Reedyford Health Care
Minutes of patient Participation Group held 20th April 2016
Present: Dr Fran Ashworth, FarhanaUgradar, Mr Lawman, Mr Marsden(Chair), Mrs Morton, Mrs Gardner, Mrs Pritchard
Apologies:Mrs Sutcliffe, Fr Joseph
Election of Chair: Mr Marsden thanked the group for re-electing him as Chair. However he intimated that as he had held this position for some considerable time, he felt that in the near future he should hand over to another, perhaps the Vice Chair.
Minutes of Last Meeting: Distributed and approved
Matters Arising: The question of telephoning for appointments was raised again. Mr Lawman asked if all callers were given alternative times if no appointments were available for that day, even if callers phoned at the suggested times of 8.30am and 1.30pm. And were reception staff qualified to decide who should be seen that day, or able to wait. Dr Ashworth reported that this is an ongoing concern for the practice, and was being constantly monitored and changes made to the system where needed. For example, staff were receiving ongoing training to assess a patient’s need. This included receptionists being trained to be more resourceful - perhaps to even offer appointments with the Triage Nurse.
Action Points: MrMarsdenasked if Dr Berry had made any progress on evaluating the potential increase in the local population due to the proposed new housing area behind the college and the industrial estate. This could potentially put a great strain on GP‘s as well as local schools. Farhana to raise the question with Dr Berry and report back to the group.
New Practice Manager: Mr Marsden formally welcomed FarhanaUgradar to her new position. She gave a brief rundown of her time with the practice, joining eighteen years ago on reception, and gradually taking different roles with the business. Changes were being made within the team, and a new role of Team Leader (formerly Office Supervisor) would be responsible for training of admin and reception staff and supporting them. This role was being enhanced at Yarnspinners site, and would also apply to Barrowford in the near future.
Pro Active discussion: Farhana told the group that the practice had recently had a CQC inspection, and that the full results of this would not be available for perhaps five weeks. However, some feedback from the Inspectors was positive with some initiatives in the practice not having been seen in any other GP practice. The report would highlight areas that they were satisfied with, but could also highlight areas that they felt could be improved, e.g. management of warfarin needs. The conclusions of this report would be circulated to group members, along with information on how to access the full report, which would be extensive.
Feedback from Area PPG Meeting: Mr Marsden reported back on this inaugural meeting. Very few people attended, there wasno structure to the meeting, no agenda, and the meeting, in his opinion, was only a platform for people to voice their complaints. A further meeting was organised, with at the very least an agenda, and Mr Marsden asked if any of the group would be interested in attending. Mrs Gardner expressed an interest.
Patient Survey:Farhana handed out details of a recent Patient Survey. This was a paper exercise with questionnaires being sent to patients of the surgery. 313 survey forms were mailed out, with 120 being returned a 38% completion rate. The survey showed results for the practice and also average local CCG percentage results compared with national results. If anyone wanted to view the survey in greater detail, a web-site was included for further information.
Any other business:
Dr Ashworth put forward the suggestion of ‘how to get the best from your GP’. This could be training to help GP’s to identify a patient’s concern which may not be the first problem the patient came to the doctor with. He also felt that perhaps it would be useful to run special ‘clinics’, perhaps for new mums soon after birth to help them to know when their baby needed to visit a GP – babies don’t come with an instruction manual! The group felt that this approach would be a useful addition to the services that the practice offered.
Before the meeting ended, Mrs Gardner gave positive feedback to Farhana, saying that since her appointment, the atmosphere in the waiting area was much more relaxed and calming. This applied to both Barrowford and the Yarnspinners. Farhana thanked her for her comments.
There being no further business, the meeting was closed, and the next meeting would be Wednesday 7th September. Both Mr Lawman and Mrs Morton apologised in advance for their absence. The date for the meeting in December would be decided later.