SILVER SPRINGS MEDICAL PRACTICE
PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
Minutes of meeting held 1pm 25th July2017
Present: June Harding (Practice Manager)
The following patients:
Ann Hadland (Joint Chairperson)
Rosemary Iddenden (Joint Chairperson)
Chris Farrell
Norman Perry
Janet Smith
Gerie Buckle
Gill MacLean
Bill Petsing
William Burrows
Linda Burrows
Danny Shaves
Leslie Curtis
Welcome and Introduction
Rosemary and Ann agreed to jointly take the chair of the meeting
Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from the following:
Carole Shaves, Patrick Warren and Tania Vice
Portacabins/ Car Park / Disabled Bays
The portacabins outside the entrance to the surgery had been removed to allow much more room in the area. The removal involved road closure and caused a few problems on the day but the work had been well advertised.
Planned works
The entrance to the car park will be re lined with extra spaces to enable disabled patients access to the surgery.
The Silver Springs Surgery Sign will also be moved from the corner and relocated to the Beaufort Road side.
There is often a problem with rubbish in the car park but June does her best to keep this tidy.
Work has also been carried out in the surgery to bring the premises up to the required standard. Chairs have been moved in the waiting room as there had been various complaints about the position of the chairs.
June noted that Albion Interiors is now responsible for maintenance work after the collaboration with Sydenham House.
Surgery Update
Dr Gibson has returned from sick leave and is working two days a week at the surgery. There is continued liaison with High Glades Surgery and Dr Fox has also worked at Silver Springs while paramedics are also shared between the two practices. June confirmed that at the moment there are no plans to merge the practice lists of Silver Springs and High Glades.
Online services are not being well-used and it is thought that most people prefer to have face to face contact. There had been anBT and IT problem with the telephones and computers for a couple of days in June but High Glades was used as a back-up system during this period.
Friends and Family
There have been poor reports concerning the practice on the NHS Choices website so it is necessary to show positive comments made from the Friends and Family initiative.
Questions and Answers / Discussion
Danny Shaves pointed out that the Silver Springs PPG had not been advised of the collaboration with High Glades – the decision was taken but there had been no notice and there was obviously a communication problem between the practice and the PPG which is not being used as it should be. The collaboration is on the administration/management side and many of these duties for both practices have been taken on by Sydenham House. The website is a joint undertaking between Silver Springs and High Glades.
It was agreed that there is a need for more clarification regarding the collaboration and June said that Nick Keyte attended the PPG meeting in June 2016 and that the merge was discussed and she would look into the old minutes will advise at the next committee meeting.
At the moment there are no plans to merge patient lists but the doctors may take work from each surgery, possibly to free doctors to do other work,eg minor surgery.
There was discussion concerning electronic ordering of prescriptions and delays experienced at some pharmacies. Leslie Curtis queried the changes in drug suppliers as this can be very confusing, especially for older people. The change of medicines may not necessarily agree with the patient and this could be medically dangerous.
Rosemary Iddenden said that long waiting times have occasionally been experienced in the waiting room and that patients should be advised of any problems if this happens.
It was also pointed out that the electronic notice board in reception point out that “If you have been waiting longer than 15 minutes for your appointment please notify reception”
It was agreed that the telephone answering response time is usually very good and June said that there is now a large team of people at the practice to answer the telephones.
June is looking into the possibility of arranging an evening meeting. There are pros and cons for this – there are some people who cannot attend during the day but the lunchtime meetings have a much better attendance than when they were held in the early evening.If patients are members of the PPG they will of course receive the minutes of meetings and any points to be raised can be sent to June who will make sure they are discussed in the next meeting.
June will arrange a consent form to be sent to members of the PPG
(To help improve communication within the group)
Leslie Curtis suggested the use of Skype by patients and medical staff at the practice but June said that there are no plans for this at present.
The appointment system is still being worked onto offer a better mix of appointments
Information is requested by the reception staff so that return calls by the doctors can be prioritised. William Burrows asked if calls sometimes have to be carried over to the next day – June said that all calls are usually dealt with on the same day but in exceptional cases the patient may be asked if the call can be carried over.
Danny Shaves asked if a nurse or nurse practitioner could reply instead of the doctor and June said this may happen if the nurse has free time. He also noted that online appointments have very few free slots available over a 3-4 week period.
June said that home visits are still carried out when necessary.
June confirmed that the practice had received an interim visit from the Care Quality Commission. Silver Springs will remain in special measures until there is a further visit but the date of this is not known. She hopes this will have been completed by the next meeting of the PPG (to be advised, possibly in September).
The meeting closed at 2.10pm.