Davenal House and Stoke Prior Surgeries

Patient Participation Group Report 2013/14

Following the successful completion of patient surveys in 2012 and 2013 we had a well established Patient Participation Group with which to develop and run our patient survey in 2013/14.

Due to advertising in the surgery, on our website and in patient literature we have been able to increase the number of the group from 30 members to currently 36 members.

These members consist of the following:-

Female / 24
Male / 12
Ethnicity British White / 35
White & Black Caribbean / 1
Age 17-24 / 1
Age 35-44 / 3
Age 45-54 / 6
Age 55-64 / 10
Age 65-74 / 15
Age 75-84 / 1
Davenal House Patient / 18
Stoke Prior Patient / 18

We first designed and distributed a questionnaire asking our PRG members what areas they would like to be included in our survey. Our objective was to determine what areas were priorities to our patients. These areas included appointments, clinical care, opening times, facilities and staff. Once we received the responses they were collated and the PRG survey was designed based on these, we included all priorities based on the majority of PRG member’s responses. Patients were able to respond anonymously, 23 responses were received.

The survey was distributed to all PPG members and all patients who had contact with the surgery on two days in December, which totalled 570 patients. We also promoted the survey by asking patients to take part when they collected their prescriptions, advertising it in the newsletter, on our practice website and in the surgery. The survey ran for 5 weeks during December and January and we had 198 responses in total, this equates to 2.14% of our 9,227 patient population- all of which were anonymous. The results of the survey were compiled by our website provider – my surgery website.

The results of our annual survey can be viewed at www.davenal house surgery.co.uk, please click the link below to re direct you. 2013/14 Survey Results

We initially informed our PRG members of the results, outcomes and proposals following the survey, by post. They also received an email alerting them to expect this communication via the post. We asked members for their comments and proposals following the results from the PRG annual survey so that together we could produce an action plan. Results of the survey have been displayed on notice boards around the surgery, posted on the practice website and paper copies have been produced and are available from reception.


Responses

Male/ Female respondents

Age of respondents

Ethnicity of respondents

Attendances at practice of respondents

Results of annual PRG survey

We felt that the overall results of the survey were positive with the main outcomes as follows:

·  Ability to get through to the practice on the telephone - 88% of respondents thought that this ranged from fair to very good.

·  Ordering of repeat prescriptions online – 36% of our patients would like us to offer the ordering of repeat prescriptions online.

·  Booking appointments online – 33% of our patients would like us to offer this service.

·  Cancelling appointments online – 21% of our patients would like the ability to cancel appointments online.

·  Texting appointment reminders – 22% of our patients would like to receive appointment reminder texts.

After gathering the results from the patient survey we then put together a letter to all members of the PRG which included the results and a table for the members to let us know any suggestions or comments regarding the results. We sent out 36 letters to all of the members of the PRG and we received 19 replies.

·  Ability to get through to the practice on the telephone- 88% of survey respondents thought that this was fair to very good. Three members felt that this was obviously a key part of a patient’s view of the practice and additional reception staff would be welcomed - We are recruiting more receptionists to deal with the volume of calls.

·  36% of our patients would like us to offer the ordering of repeat prescriptions online. One member felt this showed that this service was not well known to patients. - This is a service we already offer and will continue to promote this facility in the surgery, in our practice literature, on the surgery website and in our patient newsletter.

·  33% of our patients would like us to offer booking appointments online. Two members felt this would be of benefit to the practice - We are currently working with our website provider to develop this service.

·  22% of our patients would like us to text appointment reminders. One member felt that text reminders could be sent for appointments made ‘one day plus’ in advance appointments. - As the majority of our appointments with Doctors are same day appointments or telephone appointments it is not possible to offer this service. However, we already text nurse appointment reminders and will continue to promote this facility in the surgery, in our practice literature, on the surgery website, in our patient newsletter.

·  6% of our patients say that they are not able to receive treatment from their preferred GP. We appreciate that this is not always possible, however, all patient information is available to all GPs. Not all of our GPs are full-time, and we must allocate clinics at both of our surgery sites. In addition our GPs undertake other NHS duties which take them away from direct patient care at the practice.

In addition to the feedback to the survey some members provided additional positive comments to the survey as follows:

·  I don’t think these stats reflect the fantastic job you do. I hear horror stories and complaints from friends about their surgeries. You are always on the ball, friendly, compassionate and quick to make referrals when needed.

·  An excellent result and reflects the high standard of care received. Well done!

·  Have no preferred GP find all of them satisfactory.

·  100% satisfied with the surgery, excellent.

We also received the following feedback to the survey from some of the members.

·  It would have been useful to know why patients felt the way they did – In formulating the questions for the survey we followed suggested guidance to keep questions short and to the point, following the same format as the National GP Patient Survey in formulating our questions.

·  Several respondents felt that the number of patients who were not satisfied with the new appointment system was not acceptable and that we were not addressing some patients’ views regarding the new Doctor First appointment system. – Feedback suggests that this system is in fact proving to be most successful with 48% of the respondents reporting an improvement with the ‘Dr First’ system. The Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Association for Patient Participation is calling for urgent action to address declining resources and ballooning workloads of GP surgeries. Part of this campaign is to reduce patient waiting times in surgeries. The Doctor First appointment system enables all our patients to receive treatment from a GP in the first instance without having to wait for the next available face-to-face appointment which in many surgeries can be in several days time. This means that patients are receiving treatment on the same day and often do not need to be seen, therefore, resulting in more availability of face-to-face appointments for those patients who need to be physically seen by a GP and thus reducing waiting times.

We will take on board all the comments received when compiling next years’ survey.
Action plan

After consulting with the PRG it was decided to construct the following action plan

Action to be implemented / Timescale / Staff member responsible
ABILITY TO GET THROUGH TO THE PRACTICE BY PHONE
Continue to recruit more Receptionists to deal with demand / ON GOING / Practice Manager/Reception Manager
ORDERING REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS ONLINE
This is an existing service. An in-surgery promotion will be run highlighting this service to patients. / ASAP / Admin Assistant
BOOKING APPOINTMENTS ONLINE
Continue to work with the website provider to develop this service. / ONGOING / Practice Manager/Admin Assistant
TEXTING APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
This is an existing service. An in-surgery promotion will be run highlighting this service to patients. We will also run a campaign to highlight the importance of patients providing up-to-date contact information, in particular focussing on mobile numbers and email addresses. / ASAP / Admin Assistant/Reception Staff

Practice opening hours

Davenal House Surgery

Mon – Friday

8.30am – 1.00pm 2.00pm – 6.30pm

Stoke Prior Surgery

Monday 8.30am -1.00pm 2.00 to 6.00pm

Tuesday 8.30am- 1.00pm 2.00 to 6.00pm

Wednesday 8.30am - 12.30pm Closed

Thursday 8.30am- 12 noon 1.00 to 4.00pm

Friday 8.30am-1.00pm 2.00 to 6.00pm

Please note that there is an emergency line that is operated by a receptionist between 8.00 and 8.30am and 1.00 and 2.00pm Monday to Friday.

Extended hours appointments.

These appointments are available for all patients registered at Davenal House and Stoke Prior Surgeries.

·  Thursday mornings from 7.30am (held at Stoke Prior Surgery)

(Doctors and Nurses Appointments)

·  Thursday evening appointments until 7.10pm (held at Davenal House Surgery)

(Doctor’s appointments only)

·  Saturday morning appointments 9.00 -11.20am (held at Stoke Prior Surgery)

(Doctor’s appointments only, approx two clinics per month)

Where a patient indicates that they find it difficult to attend or specifically requests an “Extended Hours” appointment they will be offered an appointment in the extended hours surgery when speaking to a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner during our normal surgery hours.

Patients are able to cancel appointments by telephoning the surgery, calling into reception, or via the website.

Patients are able to arrange an appointment by telephoning Davenal House or Stoke Prior Surgery.

Prescriptions.

Patients are able to order a prescription by the following methods:-

·  Returning the right hand side of the prescription to reception

·  In writing

·  We are pleased to be able to offer an online prescription service. Patients are able to register with this service through our surgery website – www.davenalhousesurgery.co.uk

·  Faxing a request to 01527 559331

·  Telephoning 01527 559330 (We ask where possible that patients use the above methods of ordering, leaving the telephone service available for housebound patients)