Coach House Surgery: Patients Participation Group

Coach House Surgery: Patients Participation Group

Minutes of the meeting of the Coach House Surgery Patients Participation Group held on Tuesday 21st March 2017 starting at 14:00 hrs

Present Dr Gowri Sankaren (GS) (GP), Lesley Kerr (LK) (Practice Manager), Russell Cleaver (RC) (Chair), Neil Taylor (NT), Cathy Kleiser (CK), Phil Soskin (PS), Pauline Bacchus (PB), Carol Firman (CF), Jannice Mordue (JM), John O’Connor (JOC), (Minutes).

1. Apologies None

Documents circulated before the meeting included; an Agenda for this meeting, the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 7th November 2016 and Committee Documents namely: Communique to PPG Attendees, Terms of Reference of the PPG, ’16 Ways to Help Your Practice Thrive’.

1. Chair and Minutes Secretary

RC said that subsequent to the last meeting and the Group’s affiliation to the National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP), he and JOC had proposed to LK and GS that the servicing of the PPG be transferred to the Patient membership. RC offered to act as Chair and JOC as Minutes Secretary. This had been agreed and was now confirmed by the PPG.

1. Minutes of the meeting held on 7th November 2016

RC opened the meeting with a reminder that our PPG had been affiliated to the National Association of Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) since July 2015 and could benefit from access to the NAPP web site including a wide variety of material to help set up and support individual PPGs like us! Some of this material had been used to draft the three committee documents.

The minutes were considered and AGREED; reference to DNA data were taken later in the meeting.

1. Actions since the last Meeting

Communique to PPG Attendees included a resume of activities since the previous meeting and the emergence of two coordinators (RC and JOC) to help develop the PPG. This included governance, developing participation, networking and the practice web site. They would continue throughout 2017 and reconsider the situation at the planned AGM in November.

Terms of Reference of the PPG provided a structure and purpose to the group’s activities. It is a relatively simple document but quite sufficient for our needs and could be amended if required, at an AGM. The contents were in part based on experiences of other PPGs as gleaned from the NAPP web site. With a minor amendment (Clause 3: Membership of the Group – Membership of the Group shall be open and free to all registered members (and designated staff as necessary) of the Practice), the draft Terms of Reference was AGREED.

16 Ways To Help Your Practice Thrive is a questionnaire based on a NAPP template seeking to strengthen and enhance relationship between patients and their Practice. It covers: patients’ perspective, health matters, communications and service development.

The group were invited to add or amend any criteria, then rate them. Completed questionnaires should be sent electronically or otherwise to LK by 30 April 2017; names would be optional in paper copies. The results would be brought to the next (July) meeting.

1. DNA (Did Not Attend)

LK circulated data comparing DNA in July 2015 and July 2016, listed by appointment type. In both years the July figures were higher than in other months possibly due to medical staff being unavailable. The Practice do not regard the data as showing a serious issues as the underlying causes of DNA were well understood and appropriate action would be taken if required. LK outlined how the appointment booking system works and urgent requests require receptionists to gather more information to refer the patient on the most appropriate members of staff.

DNA data would be collected for July 2017 and considered at the November meeting

1. Coach House Surgery Web Site.

The Practice web site is based on a standard template commonly used by other Practices. It includes the facility to add or amend certain areas which are unique to the practice (such as specialist services, surgery hours, locations, medical staff etc.) and patient group information.

LK offered to review and update information and to include if possible photos of actual members of the practice staff. There would also be potential to promote on healthy lifestyle choices, local activities, and sources of information that would benefit patients. This would add to the array of leaflets and notices already in the waiting room.

Furthermore the practice would make contact with patients with specific conditions whenever new appropriate treatments become available e.g. MRI scanning would be regarded as a better diagnostic tool than PSA testing.

LK also agreed to review and improve information relating to the PPG on the website and, if practical, include PPG Minutes and the PPG Terms of Reference.

1. GMS contract changes

LK and GS gave a succinct summary of the changes to this years funding contract for the practice. The criteria and formulae for calculating funding are complex and extensive. The standard funding figure was approximately £85 per patient but extra allowances would apply to factor such as social demography, deprived areas, chronic medical conditions, preventative work, admissions avoidance, investigative testing, services outside surgery hours, etc. Overall there are no large increases in funding despite rising costs.

1. Minutes and Agendas

These minutes will be circulated to the PPG attendees past and present, and posted on the Practice web site.

The next meeting will be held in July (date and time to be fixed) with an agenda and any documents to be issued two weeks before the meeting (RC to Chair, JOC to take minutes).

RC thanked all those present for their attendance and CK thanked RC and JOC for their work since the last meeting, to get the PPG to where it is now. The meeting was closed at 3.20pm.

JOC/RC/LK/23.3.17 (Minutes subject to confirmation)

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