Northdown Surgery
Patient Participation Group
Meeting Minutes for 13th January 2016
ATTENDEES:
SM (patient, Chairman), VB (patient), PB (patient), KL (patient), BS (patient), SA (patient), PR (patient), DJ (patient), JD (patient), HK (patient), DD (patient), AP (patient), TM (Admin), LB (Practice Manager), JG (GP)
Agenda Item: / Discussion: / Action Required: /Welcome / The meeting was held in a meeting room rather than the waiting room and was opened by SM who welcomed everybody to the meeting and copies of the Agenda were handed out.
Chairman had also provided cakes and the surgery provided drinks.
Apologies / LH (vice chairman)
MN (patient)
SW (patient)
RA (patient)
Matters arising from November 2015 minutes / Further Increase in number of PPG members due to promotion via waiting room display – membership had increased by a further 53 members – now a total membership of 864 patients.
Chairman’s Report / Appended to these minutes
Practice Managers Report / Appended to these minutes
Most Recent Meeting of Thanet CCG / · This is a meeting of all local surgery Patient Participation Group Chairmen.
· A talk by the Head of Medicines Management from Thanet CCG was given. While our Doctors prescribe medicines, it is the Thanet Care Commissioning Group that pays for them. There are 17 surgeries in Thanet, covering 143k people. The overall budget is £200 million, and of that £97million goes to East Kent Hospitals. The prescriptions budget is £26.4million. Each practice gets its own prescribing budget, the money is shared out according to a “weighted fair share” so the CCG looks at numbers and types of patients in each particular surgery and divides the money up accordingly. There are often overspends – so a campaign is being run to try to avoid wastage of medicines, and to encourage people to only collect what they need. There were stories of people leaving behind cupboards full of medicines when they died, because they had stopped taking them and not told the Doctor, so the prescriptions kept being renewed.
TM informed those patients who had medication ordered by pharmacies, that the pharmacies should be occasionally checking that they still want all the items on their repeat list (i.e. probably no need to order hay fever medication in winter).
Surgery Survey / Autumn survey results had been posted to the website and copies of the results and comments were printed out for attendees to view at the meeting.
The survey had overall produced similar results to that of the Autumn 2014 survey - there had been areas of improvement in some areas, but decline in other areas.
It was felt that the comments section needed more in depth discussion. The Chairman called for volunteers to attend a sub-group meeting to discuss queueing in particular and to outline actions/responses from the PPG members to feedback to the surgery. Four patients volunteered to attend this sub-group meeting (at 10.15am on 26th January 2016 at the surgery). Toni to provide copies of survey results for meeting.
It was felt that the survey needed further discussion and a full PPG meeting was scheduled for 6.30p.m. at Northdown Surgery on 26th January 2016. Notifications to be sent out via email and post to PPG members and notices to be placed on website and TV media screen within the surgery. / SM
TM
TM
Post of Secretary / 2 PPG members have volunteered to be the PPG Secretary. Chairman to discuss further details with volunteers and a vote would be held at our next meeting. / SM
Any Other Business / · Issues around queues outside the surgery in the mornings before opening
· Telephone response times were highlighted
It was felt by all present that these items along with discussions regarding the survey would be better discussed in the sub-group meeting as the comments from the recent survey were very similar and there was insufficient time to discuss in full.
Feedback from the attendees at the meeting was that the meeting location was much better than the waiting room as round table discussion was much easier. Future meetings to be held in the same place.
Date of Next Meeting / Tuesday, 26th January 2016 where drinks will be served – please let Reception know if you are attending this meeting so that correct numbers can be catered for.
The sub-group meeting to discuss queueing in particular took place at 10.15 on 26 January and following a useful discussion a paper was drafted and will be forwarded to the surgery
A further full PPG meeting was held on 26 January at 6.30 p.m. and minutes will be circulated separately
Chairman’s Report – 13th January 2016
Since the last meeting we have
· Received a newsletter from the National Association for Patient Participation. This is a voluntary UK wide network of similar groups, with over 1100 members. As we are a new group this is useful information that helps to alert us to what we could be thinking about. The latest newsletter had information on “How to get the best from your GP” which I will touch on later if we have time.
· Attended, together with the Vice-Chair a Meeting of the Thanet CCG Health Reference Group. This is a meeting of all local surgery Patient Participation Group Chairmen. The most interesting item on the Agenda was a talk by the Head of Medicines Management from Thanet CCG. I am only just beginning to understand a bit about how the NHS works, so it was interesting to hear that while our Doctors prescribe medicines, it is the Thanet Care Commissioning Group that pays for them. There are 17 surgeries in Thanet, covering 143k people. The overall budget is £200million, and of that £97million goes to East Kent Hospitals. The prescriptions budget is £26.4million. Each practice gets its own prescribing budget, the money is shared out according to a “weighted fair share” so the CCG looks at numbers and types of patients in each particular surgery and divides the money up accordingly. There are often overspends – so a campaign is being run to try to avoid wastage of medicines, and to encourage people to only collect what they need. There were stories of people leaving behind cupboards full of medicines when they died, because they had stopped taking them and not told the Doctor, so the prescriptions kept being renewed.
· There was also some publicity for activities being promoted by Ageless Thanet which is a Lottery funded charity providing activities for the over 50s – here are some flyers. Some surgeries are having coffee mornings, run by the PPG to try and get older or lonely people together – there had been a lot of publicity recently about the effect of loneliness on health.
Healthwatch - top suggestions for getting the most out of your GP.
Is your issue urgent? Do you need to see a specific GP?
Is it important you are seen quickly or would you rather wait for an appointment with a particular GP? If you have a long-term illness would you benefit from seeing a GP who knows your history personally?
Take notes to help you
Before you see your GP, be clear in your own mind what you want to say. Make a note of your symptoms, worries and any questions that you would like to ask.
Many problems? See if you can book a double appointment
If you have a number of issues that you would like to discuss with your GP, see whether it is possible to book a double appointment to give you more time to talk them through.
Take a list of your medicines – prescribed or otherwise
Bring a list of any medication you are taking, including over-the-counter and/or alternative medicines, or anything prescribed after a hospital visit. This includes tablets, liquids or creams. Your GP needs to know about everything you are taking.
Discuss important things first and stick to the point
Make sure you tell the doctor about the important things first and try to get to the point.Do not feel you have to justify being there or leave your main concern to the end.
Not clear on treatment plan? Ask again
Make sure you fully understand the next steps before you leave the room. If you don’t, then don’t be afraid of asking your GP to go through the plan again.
Ask who to contact if you have any more questions
You may think of questions that you would like to ask after your appointment. Find out who you can contact to ask questions, as well as any support groups that can provide reliable information.
If you need support, take a relative, carer or friend
If you feel your situation needs it, take a relative or friend for support. They can help you understand or explain.
Unhappy? Ask to see another GP
If you’re not happy, you can ask to see another GP in the practice.You can also change GP practices, but you should as a first step always discuss your concerns with a practice staff member first.
Could the practice nurse deal with your problem?
In many cases, a practice nurse could deal with your concern, so consider this as an alternative to making an appointment with a GP.The surgery may also run special clinics such as asthma and diabetes, so make sure you find out.
Practice Manager’s Report – 13th January 2015
STAFF
Leavers
None currently, although Paul Cornforth, one of our advanced nurse practitioners, will be leaving us in March to work nearer his home (in Ashford).
Dorothy Walke, our Phlebotomist, has decided to take retirement with immediate effect. We wish her all good wishes in her retirement.
New employees
Becky Adams – has been taken on as our new Healthcare Assistant
Change in Staff Tasks
Training is ongoing where members of the reception/admin team are taking on more tasks and learning each other’s roles, which will assist when there is sickness or annual leave.
CLINICS
GP – Dr Ryder is still coming in to ad-hoc clinics to assist – his hours are equivalent to a part-time salaried GP.
Flu clinics – several flu clinics have now been held, however we still have patients who have yet to have their flu vaccination and it is not too late – please ask at Reception to book an appointment.
Clinician on the Day clinics
These started week commencing 4th January 2016 so it is too early to give feedback as yet. 50 GP slots are available for this clinic on each day (25 a.m. and 25p.m). to allow for on the day booking with a GP. For the month of January, the amount of pre-bookable appointments, both at the surgery and online, have been reduced to allow us to manage how the Clinician on the Day surgeries affect our normal surgeries. Pre-bookable appointment numbers have been put back to normal capacity for February.
Availability of appointments as at 13.1.15 for rest of month:
Pre-bookable –2 pre-bookable appointments for 26th January 2016.
Urgent –
there are plenty of available appointments on each day at the Clinician on the Day clinics. There are also
Non-urgent –
Blood Tests – There are 4 blood test appointments free for today (12.1.16) , 4 blood test appointments free for Tuesday, 19th January 2016 and 15 blood test appointments for Wednesday, 20th January 2016.
Online Consultation Appointments – One appointment free for 18th January, 1 for 19th, 2 for 20th, 3 for 21st, 4 for 26th, 2 for 28th and 2 for 29th.
Online Blood Tests – there are two appointments for 29th January.
We are still trialing a new GP session which involves 1 GP each day being excluded from pre-bookable appointments.
OTHER NEWS
Patient Survey – This closed on December 14th. Some interesting learnings will be taken from the free comments sections and this will be discussed later in the meeting.
Signage – We have replaced our directional signage in the corridors and on clinicians doors so it should be easier to find which consulting room your clinician will be in that day.
Fund raising – We raised £20 for the Kent Blind Association with our Christmas card donation amongst the staff at the surgery.