Patient Participation Group

Date of Meeting 18th November 2015

Present Suzanne Mackinnon (SM) Dr Jonathan Webster (JW) Francis DeSouza (FD) Sonia Jackson (SJ) Gillian Cross (GC) Lynn Bergin (LB) Natalie Baker (NB) Michael Tebbutt – Healthwatch (MT)

Apologies: Mr M Edinberry (ME)

Minutes from last meeting: There were no issues with the minutes from the last meeting.

Healthwatch – Mr Michael Tebbutt attended the meeting to tell us about Healthwatch and the service that they offer. A poster will be put up in the waiting room, along with some cards informing our patients of the healthwatch contact details.

GP referrals – FD contacted SM on 15th October as he was concerned that his wife had to wait a long time for a referral. Two friends had also had a similar experience. With regards to his wife, this was an administrative failure which was discussed. We did not have the details of the other two referrals to look into. FD also bought in an article that was in the pulse magazine to say that some clinical CCGs were offering GP Practices payments for cutting referrals. JW gave some background to our referral processes and the quantity that we do. The Practice is not paid for cutting referrals but are paid for our time in triaging referrals to make sure that they are appropriate. At the moment we are triaging Orthopaedic referrals as EKHUFT are struggling with the volume.

Joint PPG meeting with Market Place and Ash Surgery - Everyone thought that it would be a good idea to meet with the other town team practice’s PPGs, maybe once or twice a year, to discuss issues involving all of the practices not just our individual ones. SM will liaise with Carol from Market Place and Pauline from Ash surgery to see if this is something they would also like to do.

Mission Statement – We have discussed having a mission statement a few times now. FD said that he had found this a good thing to have, but mostly with larger companies. The general opinion is that we do not need one for the Practice.

MCP Vanguard – The Practice is part of the MCP vanguard. SM explained that because of this our Practice will have access to routine appointments on a Saturday, at one of the three hubs in Canterbury, Whitstable or Faversham. We are not sure how much this will be used as it is quite a distance for our patients to travel. We will discuss the need for a hub nearer to our Practice’s with the other PPGs when we meet them. In addition to this we will have a Paramedic Practitioner attached to the Practice from the beginning of December. JW explained how this would work.

Sandwich & Ash Stakeholder meeting. SM, GC and SJ attended this today. We feel that this is finally taking shape and hope that it will help with providing the services that are relevant to our area. The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 13th January 2pm at Age Concern.

Frailty assessment – The Practice sent out a frailty questionnaires to all of our patients over 75. In total 455 were sent and to date 312 have been returned. All patients who score over 5 will be sent for a further assessment which will involve writing a personal care plan to help improve overall health and wellbeing and potentially avoid unplanned care or treatment.

Practice development – JW gave an update on the practice development. Waitrose have pulled out but the developer has been approached by Churchill’s to build some assisted living houses on the site. The plans will go in at the beginning of the New Year. Paydens pharmacy has also been approved for the development.

Date of next meeting February – date to be arranged, possibly a joint meeting with the other practices PPGs.