Park Medical Centre

PATIENT REPRESENTATIVE GROUP REPORT – MARCH 2014

OUR PATIENT REPRESENTATIVE GROUP

WHAT IS THE PATIENT REPRESENTATIVE GROUP (PRG)?

Our Patient Participation Group (PPG) was set up in 2011. This is our third year of operation. The group is made up of volunteers from amongst our patients. We try our best to ensure the group reflects the make up of our practice patient population. The function of the group is to look at aspects of the care we deliver from a patient’s perspective and to help us to monitor and improve services for all of our patients.

Outcome of last year’s activities

1. Improvement to waiting room: This work is progressing well. We have added poster displays to the waiting room. We have had workmen into surgery to look at the areas of work needed to improve the waiting room (ventilation, seating, flooring, safe toys etc). We have had quotes and are planning next steps. We are also changing arrangements for automatic touch screen log in and also patient information screen.

2. Review of script ordering system: We have had several developments on this front. To try to prevent a delay in patients collecting scripts we tagged the script folders given to the GPs. Unfortunately this was variably used. We have now had a meeting with the IT team and have enrolled onto a scheme for electronic prescribing. Electronic scripts are now being issued. This meansno 'lost paper prescriptions' and patients can pick up medication whenever they choose from the chemist without having to collect the paper version from the surgery first. We hope more patients will take up this option but for those who choose to retain the paper method this will also be available.

3. Using internet to order prescriptions: Only a few patients make use of this system. We would be happy if more patients tried it. It allows patients to log on at home and order their own medication without ticking boxes on papers that have then to be delivered to the practice by hand. We aim to publicise both electronic ordering and electronic collection soon.

4. Re suggestion that perhaps SMS could be used to notify patients whose scripts might be delayed: We are still working on how to implement this but in the meantime the electronic ordering and collection system might resolve some of these problems

5. More advanced and online appointments: Since last years meetings appointments are now on the system 1 month in advance and nearly 1/2 of appointments are made available for online booking.

6. Create newsletter: This is still being worked on I'm afraid.

PRG AND PRACTICE PROFILE

We currently have a total of 12 patients who have agreed to join our PPG.

Demonstrating how a Patient Reference Group is Representative
Practice Population Profile / PRG Profile / Difference
Age
% Under 16 32 / % Under 16 0 / -32%. We recruited adults
% 17-24 13 / % 17-24 8 / -5%. This difference has improved from last year
% 25-34 17 / % 25-34 25 / +7%
% 35-44 14 / % 35-44 0 / -14%
% 45-54 9 / % 45-54 25 / +16%
% 55-64 5 / % 55-64 17 / +12%
% 65-74 4 / % 65-74 25 / +21% more retired patients tended to volunteer
% 75-84 4 / % 75-84 0 / -4%
% 85 and Over 1 / % 85 and Over 0 / -1%
Ethnicity
White / White
% British Group 6 / % British Group 33 / +27%
% Irish 2 / % Irish 8 / +6%
Mixed / Mixed
% White & Black Caribbean 1 / % White & Black Caribbean 0 / -1%
% White & Black African 1 / % White & Black African 0 / -1%
% White & Asian 1 / % White & Asian 0 / -1%
Asian or Asian British / Asian or Asian British
% Indian 2 / % Indian 17 / +15%
% Pakistani 23 / % Pakistani 25 / +2%
% Bangladeshi 15 / % Bangladeshi 8 / -7%
Black or Black British / Black or Black British
% Caribbean 3 / % Caribbean 0 / -3%
% African 7 / % African 8 / +1%
Chinese or other ethnic group / Chinese or other ethnic group
% Chinese 0 / % Chinese 0
& any other 13 / & any other 0 / -13%
Not Stated % 27 / Not Stated %
Gender
% Male 53 / % Male 58 / +5%
% Female 47 / % Female 42 / -5%

STEPS TO ENSURE GROUP WAS REPRESENTATIVE/REASONS FOR DIFFERENCE IN GROUP AND PRACTICE PROFILE

In previous years we struggled to recruit enough patients to attend meetings at the surgery. We then opted to have some of the work of the PPG done via email correspondence and some as face to face meetings. We have used a variety of methods to recruit volunteers (writing to a sample of patients, recruitment at the desk, posters in the surgery and via our webpage).This year we have continued our efforts to recruit via posters and at the desk and by encouragement from partners at patient consultations. Over the next year we will double our efforts to encourage more patient participation.
We have a large percentage of children registered at the practice. Our PPG is, however, made up of only adults. The age distribution of the adults in our PPG is generally in line with our population. More retired patients tended to volunteer. In terms of ethnicity our ‘white British’ ethnic group is over represented as is ‘Indian’. We are under represented by ‘Bangladeshi’ and ‘Caribbean’. We are planning further efforts next year to improve the mix of patients on the PPG.

PRG FREQUENCY

We communicated with our PPG on the following occasions:
24/09/2013 / We informed PPG of achievements last year and encouraged them to participate this year. We asked our group for suggestions for areas we might work on this year
December 2013 / We used these views to formulate a questionnaire to administer to other patients at the surgery.
03/03/2014 / We held a meeting at the surgery for the PPG. We discussed findings of the survey.
05/03/2014 / We discussed survey results and PPG feedback at the partners meeting and formulated a plan
21/03/2014 / We fed meeting outcomes back to the PPG

PRG MEMBERSHIP

We currently have 12 members of our PPG with the profile above. We have not listed names of members here as we have no specific consent for this and wish to respect the confidentiality of our patients.

PATIENT SURVEY

AREAS OF PRIORITY & HOW THEY WERE DECIDED

We asked PPG members for their views on areas the practice can work on this year.The views of the members of the PPG were collected. Using the suggestions made 3 broad themes were identified. We asked about how patients felt about phlebotomy at the surgery and its use of translation services. We also enquired about nurse appointments.

SURVEY PROCESS

A written questionnaire was drafted based on the discussions at the PPG. It was felt that we should anonymise the survey to encourage frank feedback from patients. The questionnaires were handed out at the reception desk to all patients attending for appointments between Dec 2013 and January 2014. Receptionists were to hand to explain the purpose of the survey and to help answer any queries.

RESULTS

47 patients returned completed questionnaires.
  1. Blood tests at the surgery
Very Happy / Generally Happy / Needs to improve / Needs to improve a lot / I haven’t had a blood test here
43% / 43% / 9% / 2% / 6%
Hence a large percentage were happy (86%). Some comments received included:
Better times, delay in waiting room, not suitable times, limited days, need higher chairs, Review time slots, screen telling you what number you are, waiting to get appointment, long wait to get appointment, noisy waiting room
Only a few people commented on the home phlebotomy service and all 4 patients were happy with this.
  1. Translators: It is difficult to analyse this result as only a few people had used translators.
  1. Nurse appointments
Patients used nurse appointments for the following (patients could select as many areas as they wished) :
Task / %
Dressing and stitch removal / 23
Vaccination / 49
Health checks e.g. asthma / 53
Health checks for well people / 19
Contraception and smears / 32
Ear wax removal / 34
Coughs and colds / 17
Advice about diet and weight / 30
Stop smoking advice / 23
Generally patients tended to use nurse appointments for vaccination and chronic illness checks. It is surprising that a small number of patients use nurse appointments for stopping smoking, lifestyle interventions and for minor ailments.

DISCUSSION ABOUT RESULTS

We held a meeting of the PPG to discuss the results of the survey on 3/3/14.
Areas for discussion:
What can be done to improve number of phlebotomy slots available and the times of the week?
Should translator survey be repeated in another format?
How can we promote the use of nurse appointments for a wider range of problems? Sometimes doctor appointments are not needed for some problems and nurses are competent at managing a wide variety of illnesses.
Although a large proportion of patients were happy with blood test arrangements at the surgery 11% felt improvements were needed. These concerns centred around access for blood tests as currently phlebotomy is available twice a week during mornings only. Patients seemed happy with home visit arrangements for blood tests.
Generally patients tended to book with the nurses for vaccinations and long term illness reviews. We talked about how we might encourage patients to book with nurses for other problems.

ACTION PLAN

Actions / Staff Responsible / Timescale
Review use of phlebotomy services and assess current waiting times. Assess how many patients have blood tests at home. Present options to doctors meeting and onward discussion with CCG / Julie Heath / Over the next year
Review processes for booking translators / Sheila Mutchell / Within 1 month
Create Newsletters / HCA Sonia / Planning meeting April
Publicise use of nurse appointments.
Review nurses rota and re-schedule to match requirements. Advertise and recruit more nursing / Julie Heath / 3m

ACCESS

OPENING HOURS

Monday 0830-1830
Tuesday 0830-1830
Wednesday 0830-2000
Thursday 0830-1300
Friday 0830-1830

EXTENDED HOURS

Wednesday evenings *3 GPs 1830-2000 (=4.5hrs)

ACCESS TO SERVICES

Services in hours can be accessed via phone (08451243777 or 01217036876), online booking via internet and booking via our webpage ()
Out of hours services can be obtained via BADGER (03005559999)

PUBLICATION OF THE REPORT

Copies of the report have been sent to the CCG, can be obtained at the surgery and can be read on our webpage ()