DRAFT
Minutes of PPG Meeting held on 10th November, 2016, at 6.00 p.m.
in the Meeting Room at The Cottons Medical Centre
Present:
Helen Boto (HB) Chairperson, John Fryatt (JF) Vice Chairperson, Janet Harper (JH) Secretary,
Julian Crowe (JC) Practice Manager, Michelle Garrett (MG) Office Manager,
Richard Denham (RD), Pat Harrison (PH), Eileen Plowe (EP), Roger Martin (RM),
Ruth Stokes (RS), Ann Robinson (AR), Danielle Shaw (DS)
- Apologies for Absence:
Gwendoline Cooper, Conrad Cooper, Dennis McKetty, Tamsin Edwards, Veronica Howes, Christine Warren, Lynn O’Shea, Tom Hatton
- Minutes of Last Meeting:
The Minutes of the last meeting held on 8th September 2016 were accepted.
- Practice Manager’s Report:
There had been 5 clinical complaints since the last quarter, giving a total of 17 complaints throughout the year so far. The Practice had received a letter from the Wellingborough MP, Mr. Tom Pursglove, asking why it took several days to get an appointment at the Surgery. Unfortunately this situation regarding difficulty in obtaining an appointment existed countrywide.
This month there had been 78 DNAs (Did not attend appointment) which was a slight improvement on last month. The Friends and Family Test remained constant.
Dr.Shah had joined the Practice on 1st November and Dr. Sukanthan was now full time. This meant that there were now four full time GPs and one part time, meaning that the Practice was now up to full strength . A full time Health Care Assistant by the name of Karen Bush, who was qualified to carry out wound care, had joined and Ann Woodcock, a Nurse Practitioner, would be leaving on 21st December.Recruitment for Ann’s replacement was underway. If a suitable candidate could be found on a full time basis, then this would allow morning and afternoon acute clinics and would reflect in the number of appointments on offer. Another receptionist was also being sought.
On 5th September the Patient List, which had been closed since February 2016, opened. Numbers had not escalated greatly, as had originally been feared, as new patients added to the list had been balanced out by others leaving (going to University, moving out of the area etc.). When the list was closed in February the Practice had 9,334 patients and at the present time there were 9,143.
One unfortunate piece of news was that the application for building extension work had been turned down by NHS England. This was extremely disappointing as a good business plan had been proposed and no reason had been given for the failure of the application. The landlord is offering to make a contribution to the cost of extending the premises and is trying to find an alternative solution. It was obviously of great concern that, taking into account the amount of new homes being built in Raunds and the number of new patients wishing to join the Practice, if the premises and staff could not be increased then existing patients would suffer. JC assured the meeting that options were being considered and measures would be taken to limit numbers of patients joining the Practice if this was necessary.
Two Flu Clinics had been held in the past two months and, in contrast to last year, there had been an extremely good response, even to the point that vaccines had run short and fresh supplies had had to be ordered.
A bariatric examination couch had been installed in Room 8.
An extension to Warth Park was going ahead, but this would be south of Meadow Lane and would not impact on the lane.
The new Practice Booklet was to be sponsored by Roxhill Developments who were the company involved in Warth Park.
PH mentioned that she had heard that a new GP Practice had been planned for Raunds. JC replied that he had checked with East Northants Council and this was not the case.
Dr.Sangeeth Fernando, who had now taken on the mantle of Senior Partner, joined the meetingand was welcomed by everyone. He reiterated how disappointing it had been that NHS England had turned down the extension plans for the Practice.
- Chairperson’s Report:
HB welcomed DS, a new member to the PPG. She reported that the PPG had run a Cake and Tombola Stall at the Raunds Carnival at the beginning of September. Thanks were due to Christine and Raymond Dunse who had organized the Tombola and made an excellent Tombola Drum. All those who had given their time at the stall or had contributed cakes and prizes also deserved a huge vote of thanks and despite the most awful weather we had made a profit of £122.30. The PPG would look at representation again next year when the Carnival was planned for July.
The two Flu Clinic Raffles, one in October and the other in November had yielded £191 and £137 respectively, giving a total of £328. This was an excellent result and meant that the PPG now had £958.30 in their bank account and were in a position to buy the weight monitor machine (costing £916) for the surgery if that was what was wanted. HB asked JC to please check if this was still the case, or if another item should be considered. The PPG had received comments that there had been a ‘lovely atmosphere’ at the clinics and patients had reacted in a positive way when asked if they wished to buy raffle tickets, the proceeds of which would be put towards extra equipment for the surgery. Sadly, however, there had been one anonymous complaint. HB conveyed her sincere thanks to all patients and local businesses who had donated prizes to the raffle and to volunteers who had sold tickets and issued Survey forms. Over the two Flu Clinics 252 Surveys had been completed and the information would be collated and passed on as soon as possible.
Comments were made that when making an appointment patients objected to being questioned by receptionists as to their symptoms. JC replied that receptionists were required to ask the questions in order to direct patients to the most appropriate clinician. They were in fact issued with a list of ailments which should be directed to a Nurse Practitioner, other conditions being channelled to GPs. Each GP had two appointments at the end of the morning and afternoon which were reserved for referrals from Nurse Practitioners.
JF, our Vice Chairperson, was in the process of putting together another Newsletter which would be issued before Christmas. JF compiled approximately four Newsletters each year, which were attractively displayed and were both informative and entertaining.
HB informed the meeting that she had been contacted by a group from Birmingham Universitywho were compiling a report on the effectiveness and general work of PPGs.
Tom Hatton from the Manor Gym was not present at the meeting but he had requested that anybody who thought that they might be eligible for a referral from a Nurse or GP should take this up with the Practice. Rates were discounted for GP referrals and AR emphasised that it was an excellent system giving help and guidance on an individual basis.
At the request of Northants Urgent and Emergency Care,a Survey had been emailed to all members asking them to complete the questionnaire.
Problems had been reported regarding processing of prescriptions. This appeared to be a Pharmacy problem and even where an electronic system was in use it still seemed to take two to three days for a prescription to be processed.
JF was concerned that there still appeared to be a considerable number of people who were unaware of the Practice website, or who felt that they were unable to use it effectively. He emphasised that the site was very user friendly and could save patients a great deal of time and effort.
JC acknowledged that patients had commented that the amount of information displayedin the Reception Area was so great that it became overwhelming and was not looked at properly. He pointed out, however, that this information was necessary and was only a small percentage of the leaflets etc. received daily by the Practice.
- Any Other Business:
JF remarked that sometimes expressions used on Patient Access screens were difficult to understand. JC replied that these were often set expressions contained within the software.
DS was concerned that sometimes there appeared to be a problem with information which appeared on computer screens accessed by the patient and the Practice staff. She had experience of not seeing certain information on one occasion when using Patient Access, but when revisiting the screen later, the information was in evidence.
- Date of Next Meeting:
The next PPG Meeting was set for 6 p.m. at The Cottons Medical Centre on Thursday,
12th January, 2017.