MANDEVILLE PRACTICE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

INTERIM STEERING GROUP

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13th JULY 2010

Present:

Jack Leach – ChairmanRichard Bagust – New Member

Mary Lawrence – SecretaryLiz Sutton – New Member

Joan Thorley Dr Gillian Beck – Practice GP/PartnerSabina Hunt Denise Skidmore - Practice Management

1Apologies

Apologies were received from: Bill Russell, Monila Kulkarni, Christine Dudeney,

Dr Suddes and Dr Smith. David Ralph (arriving late because of Council duties)

2Chairman’s Opening Remarks

Jack Leach introduced and welcomed Liz Sutton and Richard Bagust to the PPG committee members. We were all asked to introduce ourselves to them. He also commented that we should not lose sight of the fact that we are a steering group.

3Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting on Monday 14th June 2010 were agreed as a correct record, except for two slight changes under Matters Arising, one in (4a) Comments: The Chairman and the other in (4b) Patient Survey, which have been amended.

4Matters Arising From Previous Minutes

None

5Patient Survey – The Practice Response - Dr Beck

Elmhurst:

Firstly, updated information was given regarding the temporary closure of the Elmhurst Health Centre from Monday 19th July 2010. This is due to necessary building work needing to be carried out till September. Flyers have already been printed and are available for patients to pick up from the Reception Desks. Dr Beck outlined that originally Elmhurst was due to close in December 2006, as it was deemed unfit for purpose and refurbishment to an acceptable standard would have cost in excess of £750,000. Consequently it wasdecided to use it temporarily as a Health Centre. It is intended that the building will be eventually vacated by the Practice and that the PCT (Primary Care Trust) will find an alternative use for the building and become responsiblefor its upkeep.

Patients:

Several patients have returned to the Mandeville Practice, despite the distance involved in travelling from the Elmhurst area.

Services:

Denise is in the process of examining different quotes for the supply and installation of both drinking water and sanitizer dispensers in the Mandeville waiting room for patients’ use.

Reception Desk:

The Practice recognises that the reception desk is now inadequate for current usage .A refurbishment has been considered and a five figure amount has been quoted. This is too expensive and cannot be justified.

84 Patients:

Jack wants to invitethe 84 patients who expressed an interest for further information on membership of the PPG to attend an Open Evening., to help raise awareness and explain the role of the PPG. However, he feels that we need to know ourselves what our objectives are before extending the invitation.

Committee Structure:

Jack sees the executive committee having no more than 15 members, which includes the Chairman and Secretary. We could then see who would be interested in doing what, how best to develop the Practice’s needs; helping its patients being our prime concern. This could be achieved by meeting with relevant members to discuss their needs.

6Our Objectives – A Discussion to formulate what we consider to be our role and to structure a plan on how to achieve our aims.

David Ralph’s Proposed Objectives:

These were distributed and looked at. An active discussion took place outlining how the 84 interested patients could contribute towards maintaining our core objectives, which will not be written in stone but be seen as flexible to accommodate the changing needs of patients.

Information on PPG:

Jack read information from a British Medical Association document on how best to formulate a PPG. Liz suggested that the need to “break down the them and us mind set” was a good objective. It was felt that expressing good complaints in a non complaint environment would be a constructive element.

Communication Routes:

It was agreed that not everyone used the Mandeville website and it was felt that there needed to be various other forms of communication available, so that as many patients as possible would be informed and updated on current Practice news, e.g. the PPG’s objectives.

Wendover PPG:

Denise mentioned Wendover’s successful PPG. She pays £12 each year towards the PPG fund. They provide a PPG presence each day at the surgery. Mary suggested this was an essential route to achieve becoming closer to Mandeville’s patients and be recognised as their group. Liz suggested that Jack meet with Wendover’s Chairman and it was suggested also that Meadowcroft be approached. Richard added that we might as well use other local PPG’s objectives that were clearly working already, rather than try to formulate our own.

First Objective:

It was agreed that our first primary objective was to

“Provide a two-way communication system between the patients and the Practice”.

Mary felt we should just have 5 objectives, rather than trying to come up with a page full of them, which Jack confirmed reading from the National PPG guidelines. Mary added that it was essential to keep our objectives simple, to the point and “jargon free”, so that the patients could understand them.

7Any Other Business

Open Evening with 84 Patients:

Joan raised concerns about what would be done, in the meantime, regarding the 84 patients. There were fears mentioned that if we did not communicate soon, they would lose interest. It was agreed to have our objectives in place in September’s meeting and then extend an invitation to the 84 patients for an Open Evening in early October. A concern arose regarding them using this event as a complaints forum. Sabina mentioned her positive experiences with a lot of these patients during the survey and their positive interest towards the group.

Communicating With 84 Patients:

It was agreed that those who wrote their email or home address would be written to by Jack. The others would be written to by the Practice, thereby maintaining confidentiality. This would be achieved after September’s planned meeting.

Updated Practice Information:

Dr Beck informed the group that she had received the Quality and Framework Report. Mandeville was mentioned as the only surgery in Bucks to achieve 100% The Practice is currently developing a Repeats Dispensing for patients and service developments are proceeding. She was hopeful that by the time of the next meeting she would have received the Government’s new White Paper on the NHS and had an opportunity to absorb its contents.

8Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 14th September 2010 at 7pm at the Mandeville Practice.

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