Tudor Lodge Surgery Patient Participation Report
March 2013
The practice is open from 8am to 6.30pm every day and stays open throughout. Monday to Thursday we also open until 7.45pm (extended opening) with appointments that can be pre-booked between 6.30-7.45pm to cater for workers. Our nurses also now run extended hours clinics which are proving extremely useful for those patients who work.
The Patient Representative Group (PRG) currently has 10 members who meet bi-monthly at the practice. The group has been in place for 6 years with a membership of 12 but over the last 12 months 2 members have moved out of area and concerted efforts have been made to recruit members from other age ranges, disabilities and ethic minorities.
The Practice manager and her deputy attend the meetings as well as occasional speakers and if available a GP.
Chairman of the PRG: Mr Douglas Mitchell
Secretary : Mrs Janet Marshall
Any patients wishing to contact the PRG do so via the Practice Manager. There is also a suggestion box in reception by the PRG board for any comments and this is checked regularly by the group, with feedback at meetings.
The practice population of 10217 is spread as follows
Under 16 / 1700-16.6%17-24 / 910-8.8% / We have tried to recruit via clinics to no avail but recently are working towards a ‘Young People Friendly’ accreditation which may aid recruitment and feedback.
25-34 / 1088-10.64% / We initially recruited 2 younger members who eventually could not commit to regular meetings but we still do consult with a cross section of this group when necessary.
35-44 / 1370-13.4% / As above- if we do receive feedback/complaints, we ask patients to join the group to help inform future planning.
45-54 / 1510-14.77% / As above
55-64 / 1311 -12.83% / We have recruited 2 members from this group.
65-74 / 1206-11.8% / 3
75-84 / 750-7.34% / 5
Over 84 / 372 -3.64%
The current PRG members are mainly retired or semi-retired and fall into the category of 65-84. The practice does not have many ethnic minorities but has seen a rise in registrations of Polish, Turkish and Bulgarian. We would welcome members of these communities to join the PRG and will be holding a recruitment drive in the next few months with literature in those languages.
However, it is difficult to recruit from working groups or under 16’s as mostly these patients are working or studying.
We do not discriminate in regards to age, ethnicity or disability-
One member is registered blind and brings his guide dog to the meetings. Rebel is now the surgery mascot and will be featured on the next print of our practice leaflet. Mr King is happy to talk to any patients or their carers about being blind and will offer support and advice to those patients having sight problems.
The PRG AGM was held in January 2013 and the public was invited to attend. It was advertised in the Mercury Newspaper and prior to the AGM, talks were given by the Practice Manager and Dr Tucker together with representatives from each area within the practice. Following a Q&A session and refreshments, the PRG held their AGM. The chair was re-elected and TOR agreed.
Bi-monthly meetings continue in the practice. The chair emails the agenda to the practice manager and members for additional items or comments.
The PRG has its own notice-board strategically placed in the waiting area and this is updated regularly by the members.
They also advertise membership on the electronic display board and also by being present in the waiting room on occasions and helping with activities relating to health promotion. Through this, a once sparse membership has doubled and interested parties can still apply.
The PRG was consulted about the questions required for a patient survey and agreed that those devised by patient survey (CFEP) were adequate but would be boosted by an additional survey written by themselves and also handed out to patients in February 2013.
They felt the CFEP survey questions covered in depth most of the questions they wanted to ask, but also added that their survey could be less formal with questions asked about what services patients wanted in the practice.
The main concern was the comfort of the waiting room, telephone access and appointments.
The PRG were given the collated results as shown on the website, and at the January meeting this was discussed at length.
Outcomes of discussion:
The waiting area seating had been the main area of contention with patients feeling it was not user friendly. This had now been addressed and patients were much happier with the new seating.
The access to make appointments via telephone was also a continuing cause for concern, although this had improved and the PRG agreed it could be a misconception in some cases-patients only remembered their last poor experience. However, it was acknowledged that two partners had recently retired and that two salaried GPs had also left- 4 GPs within a year- which had caused problems for those remaining doctors.
The practice has recently also had notice of Dr Maynard leaving which adds to the pressure, but with the support of the PRG, concerns and complaints have been minimal. The remaining partners have now recruited new GPs to replace those who have left, with the addition of 5 sessions per week which will increase availability t our patients. We hope that next year’s survey will reflect this.
Other items discussed which linked with the survey were:
Health Checks-how to encourage patients to attend
How to improve non-attendance
Self-care and patient education.
We agreed to:
Continue to look at ways of improving telephone access by allocating more staff to this task at key times- all staff trained to answer the telephones at key times (8-10am, 1-2pm and 3-4pm). If they cannot deal with a request they place the query with contact number on a designated computer list for the reception team to answer.
Carry out a demand and capacity audit to assess appointment need on certain days.-this has been completed and appointments/surgery times /days off changed to cater for peak periods. An additional 5 sessions per week will be in place from June 2013.
Plan and carry out another Health Check day to invite key patients in for a health check with PRG members helping- this follows on from the success of last year. It took place on 23rd February 2013 and 98 health checks were completed.
Text messages for patients with mobile phones to remind them of appointments are in place and non attenders are now minimal.
Repeat the PRG survey to ensure that with the new CCG in place, patients can let us know what services they might want in future.
Commence a weekly feedback session for patients to meet the Practice Manager to discuss anything they might wish to. This will aid recruitment and feedback to the PRG.
The PRG questionnaire commenced in April 2012 and quarterly through the year-120 questionnaires ( average 30 per quarter)
Poor / Good / Very Good / Excellent / Not sure / No answerOpening hours / 2 / 27 / 26 / 49 / 1 / 15
Waiting room / 4 / 69 / 27 / 7 / 10 / 3
Telephone access / 49 / 60 said
Better / 10 / 1 / Comments
Made range from improved to still having to wait.
Ease of getting appointments / 20 / 84 / 6 / 2 / 3
Reception team / 20 / 62 / 33 / 5
Personalised surveys of our GPs will continue to ensure they meet the required standards. The results are confidential to the GP but are discussed at partners meetings and any areas of concern addressed.
The PRG, working closely with the practice and patients, want to encourage feedback on what future services the practice could provide and how the practice can best serve its population.
The NHS Health Bill gives GPs more control over where the money can be spent, and it is important that it is spent wisely and effectively.
The GPs want to keep care closer to home and integrate services so that patients are only sent into hospital as a last resort and that when they do need treatment, they are seen and treated as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
More and more we will see practices taking on services that have traditionally been carried out in hospitals and it will be up to PRGs to support their GPs in this shift and to keep patients informed.
It will also be vital that local services are not abused- patients who attend A&E and OOH inappropriately will be contacted and advised appropriately.
Frequent attenders will be asked to meet with their GP to find a way to support them and to ensure continuity of care at all times.