Complete Action Plan 2011-2014
What / How / Who / When / OutcomeImprove front door access / Review access (currently one automatic door and one manual door) to see if any changes would improve access.
Visit other premises to see what alternatives are available / Christine Jones, Practice Manager (PM) / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in May 2012 / After much discussion with regards to having 2 automatic doors, it was agreed to remain with one automatic door, the mechanics of which have now been upgraded as the door had become unreliable and some parts were now obsolete. It was felt that to have two automatic doors posed a safety risk to small children who would then have free access to a busy main road.
To assist disabled access, look at the possibility of providing a press button labelled ‘ring for assistance’ wirelessly linked to the back office and also sounded at the door. / Jo Johnson, Assistant Practice Manager (APM) / To review following Partner’s meeting in May 2012 / To aid patients who have difficulty opening the internal door, we have installed two door bells which can be pressed to gain attention and ask for help with this.
Increase disabled parking – no space available to increase number of bays on forecourt – currently one space / Purchase/make sign for disabled drop off zone in forecourt / Jo Johnson (APM) / By end of April 2012 / We now have a sign which will be put in position shortly.
Confirm number and location of nearest disabled bays / Jo Johnson (APM) / By end of April 2012 / There is one disabled bay across the road in the Manor House Car Park near the Police Station and a further two bays less than 100 yards up towards the village on the left in front of the row of shops. There are also now three new disabled bays just down from the high street at the top of Abbots Road
Advertise all above information on website, on a poster and in the patient brochure in waiting room / Jo Johnson (APM) to update brochure and website and put up poster. / By end of May 2012 / In patient brochure and on a poster in the waiting room. New website updated.
Improve privacy/ confidentiality at Reception Desk / Put up poster, either on the wall behind the receptionist or on the front desk, informing patients that if they wished to speak in confidence they should inform the receptionist. The lift lobby should be used in this instance. / Jo Johnson (APM) / By end of April 2012 / Poster put up on wall behind the receptionist
Reinforce the line on the floor and move the current poster requesting that patients wait there before approaching the desk if the desk is occupied, to a more prominent position. / Jo Johnson (APM) / By end of April 2012 / Done
For patients returning to the desk from the nurse, put up a notice at that side of the desk to ask them to please wait until the desk is free or to join the queue at the other side (if there is one). / Jo Johnson
(APM) / By end of April 2012 / Done
Look at the possibility of erecting a perspex screen above the reception desk to help with confidentiality and to provide a protective barrier for reception staff / Christine Jones (PM) to visit neighbouring surgery to look at their recently installed screen and carry out costing / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in May 2012. Deferred to meeting in October. / After discussion between the Partners it was felt that erecting a perspex screen above the reception desk would give a negative impression to our patients and they would prefer to keep the area open plan, as originally designed. It was agreed to further discuss this with reception staff at our next staff meeting.
It was finally agreed to erect a low perspex screen at the reception desk and this has now been completed. February 2014
Look at the possibility of installing a door between the back office and the reception desk to help reduce “leakage” of confidential information from the back office. / Christine Jones (PM) to discuss with reception manager and look at costing / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in May 2012. Deferred to meeting in October. / After much discussion over the past year it was agreed that a door should be installed to improve confidentiality at the reception desk and this has now been completed. February 2014
Increase awareness of services that can be directly booked with a nurse, ie smoking cessation, blood pressure check / Update the patient brochure in the waiting room and put up a poster. / Jo Johnson (APM) / End of April 2012 / Done
Increase access to surgery information out of hours. / Look at the possibility of erecting a weatherproof notice board outside the building where all types of information can be accessed even when the surgery is closed. / Jo Johnson (APM) to investigate practicalities and costing / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in May 2012. Deferred to October meeting. / It was not thought necessary to erect a weatherproof noticeboard outside, as the surgery is close to the path and patients can easily access information from the building itself. The current flyers/posters etc on the windows will be removed and presented in a more tidy and professional way.
Improve signage around building / Purchase a sign to indicate that we have a lift and where it is. / Christine Jones (PM) to organise / End of May 2012 / Done
Assess difficulty in seeing indicator lights on automatic appointment board when the sun is shining / Look at the possibility of installing a blind (sun shade) over the top of the board or have film placed over atrium windows to reduce glare. / Christine Jones (PM) to investigate practicalities and costing / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in May 2012. Deferred to October meeting. / On discussion, it was agreed that some form of sun shade is required to help patients see the indicator lights, but as there is the possibility that the call system may be changed/upgraded in the near future a final decision could not be reached at the meeting.
The problem has now been resolved as the call system has been completed changed.
Introduce educational sessions for patients / Look at the possibility of organising educational sessions for specific groups of patients (ie First Aid course for young mums) / Christine Jones (PM) to discuss with nurses and/or outside organisations / End of May 2012. For Partners meeting October 2012 / It was felt that there are already a wealth of educational meetings and services on offer to our patients from many sources. Instead of adding to these, and with limited specialised knowledge/resources/ space at the surgery, it was agreed that we would put links to as many of these as possible on the website. GPs and visiting dietician/midwife etc will also continue to signpost patients as appropriate.
Introduce an automated check-in system / Look at the possibility of purchasing an automated check-in system. Seek recommendations from other practices and present a fully priced proposal at the next Partners’ meeting / Christine Jones, (PM) / To discuss at Partners’ meeting in February 2013 / It was agreed that an automated check-in system (which would incorporate a new call system) should be purchased and the Practice Manager was asked to pursue this.
This was installed in October 2013 and is up and running. Patient volunteers have helped to show patients booking in how to use the system. Thank you.
Improve DNA (did not attend) rates for appointments / Liaise with Patient Reference Group and compile a patient survey to ascertain if a text reminder of their appointment would be helpful. / Jo Stanley, (APM) / November 2012 / Survey compiled with help of the Patient Reference Group and made available to our patients in January 2013.
As a result of the survey, this is up and running and working well.
Provide the facility to allow patients to send a text message to the surgery mobile to cancel an appointment / Liaise with the receptionists with regards to offering this service and advertise widely. / Christine Jones (PM) and Jo Stanley (APM) / April 2013 / This service is now available and the number to text is 07501680174
Provide the facility to allow patients to leave a message on an ansaphone to cancel an appointment / Assess line availability and capacity of telephone system / Christine Jones (PM) / September 2013 / This service is now available and the number to ring to leave a message is 01923 272702.
Set up a Carers Group / Email our current Patient Reference Group (PRG) and seek a small number who would be willing to discuss ways in which this could be undertaken / Jo Stanley (APM) / April 2013 / In April 2013 four members from our PPG established Abbots Langley Carers Network. This group holds monthly coffee mornings in the village for carers to meet on a social basis to share issues and experiences. They invite speakers along and have occasional outings. It is a great success.
Quarterly meetings are held with the members of the PPG who run this group along with Jo Stanley from the practice.
Improve Communication / Set up a sub-group to look at how to improve communication between surgery and patients / 3 members of our Patient Reference Group have kindly offered to form a group to look at this issue. Jo Stanley (APM) to contact to organise a meeting. / Meeting arranged / Preliminary meeting held with one member to discuss current methods of communication. To be followed up. Confidentiality is a huge problem as our volunteer patients cannot have access to our patient records.
Engage with our patients in the community / Have a stall at the village carnival on 14th June 2014 / Jo Stanley (APM) / In Spring 2014 book a stall and make further arrangements / This was a great opportunity to interact with our practice population in a community setting. We were able to showcase our services and future plans and patients could find out more about how the practice works and meet members of the team. We hope this may become an annual event. It was a great success and many thanks to all our patient volunteer helpers.
Have surgery notices/newsletters etc. more widely distributed / Place information in library, community centre, leisure centre, YMCA woodlands, sheltered homes etc. / Jo Stanley (APM) to see if we can recruit Patient Reference Group members to volunteer to help. / Summer 2014 onwards / Article in “My Abbots” and “Village Life” in early 2015.
Improve seating in waiting room as it has been mentioned in patient surveys that it is too low. / Raise seating. Get quotes for work. / Jo Stanley (APM) / Spring 2014 / Work agreed. To be commenced when funds available.
Automatically acknowledge emails when they arrive / Speak with it Technician to see if this is possible to set up. / Jo Stanley (APM) / When technician is next on site / Discussed with IT technician who has confirmed that there are security issues with this and emails can only be acknowledged from NHS and Government sites.
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Version 1 12/2014