Minutes of the Meeting Held On

PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

Minutes of the Meeting held on

Wednesday 17th October 2012

Present: Nuala Keegan, Gareth Beavan, Pamela Lee-Fisher, William Willis-Culpitt, Walter Vick, Anne Finn, Peter Cook, Rita Pickering, Dr. Catrin Jones & Samantha Jeffery

In attendance: Angela Leach for Item 2

Apologies: Pamela Edwards & Margaret Brown

Standing Down: Dorothy Wyche

1.  Welcome and Introductions

Nuala welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.  Health Care Assistants Role

Angela Leach attended the meeting to give PPG members an overview of the role of Health Care Assistant (HCA) at Handbridge Medical Centre. Angela informed the group that although she is relatively new to Handbridge Medical Centre (started May 2012) she is an experienced HCA, with ten years in her previous practice and before that she was a HCA in a hospital. Angela is trained to NVQ level 3 which is the highest quaification obtainable for an HCA.

Angela shared with the PPG the range of problems that she is able to help with as follows;

Blood Pressure checks, Blood tests, Flu vaccinations, B12 injections, Dressings, Ear Syringes, Assisting the GPs with minor operations and coil fittings andVascular health checks. Angela is also responsible for maintaining practice stocks of medical consumables and equipment.

Angela explained that the Reception team have a list of things that each member of he nursing team can do to help them book patients into the most appropriate person. This list is also available on the website if any patients wanted to have a look for themselves.

Angela was asked what is the greatest challenge of her role, she explained that joining a new nursing team, in a new patch has been the biggest challenge but she has very much enjoyed the challenge so far.

A comment was made about the waiting times for the INR clinic which can be up to half an hour but this didn’t used to be the case. Angela explained that the INR clinic is usually run by one of the phlebotomists rather than herself. Sam agreed to have a look into why this clinic is running late, as it was not something that had been brought to Sam’s attention. Dr. Jones did add that patients can feel unwell following a blood test so this can delay things at times. Sam agreed to have a look into why this clinic is running late.

Action: Sam

One of the PPG members asked whether there was any truth in the remours that there is going to be a new medical centre on the college site in Handbridge. Dr Jones confirmed that there is no truth in the rumours, the situation at the moment is that there is unlikely to be any development of new practice premises (other than the Northgate Development which is underway & the Blacon Project) for at least fthe next five years.

Nuala thanked Angela for coming to give the PPG an overview of her role.

3.  Minutes of the last meeting & Matters Arising

The minutes were agreed as an accurate record.

·  BHF/Chester Heart Support Group

Sam reported that she had been in contact with Chester Heart Support Group to find out if they had a member who was registered at this practice who would like to join our PPG. Unfortunately they didn’t get any volunteers so we will have to close this item on the agenda. We had a general discussion about having representatives on the group from local health groups and they would be very welcome. Action: Closed

·  Name Badges

Sam fedback that all the staff had been issued with a name badge and they are wearing them. Action: Closed

·  Zero Tolerance letter

Sam explained that since introducing the letter following the July meeting we have only had cause to use it once. Dr. Jones had sent the letter to the patient concerned and it had worked, the patient later apologised for their behaviour towards the staff. We have put new posters up throughout the surgery to make patients aware that we have a zero tolerance policy with regard to abuse of our staff. Sam thanked the PPG for being so supportive of us taking this action when necessary. Action: Closed

·  2012 Patient Survey

Sam updated the PPG on the progress of the 2012 Patient Survey which has been completed over a three week period at the end of September & beginning of October. All of the completed questionnaires have been sent for independant analysis and we are expecting the results back in early November.

The results will be discussed in detail at the January meeting when we will also need to agree four (or more) actions that we will take in view of the results before the end of March 2012. As the results are due back earlier than last year the practice will be able to consider the results and put forward some suggestions for action before the PPG meeting in January. Action: Sam

·  Practice Newseltter

Sam apologised that due to other workload pressures she has not been able to dedicate any time to this since the last meeting. Dr Jones explained that the ever increasing demand on General Practice is putting everyone under pressure and we have to focus our efforts on the priorities which is why this keeps slipping down the list. Nuala thanked Dr. Jones for her feedback and asked whether anyone within the PPG would be willing to step forward and put together a newsletter. Pam Fisher volunteered and Nuala agreed to support her, the hope would be to have one out within the next month or so. Action: Nuala & Pam

·  Mental Health Screening on Website

Dr. Jones fedback on behalf of Dr. Thompson and confirmed that both screening questionnaires on the website are fine to use, they have a slightly different focus as one is for Depression and the other Anxiety and Depression but the results are similar. We would encourage patients to complete whichever they are more comfortable with but there is no need to complete them both. Dr Jones confirmed that we have a system in place to ensure that completed screening forms are seen by a GP and if there is cause for concern then the GP will contact the patient. The GPs may also ask patients to complete one before an appointment for example or as part of a follow up so it useful to have the tools available to patients on the website. Action: Closed

·  Cycle Rack

It was agreed that this item would be carried forward, the suggestion that Dr. Thompson made at the last meeting about removing some bricks to make it easier to get the bikes into the racks has not been carried out. Sam agreed to follow up with Dr. Thompson and feedback at the next meeting. Action: Sam

4.  Care Quality Commission Application (CQC)

Sam gave the PPG an update on work she is currently undertaking to ensure that the practice will be fully compliant for the forthcoming registration with the Care Quality Commission. All General Practices need to be registered with the CQC by 1st April 2013 and the CQC will then monitor our performance by a series of visits to the practice. The GP practices are the latest providers of healthcare to require CQC registration and monitoring. Foundation Trust Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Dental Practices are already registered and undergoing regular visits by CQC inspectors.

Sam explained that there are 16 Essential Standards with which the practice will have to be compliant with by 1st April 2013. In summary these are as follows:

·  Respecting and involving patients

·  Consent to care and treatment

·  Care and welfare of patients

·  Meeting nutritional needs

·  Co-operating with other providers

·  Safeguarding people who use services

·  Cleanliness and Infection Control

·  Management of medicines

·  Safety and suitability of premises

·  Safety, availability and suitability of equipment

·  Requirements relating to workers

·  Staffing

·  Supporting workers

·  Assessing and monitoring the quality of service

·  Complaints

·  Patient records

The work involved in preparing for compliance is huge even though much of the evidence needed is already in place. It is expected that the focus of the visits will be based on patient and staff feedback rather than looking at protocols and procedures. However it is important that protocol and procedures are in place and that staff are properly trained. Dr. Jones reiterated the importance of being fully compliant with CQC and the additional work that this will bring to General Practice. However it is all about improving quality care for patients and ensuring that practices across the country are working in a similar way with similar standards of care so this is good news for patients.

Sam agreed to keep the PPG up to date with our progress through the CQC registration and application process. Action: Sam

5.  Feedback from Clinical Commissioning Group PPG Workshop 11/10/2012

Sam attended the recent West Cheshire Patient Participation Group Workshop which was held at Cheshire View near Christleton. The attendance was much better than the previous West Cheshire wide workshop but unfortunately there were not any Handbridge PPG members present. The morning session involved hearing presentations from Dr Huw Charles-Jones and Alison Lee, Chair and Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Commissioning Group as well as Dr Clare Westmoreland who is the Patient Engagement lead GP.

We then went on to work in groups which included PPG members, Practice Managers and GPs to discuss how effective the practice based PPGs have been so far and how they can influence the bigger picture within our wider health economy. The full report and actions from the workshop are not yet available but we will put a link from our website as soon as they are.

Nuala and Pam fed back that they attended the previous CCG PPG Workshop back in the summer but had not any contact from the GGG team since then and they did not get a direct invite from them regarding the recent event . Sam agreed to feed this back to the Patient Engagement team at the CCG. Action: Sam

6.  Practice News

·  Nursing Team – Sam reported that our new Nursing team is now fully in place with Sister Lawson joining the practice in September. Sister Lawson is the lead Nurse for respiratory care and is looking after all of our patients with Asthma and COPD along with many other things. The PPG extended a warm welcome to Sister Lawson.

·  Decorators – Sam updated the PPG on the reason for the ‘bare’ surgery, the decorators have been in over the last couple of weeks decorating throughout the surgery and we have not yet had time to put the posters back up on the notice boards. Sam asked the PPG whether they would like to have their own notice board in the practice so that they can keep patients up to date with PPG news and other local initiatives.

This was discussed by the group and thought to be a good idea, Nuala also offered to take on a role in managing the notice boards on a monthly basis to keep them fresh and relevant to patients. This was supported by the PPG members and Pam offered to help Nuala in the role. Sam & Dr. Jones thanked them for offereing to provide practical support to the running of the surgery in this way, it is much appreciated. Action: Nuala & Pam

·  Phone System – Sam informed the group that we are having a new phone system installed in November, whilst the patients shouldn’t notice much difference the system is more sophisticated than our current one so it will be fair easier to operate at the practice end. We also hope to be able to increase the number of lines we use to make external calls so that we leave the four lines free as much as possible for incoming calls which will of course benefit patients. The new system will be installed over a weekend so there will not be any down time during the working week.

·  Flu Clinic – Finally we are planning our most ambitious flu clinic yet on 3rd November as we are offering 675 appointments on that day, 200 more than usual. The flu jabs have been delayed by a month this year due to manufacturing difficulties so this has put everyone back. It is important to vaccinate patients in a timely manner so by increasing the Saturday clinic we can get more patients in quickly. Routine weekly clinics will continue through to early December, we hope to have vaccinated everyone by the end of December at the latest.

7.  Any Other Business

Sam asked who from the practice team the PPG would like to invite to the next meeting. It was agreed that Sister Caffrey our Nurse Practitioner would be invited. Sam commented that Sr. Caffrey doesn’t work for us on a Wednesday but she would find out if she could be available. Action: Sam

Nuala thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 16th January 2012 5- 6.30pm at Handbridge Medical Centre

Sam Jeffery, Practice Manager, 29th November 2012