Dr. Peter V. Shevlin HAWTHORN Dr. Kenyatta Gibbs
Dr. Hilary Devitt SURGERY
Wortley Beck Health Centre
Ring Road
Lower Wortley, Leeds LS12 5SG
Mrs A. Nelson (Practice Manager)
GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS Tel (0113) 295 4770 Fax (0113) 295 4771
MINUTES FROM THE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP MEETING HELD AT HAWTHORN SURGERY, WORTLEY BECK HEALTH CENTRE, RING ROAD, LEEDS LS12 5SG ON THURSDAY 9TH MARCH 2017 AT 1PM
PRESENT
Dr P Shevlin GP Partner
Amanda Nelson Practice Manager
TD Patient
JD Patient
GG Patient
PC Patient
OC Patient
APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from AS, SH, PS, PS.
1. PREVIOUS MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
Hawthorn Surgery Walking Football Team – we are still looking for a gym in Pudsey or Armley with a suitable day and time.
Hawthorn Surgery Singing Group – work in progress.
2. FRIENDS AND FAMILY FEEDBACK SEPT, OCT, NOV 2016
SEPTEMBER 2016
Extremely likely / 3 / Excellent DoctorsI have always had excellent service at this surgery
Likely / 6 / Good service from this practice
Neither likely nor unlikely / 0
Unlikely / 0
Extremely unlikely / 0
OCTOBER 2016
Extremely likely / 4 / Caring doctorsFriendly staff, good doctors
Personable staff, usually reasonable wait time for appointment although getting more difficult in recent years ? more patients
Great surgery and staff
Good service generally
Likely / 7 / Always helpful friendly receptionists. Most are good doctors.
Good service when you finally get an appointment
More appointments needed
Neither likely nor unlikely / 0
Unlikely / 0
Extremely unlikely
NOVEMBER 2016
Extremely likely / 4 / I phoned 8.10am no appointments available, told doctor would ring me back. She did at 8.25am, got an appointment for 9.05amI have always had a very good response to any enquiries or appointments.
Best GPs in Leeds
Staff always go the extra mile to support you. Been with the practice for 26 years. Mum and Dad just registered with the surgery and wish they had done it years ago.
Likely / 0
Neither likely nor unlikely / 1 / Very hit and miss – most staff OK but some procedures questionable – being seen on time not good. Patient who was late got seen before me and another patient
Extremely unlikely / 0
3. STAFFING UPDATE
Our GP Trainee, Dr Brown, left the Practice in February 2017, as her placement finished. Our new GP Trainee, Dr Beanland, has started a six month placement, which ends in August 2017.
Primary Care Mental Health Liaison Nurses are now holding weekly clinics at Hawthorn Surgery. Patients are referred via their GP.
4. NEW OPENING TIMES
Following on from the last Patient Group Meeting, as a direct result of withdrawal of funding, Hawthorn Surgery opening times will change with effect from Monday 3rd April 2017. The new opening times are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. A Newsletter for Patients has been drawn up and was shared with the Group today. Information for patients will also be available on our website www.hawthornsurgery.com, NHS Choices, posters in the waiting room, and short message on the repeat prescription tear off slip. We hope that patients will work with us to make the best use of diminishing resources by making sure that unwanted appointments are cancelled in good time.
5. ANNUAL PATIENT SURVEY
The annual Patient Survey was carried out in December 2016/January 2017 and the full results are available on our website www.hawthornsurgery.com
Key Findings from Patient Survey January 2017
88% of all patient ratings about the Practice were good, very good, or excellent, compared with 85% in the previous Patient Survey.
The practice overall score is higher than the national average and higher than in the previous Patient Survey.
Patients commented that they find the phone lines engaged, have difficulty getting through to the surgery, have difficulty parking in the car park, are kept waiting in the waiting room for their appointment, and would like evening and weekend appointments.
Patients also commented that they found the Practice services to be good, great, awesome, excellent, doctors and staff were excellent and helpful, patients who waste appointments should be penalised.
Which responses were most positive
“Having come from a practice where it’s impossible to get hold of anyone over the phone, this practice is heaven. I’ve no issues here and wouldn’t like to move out of the area and have to move to a different practice. Thank you”.
“I think the Practice does an amazing job. All staff are very friendly and helpful!
“Excellent staff, doctors and nurses”
Which responses were least positive
“Try to stick to appointment times as been a few times and waited longer than 30 minutes”
“More staff available to answer phones at busy times of day or extra lines. Can be very difficult sometimes to get through early mornings.”
“I generally feel a burden to the doctor when I visit (which is rarely). I feel like the GPs do the minimum to find out what is wrong and just refer to websites to prescribe the cheapest medicine. I know this is not always the case but it is the perception.”
In which areas did you deviate most from the national benchmark
Can you explain why this might be
1. Chances of seeing doctor or nurse within 48 hours – fair/good (lower than national average but higher than in previous practice survey)
2. Comfort of waiting room – excellent (higher than national average and higher than in previous practice survey)
3. The opportunity for making compliments or complaints to this practice about its service and quality of care – very good/excellent (higher than national average and higher than in previous practice survey)
What are the main priorities identified by the Patient Participation Group?
1. Look at the reasons why patients have difficulty in getting through to the Practice on the phone.
Suggestions included;
Increase the number of online appointments
Increase the number of patients having online access to repeat prescriptions
Increase the number of patients using electronic prescription service
Ask patients to ring at different times of the day for e.g. test results
Increase the number of reception staff
Are staff talking too long with patients on the phone – could they be more effective (staff have to take sufficient information from patients for telephone messages and home visit requests)
Have “Open Surgeries”
Practice Nurses to make their own appointments
2. Increase the monitoring of patients who waste appointments – the Group would like to know the age/sex split of these patients.
What are the main priorities identified by the Practice Staff?
At a Staff Meeting held on 23.3.17, the Staff agreed that the main priority should be to look at the reasons why patients have difficulty in getting through on the phone, and come up with solutions.
The main reasons were felt to be;
Once all the appointments are used, staff spend a lot of time recording telephone messages for the Doctors, which need to contain enough detail for the Doctor of the Day to triage the calls. This in itself blocks the phone lines. It is exceptionally busy on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
There are two reception staff working in the morning, one in the back office answering the phone, doing prescriptions, tasks etc, and one on the front desk, dealing with patient queries face to face, answering the phone, doing prescriptions etc.
Staff suggested having a third morning receptionist, working on the front desk, dealing with the patients face to face. The two phone lines could be answered in the back office by more experienced receptionists, who could also do scripts, tasks etc.
Staff reported that a lot of phone calls come from patients who have not had their repeat tear off slips delivered with their medications. Staff will monitor this and report back to the pharmacy.
A second priority is to display the percentage of patients attending, rather than the number of wasted appointments in the waiting area.
What activities have you undertaken to address issues raised by your last survey which were deemed as priority by your Group and Staff?
Make sure that patients know the Practice opening times, that they can request a telephone consultation, and that an appointment is 10 minutes long.
We updated the information on the surgery website, NHS Choices website, and Practice Leaflet insert. We also put posters up in the waiting room.
Although we were able to obtain a TV monitor, the IT Department was not able to link the new display monitor to the Practice computer system at that time.
Do the results of this latest survey reflect these activities?
Yes, opening hours satisfaction scores have increased from 64% in the previous survey to 73% in the latest survey and Appointment satisfaction scores have increased from 61% to 66%.
Comfort of waiting room scores have also increased from 74% to 75%
Action plan
Which areas did you mutually agree as priorities for action?
1. Look at ways to ease pressure on the telephones so that patients can get through to the Practice quicker.
2. Monitor wasted appointments more closely.
3. Display the percentage of patients attending, rather than the number of wasted appointments.
6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The Group commented that the front doors look dirty. The Practice Manager will report this to the Landlord.
Action point; ALN
The Group felt that there were too many notices on the glass balcony. The Practice Manager explained that there were not many surfaces in the waiting area for noticeboards, and this is why the glass balcony is being used. Practice staff will tidy up the notices on the glass panels.
Action point; Staff
7. EVALUATION OF THE MEETING
One suggestion to make the Group more representative was to invite a guest speaker for 15 minutes, for example Forward Leeds. The Group are to send in their suggestions for guest speakers.
Action point; ALL
8. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 29.6.17 at 1pm
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