Hurley Patient Participation Group Steering Committee

Minutes of the meeting held

Wednesday 11 February 2015 at 10.00 am

in the Hurley Clinic Conference Room

  1. Present: Dilys, Priscilla, Christine, Kemi, Pam, Dr Lucy Brook Apologies: Michael Gainsborough
  1. Minutes of the meeting of 6 November 2014 – agreed
  1. Hurley Clinic developments –
  2. Dr Shakir left as a salaried GP but continues periodically as a locum.
  3. Dr O Flynn is taking a 6 month sabbatical from March. Will have a advert for GPs for the group.
  4. Tannoy – Pam has got a quote for screens. Still to confirm what is happening. Will involve PPG in choice process. The PPG feel the sooner this is changed the better.
  5. Winter pressures noted. Pam reported on the winter appointments being offered by Binfield Road on Saturdays.
  6. Current level of locum sessions unfilled has had a major impact. We are currently 10 sessions down. Note that there are national concerns about the shortage.
  7. New part time nurse started in January called Anne Marie Mills.
  1. Friends and Family response for Jan – 21 responses. Comment from members that this may not be representative and felt that the FFT wasn’t a very robust method of gathering opinion. The system is yet to show what it can do. The previous survey captured a wider portion of the population. Agreed FFT to be reviewed at 6mth interval so there is more data.
  1. 2014/15 DES – action plan improvement areas discussed by the group. Agreed as follows:
  1. Look at ways of ensuring continuity of care – multiple assigned GPs where appropriate
  2. Improved telephone access
  3. Improving wait times by providing more appointments
  4. Support and training for reception staff
  1. Follow-up to the AGM on 29 November 2014 – PPG asked if there has been any follow up to some of the complaints made at the PPG. One related to an emergency telephone triage request, and one regarding an appointment that she could not obtain and discovery of a possible cancer diagnosis. A couple of administration complaints reported to Pam, were followed up and resolved. Group suggested whether a general follow up meeting. Dr Brook indicated that a follow meeting at this point may only reflect all the issues we are currently trying to deal. Keen to ensure that staff morale is preserved. Agreed to review this at the next steering group meeting.
  1. Representation of patient population on PPG – Pam reported that one male patient has expressed and interest to join. Note CQC initial criticism about the group being representative of the patient population. Agreed Pam to provide the demographic profile of the practice patient ethnicity.
  1. Other future activities for the PPG including Warm and Well in Winter events (see note below). Noted Warm and Well event on 5th Feb, there was a mix up with the booking at the Durning, and in the end this took place in the pub opposite. Age UK, South London Carers were some of the organisations representative. Age UK have a database of all the facilities and services that can be provided. Agreed Christine to contact Age UK for any current leaflets. Pam to ask Cleo to liaise with Christine. Dr Brook indicated that events on respiratory and other chronic illnesses would be useful, also one on weight management/nutrition. PPG could organise a healthy eating event in the waiting area – done previously where fresh fruit/veg can be handed out. Other events proposed were ones for patients with learning difficulties and their carers. Sexual health and Mental health – need to be clear on what we want to say.
  1. Agreed to aim at Respiratory diseases after Nurse AP prescribing training in the summer.
  1. Agreed healthy eating event in April, but also have a range of leaflets on sexual health, self-referral system for counselling, mental health, carers and learning difficulties – so the event serves as an awareness event. Agreed event to be held 10-1pm Wednesday 15th April 2015 in the waiting area.
  1. PAM to send out another letter and text for the warm and well event on 12th March 2015
  1. PPG Network – Priscilla attended the steering committee meeting yesterday. They have appointed someone to do the strategic network throughout the borough. PPG network meeting being held 17th Feb at 336 Brixton Road. Agreed Kemi, Priscilla, and Christine will be attending.
  1. PPG network reps – Kemi suggested we should have a structured way of deciding on who should attend network meetings as a representative. Priscilla indicated that the network has previously been quite loose, but quite recently is becoming more structured and the requirement that the PPG chair attends. Priscilla is now one of two North locality reps on the network steering group. The PPG network meetings have now requested up to 3 PPG members can attend.
  1. Date of next meeting: 16/4/2015 10 am to 12noon – Conference Room Hurley Clinic

Agenda notes

  1. Agenda item 1: minutes of meeting on 6 November 2014 and matters arising. Lucy Dogely-Darani did not manage to do the minutes before she left the Hurley Clinic but she has given Priscilla her notes; the results are attached.
  2. Agenda item 3: DES 2014/15 . Under the rules for payment of money for working with patients, the practice has to agree an action plan with the PPG following the patients' survey last year. Pam Elliiott has provided the information below that we need to discuss.

Area / Action taken so far
Develop a structure that gains the views of patients and enables the practice to obtain feedback from the practice population / September 2014 Patient survey/AGM
Agree areas of priority with the patient reference group (PRG) / Retained the areas of priority from 2013 in our patient survey
Collate patient views through the use of a survey / Completed by PPG members
Provide PRG with opportunity to discuss survey findings and reach agreement with the PRG on changes to services / Done – and will review outcome of AGM
Agree action plan with the PRG and seek PRG agreement to implementing changes / •Look at ways of ensuring continuity of care – multiple assigned GPs where appropriate
•Improved telephone access
•Improving wait times by providing more appointments
. Support and training for reception staff
Publicise actions to be taken and subsequent achievement
  1. Agenda item 4: AGM on 20 November 2014. There are unfortunately no notes or other record of the meeting. It was quite well attended (around 50 patients were there) and text notification is clearly an effective way of publicising events of that kind. However, we need to make sure that patients are told the time when the proceedings are planned to start as there were complaints about having to wait after the notified time. On the whole, there appeared to be fewer signs of strongly-felt discontent than the previous year but there were still concerns about waiting times for appointments, continuity of care, difficulties over repeat prescriptions and treatment by reception staff. In response to Dr Ashworth's report on recent developments at the Hurley, two patients recounted their experiences of how reception staff had reacted quite inappropriately to their problems, with very unfortunate consequences. Dr Ashworth undertook to follow up both cases. Patients were also urged to make formal complaints of that kind in writing as that was the only way in which follow-up could be done. We need to discuss how we keep up the initiative with those who attend. Meetings with practice doctors are clearly popular and it might be a good idea to have a mid-year meeting in March/April.
  2. Agenda item 5: future activities. After the last committee meeting, we applied successfully for funding for two Keeping Warm and Well in Winter events. The first was held on 5 February and attended by around 40 people. A mix-up with the Durning library booking meant that we had to adjourn to the upstairs room at the Dog House pub opposite which was not ideal as the stairs cause difficulties for some and there was not a lot of space, but at least it was available (and the Durning staff have apologised for the muddle). The second will be held on 12 March and the Durning booking will be checked. The meetings are clearly appreciated, particularly the availability of advice about benefits matters. We have still not held an event for asthmatics and other patients with bronchial problems and need to consider the timing of that. We have also previously agreed that there should be a mental health event and possibly one on sexual health. If those are to go ahead, dates will have to be agreed and the relevant staff (and patients) alerted in good time. There are other possibilities such as healthy eating events which can be held in the waiting area, although that will be more difficult with the new layout.
  3. Agenda item 6: PPG Network. Since 1 January 2015, the Network has a full-time development officer, Wai Ha Lam, who is seconded from Healthwatch and was previously providing administrative support for a day a week. New co-chairs (Catherine McLoughlin and Sandra Jones, both experienced former NHS staff and voluntary sector people) and co-vice-chairs were elected on 2 December and a steering committee, on which Priscilla is one of two representatives of the North Locality, has been appointed. Healthwatch and the CCG have agreed arrangements for managing the promised funding of £60,000 to support the PPG Network in 2014-15 and pay for its future staffing. The Steering Committee is meeting monthly and a lot of work is going into the establishment of Locality Sub-Networks to mirror the CCG's Locality Boards and to encouraging the formation of PPGs in practices that do not yet have them. There is still a long way to go but the co-chairs and vice-chairs are all very effective and there are signs that real progress is at last being achieved.

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