Halcyon Medical
Patient Participation Report 2013/14
Produced for the Patient Participation Directed Enhanced Service(DES) 1st April 2013 to 31st March 2014
Introduction
The purpose of the Patient Participation Directed Enhanced Service (DES) commissioned by NHS England is to ensure that patients are involved in decisions about the range and quality of services provided and, over time commissioned by their Practice. It aims to encourage and reward Practices for routinely asking for and acting on the views of their patients. This includes patients being involved in decisions that lead to changes to the services their practice provides or commissions, either directly or in its capacity as a gatekeeper to other services. The DES aims to promote the pro-active engagement of patients through the use of effective Patient Reference Groups (commonly referred to as PRGs) to seek the views from Practice patients through the use of a local practice survey. The outcomes of the engagement and the views of patients are then required to be published as a Report on the Practice website.
This Report summarises development and outcomes ofHalcyon Medical patient involvement in 2013/14and describesthe steps the Practice has followed to ensure patient involvement and feedback:
Step 1. Developing a structure that reflects and gains views from registered patients to obtain feedback from a cross section of the practice population.
Step 2. Jointly agree with the Patient Participation Group (PPG) the areas of priority to be covered by the local Practice survey.
The method the Practice adopted to seek the views of the PRG in determining the priority areas for the Practice to look at to include in a local annual Practice survey.
Step 3. Practice to undertake a local Practice survey on an annual basis
A description of the local practice survey and how it was carried out, as well as details of the survey results.
Step 4. Discussing survey findings and reach agreement with the PPG on changes to services.
Details of how the Practice consulted with the PPG.
Step 5. Agree an action plan and planned changes with the PPG
Details of the agreed action plan setting out the proposals arising out of the local practice surveyresults and how they can be implemented Details of any issues that arose in the survey that cannot be addressed in the action plan and the reasons why.
Step 6. Publishing the actions taken and achievement.
Details of where this Report has been published and also details of the Practice’s opening hours and how patients can access services
Step 1. Develop a structure that reflects and gains views from registered patients to obtain feedback from a cross section of the Practice population
Recruiting to the Patient Participation Group (PPG)
The Practice has actively promoted both the on-site PPG and the Virtual Patient Participation Group (vPPG) by the following means
- Emailing patients (see Appendix 1)
Posters in the waiting area and handouts (see Appendix 2)
- Information on the Practice website (
The PPG tries to meet every 3 months, however this year our attendance at meetings has been affected by illness. It is the view of the Practice however, that true representative engagement will best be gained by the Virtual Patient Participation Group (vPPG). Our current PPG membership is not representative of our Practice population. Our current membership reflects the type of patients who have a certain level of confidence and flexibility about working patterns. The Practice is actively promoting the Patient Participation Group to extend membership and hope to be able to recruit more members.
Since 2008, the Practice has engaged regularly with the PPG (Patient Participation Group), a core group of individual patient volunteers. The PPG meetings have produced valuable information that the Practice has used to improve services (e.g. expansion of opening hours). But as stated above, the vest results we believe are to be gained via the vPPG.
Halcyon Medical’s methodology for involving patients has continued to evolve with the implementation of our Virtual Patient Participation Group (vPPG)in 2011. This is actively promoted to our patients via email campaigns, posters in the waiting room, messages on the right hand side of prescriptions and handouts at reception (See Appendix 2). All new patients are also given a handout with details of the vPPG as part of the new patient registration pack.
We have periodically refreshed the promotion of the vPPG to motivate more patients to contribute. Wherever a patient has reason to comment on any of the services provided by the Practice, all our staffare trained to pro-actively encourage any feedback via our website, paper survey or by contacting the Practice Business Manager.
All replies/comments are gathered and this is used to inform the Practice team as well as the quarterly onsite PPG group. This information is very useful to drive out patient priorities and issues and confirms to patients that they have a voice and that voice has been heard.
In March 2013 we emailed 5790 patients to ask for their ongoing engagement.
The Practice continually tries to engage with patients. Patients submitting complaints to the Practice will also be invited to join the PPG and the Practice will be looking into initiatives that will increase member numbers and higher attendance rates such as holding evening or weekend meetings.
As of March 2014 we have6patients in the group (this we hope will continue to increase with continued campaigning) with the breakdown below. Wecontinue to promote the benefits and ease of participation to our patients as described above under our continual improvement ethos. We look to turn any valid complaints into constructive discussion points that can be addressed via the survey action plan and welcome those who have taken the time out to offer this feedback to join the PPG.
Gender / 35+ / 40+ / 45+ / 65+Male / 2
Female / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
A breakdown of the demographic profile of the practice’s patients has been supplied (see Appendix 3) and a specific outbound Email campaign targeting the under 35’s has been undertaken to improve the breadth of representation within the PPG, however results have proved the reluctance of students and younger adults serviced by the Practice to engage in this type of activity. In order to try to address this, the Practice will work closely with Student Support services for both Aston University and University College Birmingham in order to promote the PPG and vPPG to the Student body and encourage feedback.
Step 2. Jointly agree with the PPG the areas of priority to be covered by the local Practice survey.
As part of step 2 of the DES the Practice is required to agree the areas of priority to be covered in a local Practice Survey, taking into consideration:
- Patients priorities and issues
- Practice priorities and issues including themes from complaints
- Planned Practice changes
- Care Quality Commission related issues
- National GP Patient Survey issues
The PPG met in March 2013. Unfortunately turnout was extremely low, but it was agreed to extend the survey undertaken in January 2013 and use the results as a comparison to see if patient satisfaction with the service had improved since the results of the last survey were published (see Appendix 4 and Appendix 5).
Step 3. Practice to undertake a local Practice survey on an annual basis
Collate patient views through the use of a survey
As part of component 3 of the DES the Practice must undertake a local Practice survey at least once a year. The number of questions asked in the local Practice survey will be a matter for the Practice and the PPG to agree. The questions are based on the priorities identified by the PPG and the Practice.
Initially a small group of patients were randomly selected from the total PPG and emailed requesting their participation in creation of the first survey. Once we had the responses we used this in conjunction with previously identified patient priorities to form a discussion with a group of practice staff to construct the format.
The results of the latest patient survey undertaken between October and December 2013 are attached (see Appendix 4) together with the results of the survey undertaken in January 2013 (see Appendix 5) and will be uploaded to the website for all patients to see as well as being displayed on the practice notice-board.
The Practice is pleased to report that on comparison of the 2 surveys, there has been an overall increase in patient satisfaction across all priority areas covered in the survey.
Step 4. Discuss survey findings and reach agreement with the Patient Participation Group on changes to services
As part of component 4 of the DES the Practice is required to provide the PPG with the opportunity to comment and discuss findings of the local practice survey and reach agreement with the PPG of changes in provision and manner of delivery of services. A copy of the results of the local patient survey undertaken between October and December 2013 were forwarded, together with the results of the local patient survey undertaken in January 2013 to the members of the PPG for comment.
All patients have access to the results of our survey on our website and results have been displayed on the practicenotice-board.
Step 5. Agree an action plan and planned changes with the PPG
As part of component 5 of the DES the Practice is required to agree with the PPG an action plan setting out the priorities and proposals arising out of the local patient survey. They are also required to seek agreement from the PPG to implement any changes and where necessary inform the Area Team.
The Practice agreed with the PPG to conduct approximately 3 surveys a year. The group will be responsible for identifying the topic and any changes to the surveys. The results of each survey will be available for all patients to view via the surgery website and a hard copy will be displayed on the Practice notice-board.
The results of each survey will be used to drive out priorities, risks and issues and form discussions within the Practice team to consider services provided and other outcomes identified by the results.
The group has been forwarded the results of the last 2 surveys asking for any feedback or comments on the results. The results of the most recent survey are now available on the Practice website and Practice notice-board (see Appendix 4).
As part of the ongoing action plan, the Practice will:
- Actively market the Patient Participation Group and Virtual Patient Participation Group withinits new patient registration packs and website.
- Improved Customer Service: We endeavour to improve customer service; meeting regularly with staff members to discuss feedback from patients and implement training/re-training where necessary.
- Telephone Access and Systems: The telephone system has been completely upgraded, with the introduction of an 0121 number and the majority of technical issues have been resolved, although we are keen to hear from patients who continue to experience difficulties. The Practice will be looking into call recording and callmonitoring to improve telephone access and customer service.
Step 6. Publiciseactions taken and achievement
Publicise actions taken and subsequent achievement
As part of component 6 of the DES the Practice is required to publicise the Local Patient Participation Report on the Practice website and update the report on subsequent achievement.
The Practice will publicise the report as extensively as possible and ensure it appears on the Practice website by no later 31/03/2014 and is available on
The local patient survey has been distributed to members of the PPG and has been published on the Pratice website The results have also been displayed on the Practice notice-board.
Issues raised from previous surveys were addressed with the relevant GPs and Practice staff for lessons learnt. Further, practical actions were taken by the Practice Manager, Clinical staff and Administrative staff, not simply to mitigate risk and improve the findings of future questionnaires but also to build in continual and sustainable service improvement for patients.
Providing more flexibility for patients in booking of appointments, including introduction of on line booking and expanding opening hours are examples of how the Practice has responded to patients requirements for change.
Patients can access services through core hours, which are:
Monday 08.30 – 19.00
Tuesday 08.30 – 18.00
Wednesday 08.30 – 18.00
Thursday 08.30 – 19.00
Friday 08.30 – 18.00
Saturday 10.00 – 14.00
Sunday 11.00 – 14.00
Telephone Number 0121 411 0363
The practice offers extended hours on Monday evenings until 19.00 with appointments available with a GP and Practice Nurse and Thursday evenings until 19.00 with appointments available with a GP until 19.00. The practice also offers extended hours at the weekend, being open on Saturdays between 10.00 and 14.00 and Sunday between 11.00 and 14.00 with appointments available again with a GP and Practice Nurse or Nurse Prescriber. The practice also operates an Open Clinic, Monday to Friday, between 08.30 and 11.00, where patients without a booked appointment but who need to be seen that day can access a GP.
The Practice would like to thank the members of our PPG for their ongoing support and to patients who took part in our survey.
We are actively seeking new members for our PPG. We aim to gather patients from as broad a spectrum as possible to get a truly representative sample. We need young people, workers, carers, retirees, people with long term conditions and people from non-British ethnic groups. The next meeting of our PPG will be:
Monday 28th April at 17.30
If you think you can give some time to help and support this group please contact Angela Hegan, Practice Business Manager, telephone 0121 411 0363 or email .
Virtual Patient Participation Group
If you prefer not to attend structured meetings but want to have your say why not log on to our Virtual Patient Participation Group (vPPG).
- The Virtual Group is a user-friendly way for you to share your views 24/7 and help us learn ways to improve our services.
- As a Halcyon Medical registered patient, you may access the Virtual Patient Participation Group whenever you wish…from your own desktop (see the link on our homepage).
- We will listen and respond promptly, making every reasonable effort to continue improving our services. If we cannot ‘fix’ some things, we will at least do our best to explain.
Appendix 1.
Outbound Email Campaign March 2013
Hello
As a patient of Halcyon Medical Centre, you are a valued member of our practice team! We are always interested in hearing what you think about our current services and whether or not you think they are meeting your needs. You are one voice, but by being more involved you can be part of making things better for other patients as well as yourself.
These are some ways you can be involved, and the choice is yours:
- You may ask to attend our onsite Patient Group meetings which meet four times yearly at the surgery (details will be provided on request).
- You may tell us at any time what you think by sending us a letter or by ringing up and asking for a return call from the Practice Manager.
- You may send an email at any time to , using ‘Patient Group’ as the subject line.
- You may join our NEW Virtual Patient Group from on our website:
The practice will publish on its website a sample of issues and comments received from patients.
Did you know that there is also a button on the homepage that allows you to complete a Patient Survey any time, at your convenience?
No matter how you choose to talk to us,we look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for participating!
Halcyon Medical Centre
Appendix 2
Get Involved Online!
Halcyon Medical hasa Virtual Patient Participation Group on our website…and we would like you to be a part of it!
“What’s it all about and how does it work”?
- The Virtual Group is a user-friendly way for you to share your views 24/7 and help us learn ways to improve our services.
- As a Halcyon Medical registered patient, you may access the Virtual Patient Participation Group whenever you wish…from your own desktop (see the link on our homepage).
- We will listen and respond promptly, making every reasonable effort to continue improving our services. If we cannot ‘fix’ some things, we will at least do our best to explain.
“What if I don’t have access to a computer”?
- Any patient may contact us by post, telephone or email at any time. If you want to have a chat in person, simply ask for a ‘feedback appointment’ with our Practice Manager.
“Are there other ways to be involved”?
- Yes! You may attend one of our quarterly on-site Patient Participation meetings (details available on request).
“What if I am not yet a registered patient”?
- You may pick up registration forms from our reception desk or print the forms from our website to turn in at reception.
Appendix 2 continued