Gosforth Memorial Medical Centre

Patient Forum Meeting

Tuesday 12th January 2016

Chair: Jean McCalman (PPG Member)

Lead GP: Dr Philip Taylor

Attendees:

Group Members:

Jean McCalman, Steve Wootten, Ian McCalman, Anita Davies, Christine Gibbons, Steve Wootten, Paul Roberts and David Elliott.

Practice Staff:

Paula Scullion (Practice Manager)

Kirsty Little (Practice Secretary)

Janet Dodd (Receptionist)

Apologies:

Lady Fiona Leslie

Adam Leslie

Barbara Harris

Lynda Mackenzie

Eric Wake

Introduction & Apologies
David Elliot was welcomed as a new member of the group and was introduced to everyone. Apologies as above.
Previous Minutes
Paula discussed the format of the minutes. Jean had created a meeting report from December’s meeting and Dee Keen had produced minutes. On discussion an agreement was made that future minutes would be formulated jointly between Paula and Jean imalgamating the report and the minute formats.
Matters Arising
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Items Raised by the Practice
Refurbishment:
New room fans - Paula explained that the fans fitted previously in the new phlebotomy and conservatory rooms to circulate air, as there are no opening windows, were too noisy and replacement ones were fitted this week. One was unfortunately missing a part and therefore currently sounds “like a lawn mower” but will be fixed very soon when a new part arrives and the one in the conservatory room is now running nice and quietly.
Roof - Kirsty had noticed a water mark on the ceiling outside the conservatory room. Paula has organised a roofer to come out and look into this.
Refurbishment continued:
Grant - Paula stated that the practice has applied for a further grant from the NHS, bids of which are due in by February. This grant, if approved, would be used to finalise refurbishing room 6, full refurbishment of rooms 7 and 8 and replacing flooring in the treatment room and minor operations room.
Stair lift - Ian asked about the stairlift which Paula stated does not quality as part of a grant but that she has in hand for the future.
Door signage - Signs on the room doors and their numbering was also discussed. Paula stated that the signage samples received during the refurbishment were not to the standard that she required and therefore were not used which is why this is still outstanding. She also explained that the rooms can now only, as per NHS guidelines, state the room number and no longer give the doctor’s name.
Values, vision and purpose:
Paula reminded everyone, following on from the previous meeting, to put forward their values, vision and purpose ideas. Phil is asking for a short sentence or even just a word for each as he is writing a mission statement. Most of the PPG group stated that had already submitted their ideas.
CQC:
Paula stated that the practice is doing well in preparation for CQC. The practice does not have a date as yet but this will be in February at some point. Paula will inform the group as soon as a date is set. She explained that the PPG will be requested to participate in the inspection, speaking to CQC staff when they are here.
Friends and family:
Paula stated we had 10 friends and family in November all of which were “extremely likely to recommend the practice”. In December we had 11, 1 was an “unlikely to recommend the practice” as the clinic was running late when they were here, 9 were extremely likely and 1 didn’t know.
Notices:
A new notice is now being displayed in reception stating that patients should approach the desk if they have been waiting longer than 20 minutes. The receptionists will then tell them where they are in the queue, check if there is anyone else they could see if they wanted to and offer to re-arrange their appointment if they cannot wait.
Newcastle General Practice Services:
Paula explained that she is a Director of this federation consisting of 15 practices in this area. The federation current has contracts to supply ABPM appointments, ECG in practice and provide GPs in A&E. The GPs in A&E contract has been extended until July of next year due to it’s success. Paula mentioned that one of the practice GPs work as a GP in A&E on a Friday and thoroughly enjoys it, stating it is a valuable resource.
Items Raised by the Group
Acorn group:
Anita and Ian are currently members of the Acorn group which is a CCG group for patients. Anita and Ian both agreed to continue being a part of this group.
Following the latest meeting, Ian stated that the CCG seems to be pushing for follow up appointments which would normally be with a consultant at the hospital to be put to the GPs . Paula stated that, from a business point of view, this would only be feasible if it was to be a service that the practice was remunerated for as it is additional workload for the GP’s. Ian also felt, personally, after attending the latest acorn meeting that there is no work being done in preventative measures i.e. keeping people healthy rather than dealing with those who are already unwell. He gave examples such as dealing with diet, alcohol, sugar intake etc.
CCG staff - Paula stated that there was a new lady in position at the CCG. A scheme offering “winter pressures” funding which is to provide extra staffing etc. during winter months to avoid exacerbation in conditions, the funding was approved and awarded very quickly and therefore we have already been able to provide extra staff provision until end of March namely extra GP sessions for Dr Jane Allan and extra nurse sessions for a practice nurse and a Health Care Assistant.
Reception desk – Christine stated whilst waiting in the waiting room she could hear everything that was said between the patients at the desk and the receptionist i.e. address and phone number etc. now that the flooring is no longer carpet. Paula stated that this is very difficult as we do have to check the identity of patients when collecting scripts and this is the first line of address and DOB. Jan stated she was aware that some receptionists were louder than others and it was agreed that discussion would be had with the reception group to explain this. Paula also added that the phone is not answered at the front wherever possible. Ian queried whether a chair could be removed from the end of each row of waiting room chairs therefore make the distance between the reception desk and the patients waiting a little bigger. Paula explained that there had to be a specific number of chairs in the waiting area in relation to the number of patients we have on our list, therefore this could not be an option.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Data protection – All group members signed a Data Protection declaration. These were collected in by Paula Scullion to be filed.
PPG Member Eric - Paula mentioned that Eric is thinking about leaving the group but that she has persuaded him, as an established and valuable member, to remain for a little longer whilst be have CQC and things going on. We do therefore need a vice chair when Eric leaves the group and Steve agreed to take this on when necessary. Eric may become part of the virtual group once this is set up.
Items raised by the group:
Automated prescription service – Paul stated that he had been utilising the automatic repeat prescription ordering service which local pharmacies provide. This having been advertised as a “one stop shop”. Paul explained he had been experiencing some difficulties. He had needed 3 medication items and on collection he got 3 items but 2 of the items were the ones he needed and 1 was something he did not. He was therefore missing an item he needed. He asked Paula whether there should be a system whereby the pharmacy or the practice check which items the pharmacies are dispensing. Paula responded that unfortunately this can be a problem with pharmacies being in charge of ordering and that sometimes problems can arise. The Practice Pharmacist is monitoring the situation
EPS / Repeat prescribing - Further to Paul’s comments, Paula explained the difference between EPS and repeat dispensing. EPS is where the practice can send prescriptions electronically to the patient’s nominated pharmacy. There are currently exemption medications to his however, i.e. controlled drugs. These exceptions, however, may be covered in the future. Paula also explained that the practice has an excellent audit trail available to track exactly where the prescription is when going by EPS.
Repeat dispensing is when the pharmacy takes over the ordering for the patient on a weekly/monthly basis.
Diversity – Steve had requested some general figures prior to the meeting regarding ethnicity, disability, carers etc. to get a feel for our demographic prior to setting up the virtual PPG group and for encouraging new PPG members. Kirsty quoted some figures in response to this. Paula Scullion went on to explain what we do for carers in that we do an annual health check and offer them a flu jab and so on and that we have Stephanie Wheatley, HCA as our carer lead. Steve raised the question of whether we should contact different demographics to join the group. It was felt that when we have the virtual group up and running we may be able to persuade some members from that to attend the PPG meetings at the surgery.
Virtual group – Jean and Paula had had a lengthy discussion prior to the meeting about starting a virtual patient group which would reach out to our more hard to reach patients and may encourage a larger group participation. Paula stated that a local practice who had done this had set up a new email address specifically for this purpose which was not an NHS email address. This was felt to be an excellent idea. Jean will be formulating a flyer to give out which will be added to the website and Jean herself will attend the surgery waiting room to give out some leaflets. The newsletter will be shared with patients who join as well as surveys and other things. Jean will arrange a time to meet with Kirsty, who currently manages the website and has created online surveys before, and Chelsea Clifton a former apprentice who has been taken on permanently, who will be taking over the running of the website.
Text messaging after online booking - Christine raised an issue with text messaging in that if booking an appointment at the desk she receives a text with the appointment details, however, when booking an appointment online she does not get this text. Kirsty agreed to look in to this. It may be that there is no an option available to send a text when booking online.
Date of next meeting:
March 15th 5 pm
Action Log:
Jean – To formulate a flyer for the virtual group, get this approved and attend the surgery to distribute some and encourage patients to join.
Jean – To meeting with Kirsty and Chelsea regarding the practice website.
Kirsty – To look into the online appointments not creating an appointment text message.