MEETING OF THE LEEDS ROAD PRACTICE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
Thursday 14 September 2017
1830 hrs in Meeting Room
Leeds Road Practice
Attendees: Malcolm Wailes (Chairman) - MW
Andrew King – (Managing Partner LRP) – AK
Anne Olesqui-Meadus – AOM
Freda Burrell – FB
Brenda Sutcliffe - BS
Patricia Bickerton (minutes)| – PB
Apologies: Helen McDonald – HM
Amanda Lee – AL
Jennifer Stacey-JS
Resignation had been received from Tracey Donkin
1. WELCOME
A special welcome was extended to Joanne Crewe, Director of Quality and Governance/Executive Nurse, HARD CCG.
2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
No matters arising.
3. PRACTICE UP-DATE (AK)
No changes in staffing.
Phlebotomy (Blood Clinic) would operate on a drop-in basis 8 am to 10.30 am as from 2 October.
A draft leaflet had been prepared about primary care, setting out the national and the local picture and pointing out why it was sometimes difficult to get appointments and how patients could help to alleviate pressure on the services. A leaflet from ‘Which’ entitled ’10 Ways to get the best from your GP’, contained helpful information (copy at end of minutes).
When asked about access to records, AK said permission had to be applied for; there was a tab on the website marked ‘Online Services – SystmOnline’ with a link for advice and guidance.
The surgery had an Advanced Practice Nurse whose job is to look at medication to see if still appropriate. There are appointments every Thursday p.m. to check hypertension where necessary, and cardiovascular disease reviews.
New furniture and decoration was being done in October so there would be some disruption.
A short survey was being conducted for two weeks to ascertain how patients are getting to the Practice and the reason for their visit.
Flu jabs being run on Saturdays 7,14 and 21 October, this time offering Quadrivalent vaccine that protects against the two main A strains and the two main B strains – most pharmacies only offering the Trivalent vaccine, which gives up to 25% less protection. ECG screening being offered at the same time (takes only 30 seconds and can show up heart beat irregularities [atrial-fibrillation])). Nurses and Health Care Assistants are doing ECG screening routinely in some cases, and a large percentage of strokes can be prevented by this early detection method.
4. AREA REPRESENTATIVE REPORT – SPOFFORTH (AA)
There was nothing to report.
AK looking at drop-off points for medication and a meeting was being arranged with the local shop, which had now changed hands. ACTION:AK
5. PATIENT FEEDBACK SESSIONS (MW)
MW said everyone he’d spoken to had been happy with the Practice. Spofforth patients found it difficult to get appointments and sometimes found that patients who didn’t live in Spofforth had booked free slots. AK said that patients were entitled to book appointments in any of the satellite surgeries attached to the Practice. One patient wondered if a graph showing his previous PSA results would be possible. AK said it was possible to purchase software for this.
AOM said that patients would like their medication to cover three months instead of the 28 days being prescribed at present. AK was looking into certain long-term medications being prescribed for a longer period. ACTION: AK
MW asked that PPG members who had offered to do feedback sessions could let him know in good time if they weren’t able to do the sessions allocated as it was difficult to find replacements at short notice.
Sessions
FB - October (a.m. or pm.)
HM- November
BS - December
6/7 FAMILY AND FRIENDS UP-DATE and PATIENT AWARENESS WEEK
21 June 2017 was National Patient Awareness Week
Family and Friends Week tried to find out what interest there would be in various topics (early diagnosis of dementia, stress, stroke awareness, mobility and arthritis, mental health etc) and asking for patients’ experience of their visit to the surgery on that day only. Further survey being undertaken at the Flu Clinics in October.
MW said the NHS Choices results didn’t give a true reflection of patients’ experience. The fact that the information was not current and therefore it was not of great use was commented upon.
8 JOANNE CREWE, DIRECTOR OF QUALITY AND GOVERNANCE/EXECUTIVE NURSE, HARD CCG.
JC said she was glad to have been invited to the PPG meeting. She said her background was in nursing, but that she had had various jobs with the Trust and had worked in commissioning.
The most important part of her present job was contact with the patient and working with the Patient Advocate Group (PAG) to gather information about patients’ experience. There was a meeting last week of the PAG to discuss what the group could achieve working in conjunction with Patient Participation Groups (PPG). It had been agreed that regular meetings should be arranged to keep the PPG informed about the intentions of the CCG and changes that had to be made, especially in the light of increasing demands and workload both nationally and locally. There were difficult decisions to be taken, e.g. follow-up appointments (a referral to hospital for an operation costs £143 and £80 for a follow-up). Some follow-up appointments were necessary, but many were not and the number of follow-ups requested by surgeons varied, both in primary and secondary care, causing unnecessary expenditure of time and money; AK made the point that the hospital could work with a deficit, whereas GP surgeries could not. Weekly meetings with the CCG were to take place to look at how primary care could be improved, and the PPG needed to be a part of the decisions made.
9 FUTURE PATIENT EVENTS (MW)
AOM said she would run the events. ACTION: AOM
AK said he would contact all patients with e-mail addresses asking them what subjects they would like any speakers to cover and approach people who may be willing to speak on various subjects of health, though decisions as to subjects and venues had to be made collectively by the PPG. He would also contact people who might be willing to speak/hold a patient evening (eg ‘Dementia Forward’) ACTION: AK & PPG
St Mark’s church hall and Pannal Village Hall were suggested as venues, though it was agreed that Spofforth was perhaps too far out.
10 EXTENDED ACCESS (AK)
Yorkshire Health Network comprising 17 GP practices in the area was running a survey to glean the desire and demand for extended primary care services for people who had a need outside of the core working hours or found it difficult to attend appointments. Appointments could be offered at venues other than the patient’s own practice. A pilot would run until 2019 and could include a ‘virtual hub’, such as Skype, Facetime and on-line access, but safety and training in this instance needed to be secure. Some GPs have offered to do the necessary shifts, though their own childcare arrangements precluded this in some cases.
11 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Homeless patients were mentioned and discussed in regards to how do we mange them. AK said there were 4-5 homeless patients with correspondence being sent to the Refuge in town but we registered as this address.
Mental health was discussed as this was becoming a bigger part of primary care, and early intervention was proven to provide a successful outcome. There was to be a CCG public consultation on mental health including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) as well as a public consultation on items which could potentially be removed from prescribing, such as gluten free products and travel vaccinations.
The ambulance service was discussed. AK said that frequent callers were followed up with a visit by a clinician as it was possible some ambulance journeys were unnecessary.
AOM mentioned the 111 service and the number of questions a caller had to field. JC said there were now new specifications, which would change things.
Thanks were extended to Joanne Crewe for her input.
12 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
An afternoon session suggested by AK was received favourably as it might be more convenient to some members of the PPG.
FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER 2017. 2 p.m. Leeds Road Practice
Abbreviations
HARD/CCG (Harrogate and Rural District/Clinical Commissioning Group). CCG is the NHS organisation that commissions (or buys) local health services for the residents of the area.
GPC. General Practitioners Committee (BMA)
PMS. Primary Medical Services
GMS. General Medical Services
CQC. Care Quality Commission who inspect and audit all aspects of health and social care services in England.
ANP. Advanced |Nurse Practitioner
LGI. Leeds General Infirmary
DBS – Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB – Criminal records check)
HDFT – Harrogate and District Foundation Trust
HS – Child and Mental Health Service