OLMC
Old Leake Medical Centre

PATIENT PRACTICE GROUP (PPG) MEETING
9th JULY 2014

The meeting opened at 2.00 pm.

Present: Mrs. S Chambers (SLC), Mrs N Evison, Mrs J Albon-Smith, Mr. G Chilton, Mrs. B Forth, Mr. A Jarvis, Miss P Smolenaars and Mr. C. Maddison - Minute Taker.

1.	Apologies

Apologies were received from Mr. S. Maude, Mr. M Jacques, Mrs S Martin and latterly Mr A Clark.

2.	Approval of Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The previous minutes of 19th May were discussed. It was highlighted that Mr Maude and Miss Smolenaars were present at the previous minutes although they were not included on the minutes.

SLC brought up about feedback from a member of the virtual PPG group, who after reading the minutes to the last meeting and feedback from the Prostate cancer education event had felt that the discussion that had taken place at the event regarding Lincolnshire having a poorer standard of care than other Counties had been brushed under the table somewhat by the PPG. The virtual PPG member felt that more should be done by the Practice and PPG into trying to get better care locally. SLC explained to the group that she had discussed this members concern over email and assured him that it was discussed at great length at the last PPG meeting and enquiries had been made and LAC were going to discuss with NHS England as to why the care levels appear to differ so much County to County. SLC confirmed she has sought an update last week but hadn’t had a response at the moment.

The group agreed that this subject had been discussed at great length at the last meeting, although the minutes did not reflect this, and acknowledged that work was ongoing 

3.	Matters Arising

It was agreed that the only matters arising from the previous meeting had been discussed during item 2 of the agenda.

4.	Feedback from patients

Mrs. Evison stated she had received no feedback from patients since the last meeting. SLC commented that the only feedback she had received was from the member of the Virtual PPG as discussed during item 2 of today’s agenda.
 
Mrs. Forth had been asked by a patient about the Named GP letters and concerns if that patient didn’t want to see the Named GP. SLC explained that the Named GP is a new initiative set up by NHS England to provide an overview of patient care. It does not stop a patient seeing the GP of their own choice. SLC further explained that the communication between the GPs in the practice is very good and that our GPs would feedback and seek the opinions of each other daily during complex cases to ensure the best care for our patients. Members of the PPG had confirmed they were aware of occasions where their own cases had been discussed between the GPs to assist in their care. 

Mr Jarvis stated he had noticed that reception was sometimes short staffed, and he gave an example of only one member of staff working on reception during a busy period. SLC explained that normally 3 receptionists are on the Rota at all times but sometimes through either sickness or annual leave this can be affected. However if there is only one person working on the desk there will be other people in the background assisting with the telephones whilst combining with their own role. 

Mrs. Forth highlighted an incident recently where she was ignored at the reception by the receptionists whilst they answered the phone and discussed things amongst themselves. Mrs. Forth said she had been waiting for 5-10 minutes without even an acknowledgement from these staff before a dispenser who was passing the reception area served her. Mrs. Forth felt the wait would have been acceptable had she been acknowledged by the staff. SLC agreed that this was unacceptable from the staff and after discussing when the event happened apologised for this and said she would bring this up with the staff involved. 

Mr Jarvis brought up that during the peak times when the waiting room is busy and there are loud children playing, those with hearing difficulties cannot hear their name when called as the staff often did not use the tannoy system at all, and continued the old method of shouting from the desk. SLC said she would again speak to the staff about the need to use the tannoy system correctly and that both the patient call system and the tannoy would be turned up appropriately. 

5. 	Education Evening Event – Carers & benefits – Feedback

Mr Jarvis felt the first part of the event (Lincolnshire Carers and Young Carers) had been interesting but came across as rushed. Mr Maddison stated that the presenter had condensed his talk down from his normal time of around 90 minutes into a maximum 30 minute slot. SLC informed members that all presenters on the evening were all aware of the time restrictions in place. 

Mrs Evison and Mr Jarvis both commented that the presentation from St Barnabis hospice had been very interesting and was very good. 

Mr Jarvis felt that the third presentation from First contact was interesting, however the speaker kept slipping off topic too easily. SLC commented that the speaker would like to come to the PPG Annual general meeting in September to discuss the changes to the First Contact Service and also the re-branding of the service into Lincolnshire Advice Centre. Members were all in agreement regarding this presentation being added to the AGM agenda. 

SLC felt the event was good due to having 3 smaller presentations, which allowed to keep the attention of the audience better, the members agreed that this to be the case. 

SLC felt the title of the event may have put people off attending; however the title was an accurate description of what the event was about. Mrs Evison commented that around 30 people had attended the event. 

6. Draft Survey

SLC explained that James, the apprentice receptionist at the practice, had taken on a substantial role in developing this year’s survey as it is a requirement of his college course to be involved in something of this nature. Mrs. Chambers felt that the best way forward with the survey this year was to get an insight into the patient’s journey through the practice, from arriving to seeing the clinician rather than following the old survey design.

Mr Jarvis suggested that the survey started at booking the appointment rather than when the patient arrives at the practice, however it was agreed that the practice had done a lot of work around appointments in last year’s survey so the group did not want to cover old ground.

SLC said that the forms would be given out by the Practice nurses, Health Care Assistant and Phlebotomists, and put in the prescription bags of those patients who had seen a GP.

Mr Chilton asked if collecting repeat prescriptions could be added to the survey. SLC said she felt it would be better to concentrate on areas we could improve rather than those we can’t. 

All members agreed to the role out of the survey for this year in its current format. 

7. Any other business

SLC brought up that Dr Sinha had suggested that the group might like to have an Education event on Cancer Screening Programmes such as bowel, cervical, breast and AAA as it would help and assist people understand the tests and what they mean. The group felt this was a very good idea. SLC will discuss with Dr Sinha and arrange for the relevant speakers to come and present the event. It was discussed that the next free event date was March 2015 and this date was agreed to hold this event. 

Mrs Forth brought up the level of “Did not attends” (DNA) at the practice and wondered what happened with these patients. SLC commented that the practice had a high percentage of DNAs and despite numerous campaigns over the years this has not improved. She also commented that the practice has a policy to send a letter out to regular non-attenders but that there is little else at the present time that can be done. 

NE commented that sometimes people were just running late from her own experience, especially with the phlebotomy clinic. SLC said due to the size constraints in the phlebotomy room we are unable to have a computer in there so the phlebotomists do work from a printed list from 8am and as such there might be changes to the clinic. 

SLC brought up that the British Medical Association (BMA) had been in touch during the week with a view to publishing an article on the practice in the Sun Newspaper dealing with the on-going issues with space. This followed on from a presentation Dr Bull had prepared for Mark Simmonds, MP for Boston & Skegness and Dr Dan Poulter, Parliamentary undersecretary of state at the department. Unfortunately Dr Poulter had cancelled his visit at the last minute. SLC didn’t think the article would be published by The Sun newspaper as the partners had placed conditional restrictions which would affect the newspapers ability to sensationalize the story and gain additional comment or press for the practice. SLC advised the group that overall the GP’s didn’t want a story ruining the hard work, progress and investment that had been placed into the practice and building. 

SLC brought up the AGM scheduled for September 2014 and mentioned that there was a waiting list of people who would like to join the PPG; SLC suggested that Mrs Evison could contact all current PPG members to see if they wished to continue in the role. Mrs Evison agreed to do this, and said she would send out formal letters to all current members. 

Mrs. Chambers confirmed she would send out nomination forms for the role of Chair and vice-chair of the group in August to gain nominations and expressions of interest. 

Mrs. Chambers brought up the Christmas card competition that had been discussed previously and said after doing some research many schools use a professional company to do this so did not think the update would be good, which the group agreed with. Mrs Evison asked if the Christmas quiz could be run again this year with Mrs Ashton having left the practice employment. SLC confirmed that it was in fact another member of staff who had written the quiz last year. It was also suggested that a children’s quiz could replace the Christmas card idea? It was thought by the group that this might not work due to the potential for Parents to answer the questions and not perform the quiz in the spirit it was intended. Mr Maddison suggested that a colouring competition for youngsters might be more suitable? The group agreed and an upper age limit of 7 years old was agreed. 

SLC to look into this further and create the design for the competition. 

8. Date of next meeting 

Wednesday 10th September 2014 at 2pm 

Meeting closed 2.47pm