PPG Meeting Thursday 5th May 2016
Present: Dr Saritha Somarajan, Mrs Shani Fairbrother, Mrs Teresa Glover, Mr John Whetton, Mr
Graham Joynes, Mr Laurence Bell, Mr Leslie Forsyth.
Apologies: Mrs Sandra Ashmore, Mr Graham Tomlinson, Mrs Betty Matthews.
Dr Somarajan – Dying Matters
Dying Matters week runs from 9th-15th May 2016. The charity promotes the thought that everyone
will eventually die – do you want to make plans ensuring you get the correct care and preferred
place of death? Your choice in music, have you any major ambitions to fulfil before you die and how
you would prefer to be looked after. Dying matters have one specific topic each year, this year it is
“the big conversation”.
Our locality are holding a market stall in Swadlincote high Street on Tuesday 10th May between
10am and 2pm. Staff from surgeries, care homes and treetops will be attending just to raise
awareness as it’s a topic that we all tend to ignore. (Members of the PPG group can see the logic in
trying to raise awareness, and will be interested in the outcome of the event.)
Dr Somarajan – Palliative care
This is not as many believe just for cancer patients, but anyone who could be approaching the last
year of their life. Looking at evidence there are a lot of hospital admissions for end of life patients,
we try to look how we look after our patients.
Gold Standards framework is a register of patients who may need more access to our services; we
issue these patients with a “Gold Card”, if they need access to a clinician, to be seen either at the
practice or at home. These patients are given a bypass telephone number, added to the duty GP
telephone list and marked “Gold card patient, to ensure the GP is aware the call is an emergency.
“Going for Gold” is going the extra mile for poorly patients; therefore we are looking to do
something different to help patients toward their end of life. For example carers, we now have a
table in reception giving carers information on how to register as a carer, general guidance for carers
etc...
Each session we hold covers a different topic for us to look at and improve on. We include clinicians,
nurses, district nurses, community matron, occupational therapist, care co-ordinator and
management at each meeting, all working together to improve care for this cohort of patients. It is a
very important aspect of our job to encourage patients to make plans and see what is most
important to them.
Practice Patient Survey 2016
The survey was done in house over a period of 6 weeks. A total of 104 patients completed the
survey. A copy of the results of both the patient survey and friends and family test comments are
attached.
In general the comments on the staff were very positive, always helpful and friendly. There were a
few negative comments regarding the availability of appointments, following a discussion it was
noted that we always try to accommodate patients to the best of our ability and we are never going
to please everyone. The subject of patients not attending appointments arose as this is a major issue
at the practice, wasting hours of appointments for GP’s, nurses and the HCA, which could be utilised.
It was decided that Shani should look at other local practice polices/procedures for recurrent DNA’s,
bring the results to the next PPG meeting and members will help devise a new procedure.
Surprisingly many patients weren’t aware of on line ordering of prescriptions, booking appointments
on line and electronic transfer of prescriptions. These are subjects we are trying to promote within
the practice to improve efficiency, a newsletter will be available promoting all services within the
next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately the car parking situation does not or cannot improve as we do not have the resources
to monitor it. However we could put up posters in reception and on the TV screen directing patients
to alternative parking such as the bus park – up to 3 hours and rink way – short stay. This will not
have effect on the initial visit however would give details for future visits.
Comments for improvements:
Uncovered plug sockets – all of these were covered less than two years ago, unfortunately they have
been removed by unknown sources, however the comment has been noted and they will be
replaced.
Higher chairs – these were removed by DCHS as there was a problem with some chairs in weight
wise clinics, when they did not hold patients weight. We have now recovered the chairs which were
purchased from the equipment fund by the PPG and they will be reinstalled in reception.
Clinicians running late – unfortunately GP’s and nurses often have to deal with emergencies during
their sessions which cannot wait, this results in them running late. Patients who have more than one
problem to deal with should book a 20 minute appointment, to avoid delays.
We cannot give information to anyone other than the patient without obtaining either verbal or
written consent first.
The practice is open from 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. It would not be feasible for us to
open later in the evenings or at weekends due to the out of hours service operating from the 1st
floor, otherwise we would be inundated with patients from other GP practices.
We send out SMS reminders for appointments, however it is up to the patient to ensure we have
correct details (up to date mobile numbers) recorded for this to work efficiently.
Online service, sit and wait emergency service, ANP appointments for routine conditions are never
suggested on the phone when you ring for appointments – Discuss at next staff meeting also add to
the recorded message which plays when waiting to speak to someone. We could also add
information to counterfoils of prescriptions.
Additional discussion – Reception staff do not ask detailed information from patients when booking
appointments as they aren’t medically trained, however since the implementation of Pharmacy First
it does help to have a general outline of a problem to enable them to advise a patient to attend the
pharmacy instead of coming to the GP’s. Also for emergency appointments GP’s do like to have
details of the problem prior to calling or seeing.
DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING:
THURSDAY 21 JULY AT 1PM IN THE HEALTH EDUCATION ROOM.
ST
SURVEY RESULTS
QUESTIONS
Q1. How often do you visit the doctor?
QUESTIONS
Q2. Are you happy with the appointment system?
Q3. Did you know we offer appointments from
7.30am in a morning with a GP, Practice Nurse or
HCA?
Q4. Are you aware you can book appointments
online?
Q5. Are you registered for online services?
Q6. Are you aware we operate an emergency sit and
wait clinic from 4.30pm Monday to Friday?
Q6a. If so, have you used this service?
Q7. Are you aware you can see our Advanced Nurse
Practitioner for routine illness?
Q7a. If so, have you utilised this service?
Q8. Are you a carer for either a family member or
friend?
Q9. Are you aware we have lots of information and
advice in reception regarding Derbyshire Carers, along
with registration forms?
RARELY
24%
YES
69%
59%
SOMETIMES
52%
NO
28%
40%
FREQUENTLY
24%
NO ANSWER
3%
1%
51%
48%
1%
25%
42%
72%
57%
3%
1%
23%
54%
53%
45%
24%
1%
35%
9%
60%
56%
6%
36%
25%
34%
41%
0%
Q9. Are you aware we have lots of
information and advice in reception…
20%
Q8. Are you a carer for either a member of
family or friend?
30%
Q7a. Have you utilised this service?
Q7. Are you aware you can see our
Advanced Nurse Practitioner for routine…
Q6a. If so, have you used this service?
Q6. Are you aware we operate an
emergency sit and wait clinic from 4.30pm…
Q5. Are you registered for online services?
Q4. Are you aware you can book
appointments online?
Q3. Did you know we offer appintments
from 7.30am in a morning with a GP,…
Q2. Are you happy with the appointment
system?
60%
50%
40%
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
10%
0%
Q1. How often do you visit the doctor?
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
-Yes
- No
No Answer