Patient Participation Report
March 2012
Contents
Page
Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………2
Full Report
- Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..6
- Patient Participation Group
2a. Structure Diagram………………………………………………………………………8
2b. Core Group – Committee characteristics…………………………………………….9
2c. Consultative Group – Reference Group characteristics…………………………….9 - Recruitment methods
3a. Year One……………………………………………………………………………….10
3b. Year Two……………………………………………………………………………….11 - Representation analysis
4a. Age group………………………………………………………………………………12
4b. Gender………………………………………………………………………………….13
4c. Ethnicity………………………………………………………………………………...14
4d. Other target groups…………………………………………………………………...15 - Local survey
5a. Design…………………………………………………………………………………..16
5b. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………16
5c. Results…………………………………………………………………………………..16 - Action plan…………………………………………………………………………………..19
Appendices
Appendix A – Group Constitution………………………………………………………………….23
Appendix B – Website Information………………………………………………………………...24
Appendix C – Appointment Analysis………………………………………………………………25
Appendix D – Survey Design………………………………………………………………………26
Appendix E – Survey Results……………………………………………………………………...30
Appendix F – Minutes of PPG Committee Meeting November 2011………………………….46
Appendix G – Minutes of PPG Committee Meeting January 2012…………………………….50
Executive Summary
The Patient Participation Group – 53 Patients at Present
The Whitley House Patient Participation Group is made up of two sub groups at present:
The Core Group: Patient Participation Group Committee – 11 Members
The Consultative Group: The Patient Reference Group – 42 Members
The committee is made up of 11 members, including a Chair and Vice Chair. It was founded in November 2011 and meets face to face bi-monthly.
Meetings to date:
November 2011
January 2012
March 2012
A GP Partner and the Practice Manager attend every meeting. The Practice Manager acts as secretary to the group, but has no voting rights as she is not a registered patient of the surgery.
The consultative Patient Reference Group is in its infancy. It is currently made up of 42 members. It is a virtual group with two way communication with the committee. The committee consult the reference group from time to time about items on its agenda. The reference group members can give any feedback or raise any new issues via the secretary.
The practice is continually looking to increase membership to the consultative group. If you are interested, please sign up to the group via the website or complete an invite which can be found in the reception area at the surgery.
In year two the surgery and committee will work to increase membership to the reference group and increase its integration into Patient Participation process.
Local Survey
The committee designed a local survey for registered patients at Whitley House Surgery to complete. The surgery ran a ‘Survey Week’ starting Monday 5th December 2011. The survey was available to all patients attending the surgery during this week and 229 completed surveys were received. (1.87% of the total 12,247 registered population).
What We Do Well
The survey showed high overall levels of satisfaction with the surgery, for example:
91% patients thought the reception staff were satisfactory or very helpful. (8% DNR*, 1% Not Sat**)
91% of patients were satisfied with the date and time arranged for their appointment (5% DNR, 4% Not Sat)
85% of patients saw the Dr or nurse they wanted to, or did not mind who they saw (6% DNR, 9% Not Sat)
94% of patients are satisfied with the surgery’s current opening times (3% DNR, 3% Not Sat)
92% of patients are satisfied with access to the surgery building (5% DNR, 3% Not Sat)
96% of patients are satisfied with the comfort level of the waiting room (3% DNR, 1% Not Sat)
90% of patients were satisfied with the quality of their consultation (10% DNR)
92% of patients felt at ease in discussing the reason for their visit (8% DNR)
87% of patients felt they had enough time for their appointment (9% DNR, 4% Not Sat)
89% of patients were satisfied with the way the doctor / nurse explained their problem or treatment required
(11% DNR, 0% Not Sat)
*DNR – Did Not Respond
**Not Sat – Not Satisfied
What We Can Try and Improve: Our Action Plan
A suggested action plan has been agreed by the surgery and committee based on feedback from the committee members and the local survey results. All actions are suggestions and there may be reasons why not all actions are acted upon in the coming year.
Whitley House Surgery / Patient Participation Committee Action Plan
All actions are suggestions and there may be reasons why the actions are not carried
Phone Access to Surgery
Improve phone access to the surgery – the scrum for appointments at 8am every morning leaves patients feeling frustrated and angry. Many don’t get into the existing call queue system – but just hear endless engaged tones whilst calling, so can’t even let the surgery know they want to get through. / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011
Discussed at WHS partners meetings
Discussed again committee meeting January 2012 / New phone system researched and identified
Phone system ordered January 2012
System due to be installed April/May 2012
Appointment Profiles
Re-assess the clinic profiles – the surgery causes an 8am scrum for appointments, as the majority of appointments are ‘book on the day’. There may be a need for more pre-bookable appointments / Issue raised and discussed as above / Whitley House Surgery plan to have an internal meeting about this with key staff members to consider the options and whether to take action. This will be fed back to the PPG committee for further comment
Appointment Profiles
Consider ring-fencing some slots for GP follow up appointments to help GP continuity / Issue raised and discussed as above
Appointment Profiles
Consider using call triage on reception to try and improve use of existing healthcare professionals by asking patients who call the reason for their call. Patients can then be guided to an appropriate healthcare professional
Specifically nurse prescriber as survey showed 45% patients did not know we had one / Issue raised and discussed as above
Ethnicity
Increase opportunity of recording ethnicity. Currently stands at 5.10% of total population, 14.35% of patients registered in 2011. / Importance of being representative discussed at all PPG Committee meetings / On going
Following the above
a) Compare ethnicity of total registered population against that of the patient participation committee and reference group to identify any patient groups which may not be represented. Endeavour to increase representation to any areas required.
b) Match ethnic categories given in next survey to those provided in clinical system to make comparison easier
c) Consider translating information about the PPG into key languages spoken by patients – based on ethnicity research above and on feedback from patients in PPG from ethnic minority backgrounds / Importance of being representative discussed at all PPG Committee meetings / Once above has improved
Awareness of Services
Increase awareness to patients about all the services provided at Whitley House Surgery – clinical (e.g. we have a nurse practitioner) and administrative services (e.g. you can book appointments online).
Increase awareness via re-vamp of practice leaflet / information in practice newsletter / website / information in reception. Consider methods of communication used in the same way as methods used for recruiting to the patient groups (under ‘Recruitment Methods’ above) / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011
Discussed at WHS partners meetings
Discussed again committee meeting January 2012 / On going from April 2012
TV Screens in Reception
Screens could help:
a)Advertise everything required above
b)Advertise the patient groups
c)Improve the waiting area for patients – who would have something more to look at
d)Run awareness campaigns on specific issues as agreed by the surgery or suggested by the PPG / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011
Discussed at WHS partners meetings
Discussed again committee meeting January 2012 / A company has been researched and identified
The screens have been ordered – but cannot be installed until the company secures funding via advertising from local companies
On going
Accessibility to the surgery
The ramp at the back of the surgery is reportedly steep, disabled parking is quite a walk from the surgery.
It is not possible to access the surgery through the front doors if you are in a wheelchair, due to the doorframe being raised off the ground at the bottom / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
The survey results showed some similar concern amongst the wider patient population. WHS acknowledges that the number of patients adversely affected by accessibility is going to be small, but the impact it has on them is huge / WHS to explore options to improve access to the front of the building to be considered by the surgery and the committee. There is no guarantee this can be rectified. More feedback will be sought from patients affected by this issue.
On going
Website
The website looks very dated and needs re-vamping – in appearance / ease of use and content / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Discussed at WHS partners / New website provider researched and identified.
New website went live December 2011 – work on going to improve content.
Waiting Room
Following local survey comments and PPG committee approval the following have been agreed:
Install clock on the wall
Re-instate current magazines to read
Re-instate children’s books in the children’s area and research a wall fixed children’s sensory toy which may be installed
Put a sign up telling patients where the water cooler is located in reception / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011 / On going
Parking
Identify how many staff park in the designated surgery parking spaces and explore other places they may be able to park / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011 / On going
Prescriptions
Produce advice sheet for patients about the repeat prescription service and meet with local pharmacy to work through process issues affecting patients / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011 / On going
Recruitment Methods
Consider posting PPG information and invites to a random sample of patients in all ethnic categories to ensure the group has been advertised representatively
Run messages about the PPG on the Jayex board in the surgery at an agreed frequency
Rota an additional receptionist on a specified day at an agreed frequency to be in reception to promote the PPG and answer questions from patients
Run messages about the PPG on prescriptions in the surgery at an agreed frequency
Advertise the PPG outside the surgery – contact the local council to see if they have a list of e.g.
Youth Groups
Ethnic minority community groups
Parent / toddler groups
We could send information to about the PPG and invite anyone registered at Whitley House to sign up.
Target the groups we have low representation from -
Age 0-16 – look to get feedback from children via patients on the PPG group
Age over 85 – look to get feedback from any carers of patients over 85 / Issue initially raised by PPG committee November 2011
Reinforced by survey results November 2011 / On going
1. Introduction
Whitley House Surgery is along established training practice offering a personal, friendly service whilst striving to deliver a high standard of medical care. The practice was bought by Dr Theo Whitley in 1927 when it was located at Thorneybrook, New London Road. It expanded and moved to Moulsham Street, where the surgery was named after Dr Whitley.
The surgery continued to grow and moved to refurbished premises in Writtle Road in September 2003. The building was previously occupied by Marconi and before that Crompton and Co.
The medical team comprises 6 GP Partners and 5 nurses which includes a Nurse Prescriber who can treat minor ailments and prescribe appropriate medications. As a training practice we have trainee doctors working alongside the partners.
Opening Hours
Monday / 08:00 - 18:30Tuesday / 07:00 - 18:30
Wednesday / 08:00 - 18:30
Thursday / 07:00 - 18:30
Friday / 07:00 - 18:30
Weekend / closed
The phonelines open for appointment booking from 8am
We offer extended access early morning surgeries on a Tuesday / Thursday and Friday. On these days the surgery opens from 7am – but this is for pre-booked appointments only
Whitley House Surgery Patient Participation Group
The group has 53 members at present
The Whitley House Patient Participation Group is made up of two sub groups:
The Committee: Patient Participation Group Committee
The Consultative Group: The Patient Reference Group
The committee is made up of 11 members, including a Chair and Vice Chair. It was founded in November 2011 and meets face to face bi-monthly.
Meetings to date:
November 2011
January 2012
March 2012
A GP Partner and the Practice Manager attend every meeting. The Practice Manager acts as secretary to the group, but has no voting rights as she is not a registered patient of the surgery.
The consultative Patient Reference Group is in its infancy. It is currently made up of 42 members. It is a virtual group with two way communication with the committee. The committee consult the reference group from time to time about items on its agenda. The reference group members can give any feedback or raise any new issues via the secretary.
The practice is continually looking to increase membership to the consultative group. If you are interested, please sign up to the group via the website or complete an invite which can be found in the reception area at the surgery.
In year two the surgery and committee will work to increase membership to the reference group and increase its integration into Patient Participation process.
The following report details efforts of the group made to date including a local survey which was run week commencing 5th December 2011 and an agreed suggested action plan based on feedback from the committee members and the local survey results. All actions are suggestions and there may be reasons why not all actions are acted upon in the coming year.
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2. Patient Participation Group2a. Structure Diagram
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Committee / Year One / Year TwoGroup Statistics / Meet face to face
Meet bi-monthly / Meet face to face
Meet bi-monthly
Introduce ‘virtual’ forum for committee to use in between meetings
Group Aim / Support Practice:
Promote health by fostering the highest possible standard of primary care through the medium of patient participation
Act as a communication channel between the practice and the community in order to help patients use facilities to the best advantage and the practice to implement policies influenced by representative patient views* / Support Practice:
See left
Increase Patient Knowledge:
Discuss any areas of the NHS they would like to find out more about. The surgery will research areas or invite specialist speakersas required. Possibly run talks in conjunction with other local practices.
Recruitment / Whitley House Surgery initially recruited to the Patient Participation Group Committee via:
a) Advertising campaign in reception,
b) Information on our website
c) GP Partners making patients aware of the group during surgeries. / In year two the committee will be voted in at the AGM by members of the reference group.
The committee will advertise for new membership to the reference group via a range of methods listed below, ensuring they consider all methods in terms of true representation.
Numbers / 9 members plus 3 officers – chair, vice-chair and secretary. 11 registered patients and secretary who is the practice manager. / Review membership numbers – agreed up to 10 members with 3 officers. We currently have 9 members and two of the three officers are patients.
2b. Patient Participation Group Committee Characteristics
*See appendix A – Group Constitution
Group Statistics / Virtual group – contacted via post / phone / email (whichever the member chose)
Contacted on an ad-hoc basis – governed by committee
The group will be contacted on behalf of the committee by the secretary, who will collate responses and feed back at the next committee meeting / Wider use will be made of this group. The secretary can feedback responses in between meetings to the ‘virtual’ committee group (mentioned above)
Group Aim / Establish group in year one – utilise more in year two. / Utilise group in year two to ensure the committee is acting in the interest of the patients at Whitley House Surgery.
Recruitment / See recruitment methods below / See recruitment methods below
Numbers / Guide: 0.5% of registered population / 1% of registered population (min)
2c. Patient Reference Group Characteristics
3. Recruitment Methods
Whitley House Surgery and The Patient Participation Group Committee are committed to ensuring the groups are open to all registered patients and want the groups to be truly representative of the registered population. Both the PPG Committee and the Patient Reference Group are advertised in the following ways:
3a. Methods in Year One
Method / Frequency / Type / How Representative? How to Improve in Year 2?Posters and Invites in reception waiting area at the practice. / Continual / Written / This written information can be seen by 100% patients who come into the surgery so ensures group advertised to all patients.
This may not communicate with some vulnerable groups who may be unable to read English.
This will not reach patients who don’t come into the surgery.
Posters and invites currently only in
Invites in GP and Nurse consulting rooms / Continual / Written and Verbal / This information is written but can be backed up by verbal explanation to help more vulnerable groups and non-English speakers.
This will not reach patients who don’t come into the surgery.
Information and invites in new patient registration packs / Continual / Written / This ensures new patients receive the same level of communication as existing patients.
Information currently only in English
Information about both groups on Whitley House Surgery Website* / Continual / Written / Electronic / Website can translate all text into a vast number of languages using a google translation search engine
This method is excellent for patients who may not visit the surgery – but who view the website for information or to order repeat medication. (they may also book appointments but these patients will be coming into the surgery so will be hit by other methods mentioned).
Website hits:
January: 8164 February: 6821
We believe this to be a very high number and highlights the increasing importance of websites as a use of communication
Information about both groups added to any surveys run / At time of survey / Written / Survey and group information currently only in English.
Write to sample of patients from each target group with invite and covering letter about group / Quarterly / Written / Letter and invite will initially only be sent out in English.
*See appendix B – website information at