Minutes of Patient Participation Group Meeting held on Thursday, 25th January, 2018,
at The Cottons Medical Centre
Present: Julian Crowe (JC) Practice Manager, Helen Boto (HB) Chair, John Fryatt (JF) Deputy Chair, Janet Harper (JH) Secretary, Chris Sidebottom (CS), Gwendoline Cooper (GC), Carolyn Wibberley (CW), Eileen Plowe (EP), Roger Martin (RM)
- Apologies for Absence:
Mary-Anne Burch, Conrad Cooper, Pat Harrison, Ruth Stokes, Ann Robinson, Lynn O’Shea, Dennis McKetty, Veronica Howes
- Minutes of Last Meeting:
The Minutes of the last meeting held on 16th November, 2017 were accepted as being a true record.
- Practice Manager’s Report:
JC introduced Sue Hateley who had joined the Practice this month as a Nurse Practitioner. The meeting welcomed Sue who had previously worked as a District Nurse and Nurse Practitioner.
The other Nurse Practitioner who had joined had unfortunately not accepted that she was required to do home visits and had subsequently left. However, another very capable candidate had been recruited and would join on 19th February, 2018. Both Nurse Practitioners faced a very steep learning curve and a difficult job in trying to fill the position vacated by Becky who had been with the Practice for twenty-three years. Nurse Sandra Cox had been appointed Nurse Team Leader and Manager.
In answer to a question regarding home visits, JC said that most visits were to care home residents, although not all, and it varied as to how many.
Nurse Practitioners saw 80 – 90% of acute appointments, the rest being taken by salaried GPs and then Partners. Two slots were left empty at the end of each day for anybody with a medical problem which the Nurse Practitioner felt should be seen by a doctor.
Unfortunately, there had been four complaints since the beginning of the year, which had been investigated. DNAs (Did Not Attend) had improved only slightly at 78 last month and Friends and Family remained at 87% recommending the Practice.
January had been a difficult month, with 3 GPs being out of the country owing to family problems, but very capable locums had been found to step in.
The Prescriptions Clerk had left, owing to health problems, and interviews were scheduled to find a replacement. The Scanning Clerk had not proved to be a satisfactory and it had been decided to recruit a full-time member of staff for this position.
The Surgery extension was an ongoing issue, with Mr. Marshall putting together a letter to the developers. Our MP, Mr. Tom Pursglove had been very supportive and JC had had a meeting on this subject with East Northants Planning Department.
Room 11 now had hand washing facilities installed and was for use by a Registrar.
Regarding ideas for equipment which could be purchased using money raised by the PPG, JC suggested an Accutrend Cholesterol Checker (£232) and fridge temperature loggers (£288).
He reported an unfortunate incident where a nappy had been intentionally forced round the bend of a toilet, thus blocking the toilet and necessitating a specialist plumber being called.
There had also been an incident where the surgery lights had not been working for a couple of days, and this had eventually been identified as a fault with the original wiring installed when the surgery had been built.
Patients would also now be aware of a clear glass screen which had been installed in front of the reception desk. This had sadly been necessary because of patient violence towards receptionists. It was proving a little problematical for receptionists who felt that it was difficult to hear patients clearly, particularly with telephones ringing, and because patients had to speak more loudly in the reception area, the confidential nature of their conversation with the receptionist became a concern. If, however, the surgery extension came to fruition these problems could be addressed.
JC had noted the extremely unpleasant, and unfounded, accusations which had appeared on Facebook in connection with receptionists and himself, the Practice Manager.
As members present at the meeting would know, a text message had been sent to all patients explaining that as from 19th January, 2018, receptionists would be asking more questions regarding the nature of a patient’s illness in order to direct them to the most appropriate clinician. In this connection JF felt that patients would benefit from a little education regarding Care Navigation, with an explanation that it had been introduced in order to try to guide patients to the right clinician, not because the receptionists were ‘nosey’. The next Newsletter would feature an article on this point. This autumn an enhanced flu vaccination would be available for patients 65 years old and over.
- Report from PPG Chair:
HB reported that the scheduled meeting in January designed to support Patient Groups had unfortunately been cancelled. At the present time there was £477.58 in the PPG Current Bank Account and if the meeting was in agreement she would arrange for £450 to be given to the Practice for the purchase of the medical equipment JC had mentioned earlier. The meeting agreed to this proposal and mention of this donation would be made in the next Newsletter. JC thanked the meeting on behalf of the Practice. Approximately 500 Surveys in connection with Extended Access had been completed over the last year and it had emerged that people were reasonably satisfied with opening hours, although they were in favour of weekend opening on a Saturday morning. This was, however, not going to be possible andall Practices in East Northants had stated that they did not have the funding or manning ability to extend present opening hours. It was apparent that the majority of patients were prepared to travel in order to receive treatment, and they preferred ‘face to face’ appointments. A copy of the Survey results is attached to these Minutes for information. It was now necessary to decide whether a 2018 Survey should be undertaken and on what subject. JC suggested that improving prescription dispensing might be considered. HB asked members to give the subject some thought and if they had any ideas for possible questions that could be asked, to contact her. JF added that it should be borne in mind that the point of a Survey was to obtain information which could be acted upon and there was novaluein conducting a pointless exercise. CS made the suggestion that perhaps it would be advantageous to issue prescriptions which would last for 3 months, rather than just 1 month (28 days). JC commented that the concern with issuing prescriptions for longer periods was stockpiling. It was suggested that even 2 monthly prescriptions would help to cut down the amount of work undertaken by the pharmacy. JC agreed to put this suggestion to the GPs.
- Fund Raising Events – Carnival etc.:
HB reported that she had obtained an entry form for the Raunds Carnival in July with the intention of the PPG having a Tombola/Cake Stall, but had been informed that to take part the PPG needed Public Liability Insurance and also a Food Hygiene Certificate. Public Liability Insurance would, even for a one-off event, be in excess of £50 and this could prove prohibitive. CW commented that as a member of the W.I. she was not aware that they purchased Public Liability Insurance or had Food Hygiene Certificates when they had stalls at local events. JC thought that there might be a possibility that the company who provided Public Liability Insurance for the Practice might cover the PPG and he undertook to investigate this. Since the meeting JC has confirmed that The Cottons’ Public Liability Insurance would cover the PPG providing they raised funds exclusively for The Cottons. HB commented that as the meeting was probably aware, there had been an announcement by Corby CCG that the Corby Urgent Care Centre would be kept open. It would, however, be operated on an appointmentonly basis and would be for the residents of Corby. Details had yet to be finalised, but the new system would be put in place in 2019.
- Any Other Business:
In answer to a question by JF, JC replied that an IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapy) clinic took place every Tuesday at the Practice.
- Date of Next Meetings:
22nd March, 2018
19th April, 2018 (AGM)
28th June, 2018
This meeting has been recorded for accuracy purposes only.