PPG Meeting held on 25 January 2017

Present: Terri Livingstone (Chair), Brenda Jarrett, Greta Abbott, Ellen Mariani.

Apologies: Christine Potts, Angela Mckeown

Terri welcomed everyone back to our Wednesday meeting which is usually our coffee morning. As explained previously, the coffee morning is held every Wednesday. At times we make it more formal and it becomes our quarterly PPG meeting.

  1. Terri asked if any of the members have come across problems with the Surgery. All present agreed they have no problems. All of the attendees are regular patients at the Surgery and praised Dr Livingstone, the staff and the service we provide.
  1. The group was informed of mandatory maintenance that has taken place in the Surgery. Terri recently had all of the lights that were no longer working fixed, and we had a new sensor light put outside of the patient entrance.
  1. Appointment waiting times were discussed as this has been in the media quite a lot lately. The general consensus was that at times there is a wait to see Dr Livingstone, but generally you can get an appointment as soon as if you need to see a Clinician urgently. All agreed they do not mind the wait usually as they prefer to see Dr Livingstone.
  1. Terri discussed our new Practice Nurse, Caroline Lewington, who was taken on to work Fridays primarily late 2016 but increased her hours to work also on Mondays and Tuesdays in January. The group all expressed how glad they were that she is here and that she will be working with us more, and they agree that she has fit in really well. It was also discussed that everyone is pleased with Dr Obe and his continued hard work at the Surgery.
  1. Terri gave her apologies that our Phlebotomist has been off sick for some time and that patients were having to attend the Community Hospital in Eltham to get blood tests. Terri informed the group this will be rectified by other staff members taking on relevant training and taking on more hours to be able to cover and to offer our patients more options to attend either the Surgery or the Community Hospital.

AOB

Terri thanked the group for attending. She also wanted to make a special thanks to not only the PPG but all of our patients who have bared with the staff and been supportive in the past few months over a very difficult time for us, due to sadly losing our Head Receptionist, Maria, who passed away at home on Christmas Day after a short illness. Staff continued working even if they were red eyed and stressed – aware of the Ethos to the Surgery and that Dr Livingstone will always put his patients first.

The next coffee morning will be held normal time on Wednesday 8th February 2017.