in that appointments can be made for issues that do not require an appointment but Mr Guest said that this is the same for phone or face to face as one does not have to state what the reason for wanting an appointment is.

  1. General discussion

Dr Weedon was asked if we do social prescribing and she stated that we do and involve Proactive care as much as possible.

Patients all felt that the tannoy system was not working well for many patients who struggled to hear their name being called.

Patients felt that it would be very desirable to have a monitor in the waiting room that could (a) be used to reduce the number of posters up on the notice boards and (b) to enable a visual call for the patient when their consultation is ready. DC informed the group of the recent acquisition of a music licence that was still in discussion as to how music could be played and agreed to look into the display idea. He also agreed to look into splitting the noticeboard into ‘essential’ information and ‘nice to know’. ACTION DC.

It was agreed that a daily information notice would be good along the lines of ‘Dr *** has a student with them today Dr ***’ or the drs on duty today are ***

  1. Date of next meeting – 14th October @ 12.30

DC July 2016

Top View