Annex C: Standard Reporting Template

Schedule M

Hertfordshire and South Midlands Area Team

2014/15 Patient Participation Enhanced Service – Reporting Template

Practice Name: Vine House Health Centre

Practice Code: E82046

Signed on behalf of practice: Christine Jones Date: 30th March 2015

Signed on behalf of PPG: James Heaver Date: 10th March 2015

1.  Prerequisite of Enhanced Service – Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG) (Component 1)

Does the Practice have a PPG? YES
Method of engagement with PPG: Face to face, Email, Other (please specify)
Email and face to face meetings. One patient does not have email access so we correspond by post.
Number of members of PPG: 42
Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG:
% / Male / Female
Practice / 49% / 51%
PPG / 26% / 74%
/ Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG:
% / <16 / 17-24 / 25-34 / 35-44 / 45-54 / 55-64 / 65-74 / > 75
Practice / 20% / 7% / 11% / 13% / 16% / 12% / 10% / 9%
PPG / 0 / 0 / 2% / 12% / 29% / 17% / 26% / 14%
Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PPG:
White / Mixed/ multiple ethnic groups
British / Irish / Gypsy or Irish traveller / Other white / White &black Caribbean / White &black African / White &Asian / Other mixed
Practice / 4918 / 47 / - / 332 / 38 / 30 / 37 / -
PPG / 34 / 3 / - / - / - / - / - / -
Asian/Asian British / Black/African/Caribbean/Black British / Other
Indian / Pakistani / Bangladeshi / Chinese / Other
Asian / African / Caribbean / Other Black / Arab / Any other
Practice / 114 / 26 / 8 / 19 / - / 36 / 20 / 28 / - / 71
PPG / 1 / 1 / - / - / - / 2 / 1 / - / - / -
Describe steps taken to ensure that the PPG is representative of the practice population in terms of gender, age and ethnic background and other members of the practice population:
Invitation letters to join our patient group are included in the registration pack for all new patients.
In the waiting room there are sign-up forms, posters, and periodically we advertise it in our practice newsletter. It is a permanent feature on our surgery website where there is an electronic sign-up form.
We had a stall at our village carnival in June 2014 in order to try and reach out to all our patients in the community, especially those who rarely attend the surgery.
We have held 2 meetings at lunchtime to see if perhaps young mums may find this easier while children are at school/nursery and for those more vulnerable patients who may not wish to venture out in the evenings in the winter months.
Are there any specific characteristics of your practice population which means that other groups should be included in the PPG?
e.g. a large student population, significant number of jobseekers, large numbers of nursing homes, or a LGBT community? YES
If you have answered yes, please outline measures taken to include those specific groups and whether those measures were successful:
We do have a travellers community that we have tried to engage by writing to their representative and sending surveys, but we have not had any response to our efforts.
We also have 2 nursing homes that are looked after by two dedicated GP’s. The residents are very elderly, frail and a large proportion have dementia which makes it very difficult to engage these patients.

2.  Review of patient feedback (Component 2)

Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year:
Verbal/written - we advertise the number of patients that do not attend (DNA) their appointments and our receptionists receive a lot of verbal feedback from frustrated patients who find this unacceptable especially when appointments are in such high demand.
Survey responses – from patient surveys it has been drawn to our attention that the building and waiting area is looking tired and in need of brightening up and redecoration.
Questionnaire responses :
·  we discussed the lack of response to a questionnaire given to 1500 patients who attended our flu clinics as to whether they supported our 3 point Action Plan or had any other ideas that we should concentrate on for the year 2014-15.
·  we discussed the responses received from our targeted questionnaire sent to patients asking why they did not attend their appointments.
How frequently were these reviewed with the PRG?
They have been discussed at our face to face meetings (3 held this year) and via a number of email exchanges.

3.  Action plan priority areas and implementation (Component 3)

Priority area 1
Description of priority area:
Improve Patient Experience
As a result of patient feedback with regard to the condition of the building and seating in the waiting room (see under Component 2) we decided to undertake a plan of work to improve patient experience whilst visiting the surgery.
What actions were taken to address the priority?
Improve the appearance of the surgery by:
·  External redecoration
·  Internal redecoration
·  New plants in the waiting areas
·  New plants/shrubs to the front of the surgery
Improve the seating area in the waiting room (especially for elderly/disabled patients) by:
·  Raising all the bench seats in the waiting room
·  Removing one bench seat and replacing with higher chairs with arms
The funding of this work has been supported by:
·  a grant towards the raising of the seating from the Locality Budget of a local councillor who is also a member of our PPG for which we are very grateful
·  a saving from not sending out our initial flu invitation letters this year which amounted to over £1,000. Thanks to all those patients who rang in to book their appointments having read the posters, flyers, newsletter articles etc.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
We have received very positive feedback from patients who find the waiting area much cleaner and brighter and more pleasant to sit in. They have said that it makes them feel that the surgery cares about their patients.
The seating has only just been completed, but we are confident that patients will find the higher benches of great benefit.
Staff have also appreciated the improvement to the surgery as a whole.
We have put up “You said, we did” posters in the waiting room. An article has been placed in our surgery newsletter for pick-up in the waiting room and emailed to over 500 patients who have signed up via our website to receive it.
Our Action Plan for 2014-15 is on our website under “Have your Say”, “Patient Reference Group – Get Involved” and then clicking on the “Action Plan” tab.
Priority area 2
Description of priority area:
Engage a volunteer as a Patient Champion/Liaison person. It was thought this person would be patient-friendly, easy to access and a more personal contact to assist patients and carers if they had any questions or queries, problems or difficulties.
It was hoped that this would encourage more patients to give us their views, good or bad, and help prevent unnecessary worry or upset to patients. We appreciate that not all patients have the confidence to approach management about any concerns they might have.
What actions were taken to address the priority?
Wide ranging discussions have taken place at our patient group meetings as to the role and job description. It was thought that there may be similarities to that of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) at the hospital. It has been difficult to reach any firm conclusions as to the role and how that role would be advertised to find a suitable person.
A member of the practice team along with a member from our patient group has recently met to discuss this with the Public Engagement Manager from Herts Valleys CCG . In addition they will be attending a Network Event for Practice Patient Groups in April 2015 where there will be the opportunity to meet other groups, share ideas and good practice and it is hoped discuss the idea of a Patient Liaison person. Our patient group can revisit this idea at their next meeting.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
It is not possible to comment as this is still a “work in progress”
Our Action Plan for 2014-15 is on our website under “Have your Say”, “Patient Reference Group – Get Involved” and then clicking on the “Action Plan” tab.
Priority area 3
Description of priority area:
Did Not Attend (DNA) rates
As a result of patient feedback with regard to the difficulty in obtaining an appointment and the high number of DNA’s (see under Component 2) we decided to look at our DNA rates.
What actions were taken to address the priority?
After discussion with the PPG with regards to the high number of DNA’s each week, we thought it would be helpful to find out why patients are not cancelling their appointments and freeing them up for re-booking . From past surveys patients had said that it was difficult to cancel their appointment as they could not get through on the telephones as they were always busy. In response to this, we put measures in place to ease the situation such as a dedicated ansaphone to leave a message and the facility to text to the work mobile, both of which bypass the main switchboard. We have advertised these widely and produced a “business card” detailing all the ways in which a patient can book and cancel their appointment. These were given out by volunteers from our PPG at our flu clinics, by our nurses at baby clinics and are available to pick up in our waiting room and in the three pharmacies in the village high street. This information can also be found on the front page of our website and also under the Appointments tab.
It was also decided to send a simple questionnaire and covering letter to approximately 150 patients who had recently DNA’d their appointment to see if there was a pattern as to why they did not cancel their appointment. They were asked to drop their completed form into reception or return in a stamped addressed envelope.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
We had just 9 responses to the 150 questionnaires sent out and therefore it was not possible to determine any pattern.
Despite our efforts to understand why patients are not cancelling their appointments and also putting in measures to make cancelling easier, our DNA rate remains unacceptably high.
A member of our PPG has had an article published in our local village publication “My Abbots”. It was written from a patient point of view with regards to obtaining and cancelling appointments and we hope that this will further emphasise the need to cancel unwanted appointments.
Our PPG will continue to look at further ways to address this problem.
Our Action Plan for 2014-15 is on our website under “Have your Say”, “Patient Reference Group – Get Involved” and then clicking on the “Action Plan” tab.

4.  Progress on previous years (Component 4)

If you have participated in this scheme for more than one year, outline progress made on issues raised in the previous year(s):


5.  PPG Sign Off

Report signed off by PPG: YES
Date of sign off: 10th March 2015
Has the report been published on the practice website? YES
Please insert web-link to your report: http://www.mysurgerywebsite.co.uk/surveyreport.aspx?p=E82046
How has the practice engaged with the PPG:
A senior doctor attended all the meetings of the previous PRG and is expected to continue this practise with the PPG.
Two senior members of the Practice Management attended all meetings of the previous PRG and will continue to do this with the PPG.
The Practice has provided a conference room and refreshments for all meetings.
Generally the Practice has been accommodating and helpful.
How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population?
The Practice has invited engagement by means of flyers and notes in its regular newsletters.
These have been reinforced by one to one initiatives at Practice clinics and by a Practice Stall at the village carnival.
Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources?
The Practice acted as ‘midwife’ to a Carers Network which meets monthly. These meetings are deliberately informal and provide unforced feedback concerning both carers and patient. The Carer’s Champion from the Practice regularly attends these meetings and shares feedback with the Practice.
Feedback is obtained from responses to the Practice’s newsletters.
Following the installation of automatic check in the Practice reception staff have gained time to invite verbal feedback from patients attending for matters other than doctor appointments.
Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan?
The PPG was closely involved both with priorities and with the subsequent action plan.
How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan?
The service to carers did not exist as a formal service and is now agreed to be very valuable.
1.  Improve patient experience - Patient response to improvements to confidentiality at reception and to refurbishment of the waiting area have been very positive.
2.  Patient Liaison Role – as this is still a “work in progress” we are unable to comment as yet.
3.  Did not attend (DNA) rates - Despite great efforts the ‘did not attend’ ratio remains too high. The PPG will seek possible alternative solutions.
Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work?
The groundwork has been laid for a robust PPG. We need to develop better lines of communication with each patient individually and plans are being developed to this end.

Please return this completed report template to no later than 31st March 2015. No payments will be made to a practice under the terms of this DES if the report is not submitted by 31st March 2015.