Minutes of PPG Meeting held at 6.00 p.m. in the Meeting Room at
theCottons Medical Centreon 17th September, 2015
Present: Practice Manager – Julian Crowe (JC), Chairperson – Sharon Donnelly (SD), Secretary – Janet Harper (JH), Treasurer – Helen Boto (HB), Janet Baker (JB), Pat Harrison (PH), Tom Hatton (TH), Veronica Howes (VH), Roger Martin (RM), Lyn Mura (LM), Eileen Plowe (EP), Lynn O’Shea (LO)
- Apologies for Absence were received from Mary-Anne Burck, Conrad Cooper, Gwendoline Cooper, Norma Davis, John Fryatt, Douglas Harrison, Dennis McKetty, Mike Pratt, Elizabeth Mitchell
- The Minutes of the last meeting held on 4th August 2015 were agreed and accepted.
- Appointment of Vice Chairperson
SD reported that as members would probably remember it had been mentioned at the AGM that a Vice Chairperson position was vacant. John Fryatt had recently offered to fill this post. For the last few months JF had been very active behind the scenes, revamping the Newsletter presentation and also giving his time and input into editorials for the Raunds Roundup Magazine. SD proposed that the meeting accept the appointment of JF as Vice Chairperson and Lynn O’Shea seconded her proposal. The meeting unanimously accepted this appointment.
- PPG Bank Account
The PPG had been Highly Commended in the NAPP Corkill Award and had received a cheque for £100. HB hoped that further donations would also help boost the funds in the account.
- Practice Manager’s Report
Complaints – Four complaints had been made during this quarter and unfortunately one cited clinical negligence.
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DNAs – The last month showed 70 DNAs which was an improvement from 90 the previous month.
Friends and Family Test – Ratings for August were as follows:
37 - 5 stars
4 - 4 stars
0- 3 stars
1- 2 stars
2- 1 star
In answer to a question from SD, JC stated that the Friends and Family Test follow up text was only sent to a patient once in the course of a month, no matter how many appointments that person may have had.
PMS Review – as had previously been reported,a letter had been sent from the Partners to the PPG outlining the services that may be lost if the Practice had to revert from a PMS Contract to a GMS Contract.
The local Local Medical Committee was in the process of collating all information from East Northamptonshire Practices and would be sending a letter to NHS England highlighting the services that would potentially have to cease. A letter had also been sent by the PPG to our area MP, Mr. Tom Pursglove, who had contacted the Secretary of State and Chief Executive of NHS England. It was almost certain that tThe Cottons would have to accept the option of reverting to the GMS Contract, which most Practices were also being obliged to do, and in the process lose the sum of £67,424 over a period of six years. In all, momentum was gathering and it was sincerely hoped that the Government would give second thoughts to their demands.
PH asked what would happen regarding coping with new patients when the Brick Kiln Lane and other new houses were built. JC replied that such a development meant that the builders were obliged to give £375,000 when 80% of the houses had been built, and this money would be used to expand services. This could mean expansion of buildings, but with extra patients there still remained the problem of having enough GPs. It was worth pointing out that at the present time tThe Cottons were the only Practice in East Northants to be up to full strength and not have any GP vacancies.
Future of the Federation–The Cottons was a member of the 3Sixty Care60 Federation of Carewhich produced a report covering its’s first six to nine months. JC read a list of achievements which did illustrate that the Federation was making headway. However, theyhad now run out of money and were offering Practices certain alternatives, the most attractive being that if a Practice tied in for three years to a Joint Venture with NHFT they could have their investment returned.
Ask My GP/Patient Access – Dr. Peat attended a technology administration demonstration and was shown an app called ‘Ask My GP’ which he found quite impressive. It was a software app which a patient used if they had a medical problem and wished to visit their GP. The patient filled in a form which asked all the relevant questions that a GP would ask in a ‘face to face’ meeting. The patient then pressed ‘Send’ and the form was sent to the Surgery where a doctor would telephone the patient, ask them to come to the surgery or prescribe the necessary medicine. This new technology was already being trialled at selected Practices and appeared to be quite popular with patients. It did look interesting and would certainly save doctor’s time, but it’s suitability would depend on cost and persuading patients to sign up to the app.
Another new innovation was Patient Partner which was similar to Patient Access, but was targeted at patients who were not comfortable using the internet and would prefer to use the telephone. The possibility of introducing this system would also be investigated.
NHS Health Checks – The Cottons was coming very close to being the only Practice in East Northants who offered Health Checks and this fact needed to be advertised through as many channels as possible (East Northamptonshire County Council website, Round Up Magazine etc.)
Access to Coded Medical Data – All patients should now be able to access their records and see their complete history. However, patient consultations, minus the clinician’s comments, wereare not yet available. It is intended to make these available once free text can be removed.
Child Protection Reports – The last Minutes recorded that NCC were no longer paying Practices for this service. JC was pleased to report that there had been a rethink and payment was now being received. It was planned to appoint twenty Safeguarding Administrators who would provide a service completing safeguarding reports for one day each week. This would be a great help to Practices struggling to complete such paperwork.
Carers Bronze Award – The Practice was working hard towards this award and would look to achieving the Silver and Gold Award in the future.
QOF Masters – Flu Tool – This was an alert system which would flag up to Doctors, Nurses, Receptionists etc. people who would qualify for a free flu vaccination. This year the Cottons were expecting to vaccinate approximately 2,000 people.
Receptionist Recruitment – a new Receptionist, Emma, had been recruited which now brought the total number to six. This would allow one Receptionist to taken off the front desk and allocated telephone work only.
Flu Clinics – these would run from 8.30 a.m. until 11.30 a.m. on 3rd and 10th October, 2015.
Medical Students – As from 28th September 2015, over a two week period running from Monday until Thursday, medical students would be seconded to the Practice. There would be four such secondments during the year and the students(s)in the first period would be focussing oninvolved in women’s health.
Practice Leaflet – an improved leaflet was in the process of being produced.
Podiatrist – A full time Podiatrist wasis now working at the Practice. Her services weare available to patients for a fee.
- Chairperson’s Report
TH from the Manor School Gym reported that there had been six referrals on the grounds of health and he hoped that this number would increase. It was important to convince people with certain conditions to approach their GP in order to ask for a referral. TH was undertaking courses with the aim of acquiring more qualifications to enable him to compile appropriate exercise programmes for people with specific medical problems.
JC commented that this was just the sort of facility that could be under threat if the PMS Contract was replaced by the GMS Contract.
Many thanks were due to JF who had redesigned the Newsletter, which was now much livelier and more interesting. It was always a challenge to find current items of news for thispublication and any suggestions would always be gratefully received. The Raunds Round Up Magazine, produced by Terry Usher and his colleagues, was also a great source of information and reached many people in the community. JF provided editorials for this Magazine on the PPG’s behalf and sincere thanks were due to him for all his time and effort.
The PPG had submitted an application for a Community Grant of £1,000 and JC had kindly stood as our Referee. As with any grant application, this had involved completing a long and fairly complicated form. We awaited the outcome with interest, but it had to be remembered that there were only ten grants available for the whole of England. The recent NAPP Bulletin had also outlined another grant which may be available, but this had to be investigated further.
SD and JH would be attending an Open Day at Kettering Hospital Breast Cancer Unit on Saturday 19th September, 2015. At this event Mr. Musa and his team of Consultants and Radiologists would be available to explain procedures undertaken and show visitors state of the art equipment being used in the Treatment Centre. Mr. Musa had also offered to give a presentation to the PPG at a future date.
In the new issue of the Newsletter information would be included on Aortic Aneurysm Screening for men 65 years old. This condition was six times more likely to affect a man than a woman of the same age and it was not widely known that such a screening facility existed.
As had been previously reported our PPG were ‘Highly Commended’ in the Corkill Award. This commendation had resulted in a cheque for £100 and a plaque which had already been displayed in the Reception Area. NAPP were requesting a photograph be taken of the presentation and JF had agreed to take this. The week beginning 21st September was a convenient time and it was suggested by JC that the photograph be taken at about 13.30 hours, which was a quiet time at the Surgery. SD requested that once the date had been set it would be good if any PPG member could come along to swell the numbers.
The Flu Clinics were scheduled for 8.30 a.m. until 11.30 a.m. on 3rd and 10th October, 2015 and it was agreed that the table inside the door to Reception which was usually used for patients to sit and complete forms, could be used to display raffle prizes. It was agreed that a strip of numbers could be sold for £1 and volunteers would be selling tickets.
A float of £1 coins would be arranged in order that change could be given to people purchasing raffle tickets. Anybody having raffle prizes was requested to either hand them in at Reception between now and 3rd October and clearly mark them for the PPG Raffle, or they could be delivered to SD at 84 Marshalls Road, Raunds. Numbers 82 and 86 would take donations if SD was not at home. It was agreed that all donations and gifts for the raffle would be halved between the two clinics.
EP would be present at the Flu Clinics to give information and leaflets on Carers in the Community and TH would be available for information on the Manor School Gym and referrals.
SD assured JC that volunteers conducting the 2015 Survey would not impede the flow of patients arriving for vaccinations.
The 2015 Patient Surveys were now available and any PPG member who could spare the odd hour during the day over the next few weeks to go up to the Surgery and talk to patients and distribute Surveys would be greatly appreciated. They should inform SD when they were planning to go as it would be necessary to ensure that enough blank Surveys were in the PPG tray.
Offers of help at the Flu Clinics were as follows and name badges would be made up for these volunteers. Any additional people who felt they were able to give an hour or two on 3rd or 10th October were requested to contact SD or JH:
Dennis McKetty – from 10 a.m. 3rd October
Veronica Howes 10th October (possibly 3rd)
Lyn Mura 10th October
Lynn O’Shea 3rd & 10th October
Roger Martin 3rd & 10th October
Sharon Donnelly 3rd & 10th October
Janet Harper 3rd & 10th October
Helen Boto 3rd & 10th October
- LPEG Representation and Report
GW was now attending and reporting on LPEG meetings. The report on the meeting held on 25th August 2015 was attached. It was requested that GW should list the names of the people attending each meeting at the top of the report.
- Any Other Business
RM very kindly gave a personal donation to the Treasurer to be paid into the PPG fund.
The next PPG meeting will be held at 6.00 p.m. in the meeting room at the Cottons Surgery on Thursday 19th November, 2015.
Please note that Minutes of PPG meetings are recorded for accuracy purposes only.