ASHFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE
Patient Participation Group
Ashfield Medical Centre
1 Perrydown, Wastel,
Beanhill, Milton Keynes.
MK6 4NH
Meeting Held on 04th December 2013 at 6:00pm
In Attendance:
David Carrel, David Cook, Lou Herbert (Practice Secretary), Theresa Keeves, Stan Keeves, Barbara
Nash, Sue Ward, Bob Zimmer, Dr. Hilmy (part)
Apologies:
Pauline Ikin, Louise Barton (Practice Manager), Jean Mattinsley
1.
Approval of Previous Minutes
Minutes of previous meeting (22nd October 2013) were approved.
2.
Update on Actions from the Previous Meeting
Action 2.1: Practice to consider (in the New Year) the possibility of displaying “who’s who” in
reception and as part of “who does what” display on the reception screen.
(Re Action 2.1): It has not been possible to create an on-line form for the Patient Survey so that it
could be completed by patients from the Ashfield Website.
Action 2.2: The group agreed that PPG/Practice should make the Patient Survey available on the
Ashfield Website for patients to print off and complete manually.
Action 2.3: Practice to update the PPG section of the Ashfield Website to remove the PRG
information, add a PPG introduction, PPG Terms of Reference, PPG Minutes from the meetings
this year, and dates of future PPG meetings – still outstanding. It was noted that, for this purpose,
PPG minutes need to be written for a general audience.
(Re Action 7.1): The Practice has purchased INR Star (a package which calculates the Warfarin
needs from blood test results) and it is now being used in the surgery. Patients seem to be happy
with the new service as the Practice has received some emails complimenting the service.
(Re Action 7.2): There are 8 telephone lines into the Practice, and all are manned by 8 o’clock in
the morning. To increase the queuing capacity would require more telephone lines to be installed
into the Practice. This would result in patients potentially waiting longer before getting to talk to a
receptionist (with a larger call cost). The group discussed suggestions for attempting to relieve the
difficulty of getting an appointment first thing in the morning e.g. use of text messages for
requesting appointments, providing the ability to book appointments 2 days ahead (which could be
done later in the day).
Action 2.4: Practice to investigate what would be required to offer patients information of how
many people are in the queue ahead of them when they call. Patients would then be in a position
to decide whether they want to continue to hold on the call.
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(Re Action 7.3): Issues with the rolling display in reception (that advertises appointments) has been
resolved and no further comments received.
3.
Ashfield Practice Matters
The new IT system is much more efficient for the Practice & provides secure access to patient
records from other local surgeries rather than always having to wait for the notes to arrive. It is
also being used to audit/track information rather than using paper (which can easily be lost).
Action 3.1: Practice to confirm whether the text message appointment reminders are now working
post implementation of the new IT system.
The new IT system will also allow the Practice to offer on-line booking of appointments.
Action 3.2: Practice to advise how long it will be before on-line booking of appointments will be
available on the Ashfield Website.
The Practice is now at full capacity with reception staff and is also in the process of recruiting
another practice nurse to replace Barbara.
A few new faces: Rebecca, Melissa, Aaron & Catherine (starts on 16th December).
The updates on the electronic board in reception will now be the responsibility of Gemma and the
reception team.
The additional flu session this year for children had a good response. There will be no further flu
sessions planned after the 7th December, so any patients that still require a flu inoculation will have
to make an appointment.
A number of patients have raised concerns that whereas other Practices close their books
periodically, Ashfield is always accepting new patients. The Practice currently has approx. 12,500
patients, and although it is taking on new patients, other patients are constantly moving out of the
area. This means that the patient numbers are roughly staying the same.
It was noted that it has been some time since the last Newsletter, in June, was produced.
Action 3.3: PPG / Practice to produce a Newsletter in the New Year.
Action 3.4: Practice to advise whether it would be possible for the Newsletter to be emailed to
patients (should they wish to receive it in that way).
The group noted that there was a new “Please Wait ....” notice on the reception desk which was
better than the previous one and more prominent.
Action 3.4: The group requested that the Practice position the “Please Wait...” notice closer to the
corner of the reception desk to allow a distance between the queue and the patient in front of the
receptionist.
There was a lengthy discussion about what happens after a patient has been referred to a
consultant. In a previous PPG meeting, we discussed the process of getting referred, using the
Choose and Book system, so the discussion concentrated on what happens after you have seen
the consultant. GPs normally receive a letter from the consultant after the patient has been seen,
but quite often, results of any tests that have been done, are not forwarded to the GP (the
Consultant is not obliged to do so). All correspondence is scanned onto the patient notes so that
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the GP can access them electronically. The GP’s secretary gets involved in chasing up any
missing test results, either by phone or by access through a facility called ICE (for records within
the local area only). Paper records are still held as backup, should the system not be available.
Patients seeing a consultant out of the Milton Keynes area are reliant upon patient records being
transferred between GP and consultant in a timely manner to make the most efficient use of any
patient consultation. Concern was raised that when a GP wishes to see a patient following a
specialist consultation, the patient receives a letter with an appointment to see the GP. If that letter
is actually not received by the patient, then the patient effectively “misses” the appointment and is
added to the “Did Not Attend” statistics. The Practice has now altered such letters so that the
patient is asked to ring and make an appointment instead.
It was noted that the only Musculoskeletal Consultant in Milton Keynes has retired, leaving no such
consultant in the area.
Action 3.5: PPG to contact Healthwatch to establish the strategy for musculoskeletal service
provision within Milton Keynes.
Discussion continued about the difficulty in getting appointments, especially in a timely manner
when needed for a Prescription Medical Review. It was pointed out that the Pharmacists can
review certain drugs, taking the pressure off getting GP appointments.
Action 3.6: Practice to advise on which medication can be reviewed by Pharmacists.
4.
2013 Patient Survey Update
The group discussed how we could get the Survey going again and different approaches we could
use e.g. reception handing out the survey when patients book in or collect prescriptions, having
surveys prominently placed in reception so that anyone can take a copy and return when
convenient (with a sign saying "please help us to help you" or something like that), PPG help to
distribute surveys to patients waiting in reception....
Action 4.1: Practice / PPG to agree on how to proceed and when. This needs to coincide with the
Ashfield website being updated with the PPG overview, Terms of Reference, meeting minutes and
dates of future PPG meetings.
5.
Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) / Healthwatch Update
Due to the lack of time, the meeting closed with no further updates.
6.
Any Other Business
No further business discussed.
7.
Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6:00pm on Thursday 16th January 2014 at the Ashfield Medical
Centre.
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