ST GEORGE’S MEDICAL PRACTICE – PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 19 JANUARY 2014 AT 6 PM

PRESENT: Malcolm Ginever (Chair), John Hewitt (Secretary), Dr Matthew Jelpke (Senior Partner), Rod Jones, Helen Miller (Vice-Chair), Ian Munro, Melissa Prinn, Andrea Rivlin, Thelma Robertson, Ian Thompson, Carol Wilson (Practice Manager)

APOLOGIES: Paul Graham, Helen McKenzie,Louise Pulford, and Carolyn Thackstone

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING (17 NOVEMBER 2014): These were agreed as an accurate record.

MATTERS ARISING: (1) Review of physiotherapy service – Following the CCG Patient Cabinet meeting on Thursday 15 January, a sub-meeting on physiotherapy and dermatology was being arranged.

(2) Friends and Family Test – Information about this was now on the practice website. Forms were also in the reception area. Reception and medical staff would be reminded to mention the FFT forms more to encourage more comments.

(3) Care Data – The MP’s office had lost our original letter; another copy had been scanned through to them. They assured us it would now be dealt with.

(4) Advice about alcohol and drug addiction – Following the change in the commissioning contract, the current waiting time to access this service was currently 2-3 weeks. Through the CCG, we were registering our disapproval of this service being managed by the Crime Reduction Initiative (CRI), and expressing the hope that the waiting time could be reduced. The new e-healthscope mechanism could be used to raise concerns about current time scales, if the CCG had a contract with the CRI.

FEEDBACK FROM DECEMBER’S PATIENT ACTIVE GROUP MEETING:

The PM’s Challenge Fund had recently been used to set up a local weekend GP service at the Gamston surgery on Saturday and Sunday mornings, staffed by Rushcliffe GPs, on a rota system. It was not a walk in service, but had to be booked by the 111 phone line, where patients were pre-screened for medical priority. It should help to reduce the number of patients going to A & E at the QMC. Dr Jelpke had recently worked there on one weekend: the 25 patients seen had offered positive feedback.

UPDATE ON PATIENT NUMBERS/STAFF CHANGES: The number of patients is now 9,877; an increase of 58 in the last two months.Another nurse is being sought and another healthcare assistant has been appointed to strengthen the nursing staff in the light of the increase in patient numbers. The Practice now has 6 permanent doctors and 2 full time GP Registrars and one part-time (ie. qualified doctors who are training to be GPs). Two of the senior doctors, on average, spend about 50% of their time training the GP Registrars.

FLU JAB DAY – PATIENT SURVEY RESULTS: Ian Thompson was thanked for compiling the survey summaryto make the results clearer. It was agreed that this should be shown on the PPG part of the website, and that the summary should include the top 3 positive comments and the top 3 negative comments. Also, the positive aspects of the Practice could be emphasised more: e.g. the staff collectively serve, on average, 7% of patients every week – seeing 80% of these face to face, and speaking to 20% on the telephone. All of the results have been seen by and discussed with the Practice staff. The sub-group team were invited to discuss and agree, online,these additions and the final draft of the survey summary.

There were a few comments about the communication of test results. The Practice handles the results of about 80 different patients per day. Most are received within 48 hours, and patients should be able to see their own results through the systm - online after a week. All results are seen by the doctors, and their written comments, clarifying the result, are available to read online.

JOINING THE NAPP (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PATIENT PARTICIPATION): With encouragement from the Rushcliffe CCG, the Practice were preparing to join this support group. The Chair (MG), Vice-Chair (HM) and the Secretary (JH) agreed that their names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers could be passed to the NAPP who will contact mainly Malcolm Ginever(Chair).

FORTHCOMING CQC INSPECTION: Helen Miller was thanked for compiling the aide-memoire of achievement which could be shown to the CQC team, and which could be used to brief those PPG members chosen to see the team during their one day visit. Any patient can comment about the Practice on the NHS Choices website, and will be able to do so on the CQC’s website after their visit. [NB The Practice will be inspected by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) on 10 February].

WITHDRAWAL OF NUH TRUST STAFF FROM DERMATOLOGY SERVICES: Circle had recently competed with the NUH Trust to manage the Treatment Centre, which included dermatology services. With fewer years’ experience in providing these services there, the NUH Trust lost the contract to Circle, who had received glowing patient reports. The new contract with Circle appeared to be less favourable to NUH Trust consultants. Therefore many had gone elsewhere, leaving Circle to recruit less experienced staff. There was a concern that local valuable experience in dermatology was being lost, and that the private provider, Circle, would be forced to recruit less experienced specialist staff. Ian Thompson agreed to let Malcolm Ginever know when he had received comments from the CCG on how the local excellence in dermatology could be preserved. (ACTION IT)

PROMOTION OF SUPPLEMENTS TO PREVENT VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY: NICE had invited GPs to encourage the take up of vitamin D supplements, particularly to the target groups of pregnant women, children under 5 years, the elderly (over 65s), and those with dark skin, and others who may have difficulty in getting sufficient sunlight between April and October. The Practice were testing more patients for vitamin D deficiency than they used to, and would continue to do so on a rolling programme.

HEALTHWATCH: Nottinghamshire Police are supporting an initiative to replace the space left by the no longer required tax disc with a new emergency contact disc for details of next of kin and medical alerts, in the event of an accident. Whilst appreciating the reason behind this, we were concerned about the possibility of such personal information falling into the wrong hands in the event of car theft.

Thirteen trial schemes, including one in Nottinghamshire, are to be launched in April 2015 to place mental health professionals in police stations and courts to ensure that vulnerable people who come into the criminal justice system are given prompt access to the health service for treatment.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

Nottinghamshire County Council are consulting on a new way of providing tobacco control services. Patients can comment on the proposals by attending an event at Lutterell Hall, Church Drive, West Bridgford on Thursday 26 February from 2pm until 4pm, by completing an online survey at or a paper copy of the survey. The last date for comments is 31 March 2015.

Social Prescriptions:Lorraine Pulford had referred this subject to us for consideration. It is an initiative being promoted by NESTA (at to support the general health of patients, particularly those suffering from long term conditions, by suggesting local groups that would improve their wellbeing (e.g. through short walks, nature conservation, exercise classes, befriending for loneliness, etc.). Melissa Prinn offered to create a wellbeing file/resources area, referring to information provided by Rushcliffe Council for Voluntary Services (RCVS), among others. Eventually thisinformation would be highlighted on a waiting room notice board and on the practice website. (ACTION MP)

DATE AND TIME OF FUTURE MEETINGS:

It was agreed that the secretary would write to all PPG members, inviting them to show which dates and times (lunch/evening) during the week they would be available to attend meetings to ensure that we were choosing the best date for all, or, failing that, most, to attend. (ACTION JH)

DATE OF NEXT MEETING:

Friday 27 February 2015 at 12 noon (ending about 2pm).

JOHN HEWITT

PPG Secretary