Meeting of PPG North LevertonSurgery was held on 14th March 2018 August 2017
Attendee’s
Doctor Brownson, Practice Manager Allison Ellis
Acting Chair, Brian Marchant, Jennie Ferguson, Jill Cowley, Hilary Bennett, Christine Pendletbury, Sheena Waller, Ian Zejma
Apologies
Richard Wilcock
Agenda
- Apologies for absence
- Minutes of meeting of 17 September - attached
- Group Terms of reference - attached
- Car Parking
- Delays in getting a routine appointment
- Missed appointments
- Prostate Cancer Early detection programme
- Drug errors
- Drug reviews at the surgery
- Staff / staff training
- Communications and publicity
- Future organization of PPG
- Frequency of meetings
- Chair and Secretary
- Date of next meeting
Minutes
Group Terms of Reference
Brian proposes we don’t discuss this, if anyone wishes to view this document it is on the website
Drug Errors
Jill Cowley - This is a national issue and thought we should include in the agenda
Julie -Here at North Leverton practice we have in place a robust electronic system bar code device which we have been using for around seven years which simply means there is no room for error. It is very rare we have a problem. We always discuss at practice meetings, so we don’t really have any issue’s here due to a strict procedure system. Any near misses in the system are identified and rectified.
Dr Brownson – “We were one of the first practices to pilot this system in fact we have become a training base for other users to learn, so we are very experienced”
Jill Cowley asked Has this system reduced errors?
Juliereplies :”No because this system is robust”
The Practice
The Practice Manager Allison Ellis would like to add this item in as an extra and include in the meeting notes
“We have recently lost two of our full-timedispensers but would like to thank our patients for being patient with us, we are recruiting two replacements for these roles, one will be starting in March and one in April”.
Jill Cowley would like to mention that she has personally experienced some impatient patients and would like to say we need support in this period from everyone
Car Parking
Allison commented that patients parking on the kerb outside of the practice is causing an obstruction and a danger to other cars and pedestrians. We have previously discussed the option of parking outside of the school(bottom gates), this we understand is an area which the school does not use, on a previous occasion when we approached the school about this they declined the request, on reflection we decided that we may decide to approach the school again.
Brian offered to take this up again with the school.
Maybe we could refer this to the parish council for extra support.
It was also discussed that we could talk to the pub landlord and ask if we could use their car park.
Christine agreed to call the pub and discuss this option.
Routine/ Missed appointments
Brian comments that in his experience there are delays in obtaining a routine appointment from the practice, sometimes he has waited for up to a month for a routine appointment.
Dr Brownson
Each day we save a certain number of appointments for emergencies. We alsoallocate appointments for same day ‘urgent’ appointments, we also keep save some appointments for patients that need to be seen within 48 hours. We have had a problem since January due to staff holidays and with our nurse practitioner not being here, but the situation is improving, we are looking for another nurse practitioner and will hopefully be recruiting very soon.
For any cancellations, the staff work tirelessly to fill those appointments, we rarely waste any appointments.
Sheena asks “Have the patient numbers increased”
Dr Brownson: We haven’t got as many patients as we have had in the past, but we do constantly watch and monitor the n umbers, patients are nowadays seen on more of a regular basis due to increased awareness of medical conditions the practice’s Unique selling point is we are a small and personable practice
Christinesuggests – “Could weinvestigate sending text messages to remind people of their appointments”?
Practice manager Allison replies “Yes but we would have to rely on patients updating their contact details also we have the GDPR regulations to consider.
Brian asks Could it be outsourced?
Dr Brownson – This is currently not a priority, we don’t tend to miss them so not looking at it right now.
DNA – Did not attend for their appointments – Allison said that although we don’t currently have a large amount of patients who don’t attend, however if this is a problem in the future, offenders would be written to and given 3 warnings and if necessary removed from the practice.
Prostate cancer
Brian asks “What process does the surgery have on the early detection of Prostate cancer.
Dr Brownson, “We have nothing specific as this is not something the practice can investigate, it is governed by NHS England, there is currently no effective screening programme. As a practice we are happy to discuss prostate blood testing (PSA)if the patient doesunderstand what is involved. This is not done routinely on anyone over 55 (as recommended by NICE)
Drug reviews at the surgery
With regards to repeat prescriptionswe are not replacing DRUM (drug review medication) – the dispensers must be involved, a form iscompleted, the nurse puts thison the computer, andthenurse then asks questions and reviews the document.
Staff Training
Jill Cowley asks “what is the policy for staff training and who is responsible”
She has noticed for a small surgery suddenly a lot of people are leaving, why is this?
Dr Brownson – there is a lot of pressure felt by everyone,we recruited two new nurses due to retirements but lost two dispensers – one on long term sick, the other one obtained a full time post. – A Receptionist has retired. We are going to recruit again in April for another receptionist.
Jill Cowleyasks “who is accountable for training your staff”–
Dr Brownson – “we are responsible for training staff, CCG Bassetlaw – once a month manage training, national board governance for clinical staff. Non clinical staff are trained in house using an online training board.
Communications and publicity
Hilary – The Retford life magazine are happy to include for free, she will investigate.
As a group we decided we would bring some thoughts to the next meeting
Maybe investigate an annual newsletter to be looked at by the group. Allison said she was happy for the patients to devise this with some input from the practice.
Brian asked if we are all in agreement to meet on a quarterly basis
The group agreed in favour
Brian agreed to chair the group if he is supporting by the attending members and their continued support.
Jennie F agreed to stand as secretary
Next Meeting
Date for next meeting is Wednesday 13th June 2018
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