Leybourne Surgery - Patient Participation Report – March 2014
Background
The catchment area for the Practice comprises an area of North Bournemouth, which is a
predominantly suburban residential area. It forms part of the BH10 postcode.
Demographic Data
There has been little change in the overall numbers of patients registered. In March 2013 it
was 3878, in March 2014 it had fallen slightly to 3852 , of which 1901 were male and 1951
female. The age/sex distribution chart is shown below. The number of carers recorded is
now 120, up from 56 last year. This is mainly due to a proactive drive by our staff to register
everyone that acts in this capacity.
Age/sex analysis of Leybourne Surgery patients as at 24 March 2014
Patient Representative Group (PRG)
The group currently totals 20 and are all registered patients at the Practice. The current
profile is shown in the Distribution Report below. We have achieved some broadening of
the ethnic profile of the Group in the last 12 months and there is a reasonable balance of
age and sex but we will continue our efforts to recruit patients that only have occasional
need to contact us. Communication with the group was almost entirely by way of email or
letter. One face to face meeting was held but this was poorly attended.
Our web-site continues to offer the ability to join our PRG and we recruit most new
members this way. We are looking to recruit a carer to the group in the next few months.
Update on 2013 action plan
The tasks relating to car parking and use of appointment resources have been achieved. It
did not prove possible to recruit a sufficiently large group of patients to undertake
responsibility for improving the display of leaflets at the Practice but this has been
undertaken from within our own resources.
Topics for 2014 Patient Survey
An email/letter was sent to the PRG members on October 3, 2013, requesting their thoughts
on topics for inclusion in the annual survey. A total of 9 responses were received. As a
result of comments made, it was decided to hold a face to face meeting to try to develop
ideas together. Although it was poorly attended, some useful suggestions were made and
three issues were identified as being suitable for putting forward to the PRG as a whole.
This was subsequently done by email/letter and approval for the three topics concerned
was received from 10 members. The topics were
1. Confidentiality at Reception
2. Improving the Surgery web-site and
3. Had the patients’ perception of the availability of appointments changed in the last year?
Patient Survey
By December 2013 the topics had been identified and confirmed. The survey wording was
drawn up by the Patient Survey Co-ordinator at the Practice and sent to the PRG members
for their comments and approval in January 2014. 8 members approved, no objections,
there was useful comment from several members on the phrasing of questions and
amendments were made before the wording was finalised.
The survey module facility provided by My Surgery web-site was used to create, record and
analyse responses to the survey. The survey could be completed either on line or by paper
and was open to all registered patients. Paper responses received were fed into the online
record. We advised patients for whom we held an email address that the survey was open
for completion and it was also prominently displayed on the web-site home page as well as
notices in the Surgery. We had previously used the survey facility of My Surgery web-site so
we had experience of it and it was available at no extra cost to us.
The wording of the survey can be found under the heading ‘Survey Results’ under ‘Further
information’ on the home page of our web-site. This shows the summarised results and
comments as well as the survey questions.
The survey was open for completion from February 10 to 23. A total of 53 responses were
received.
Survey results
Once the survey was closed off, we highlighted in an email/letter to all the PRG members,
what we considered to be the main conclusions to be drawn from the survey – see below
Patient survey results and next course of action
The 2014 survey has now been closed off and the results published on the web-site – just click on ‘Survey
results’ under the Further information heading to view them. I would encourage you to have a look through
the results – your interpretation may be different from mine!
On the first of the three topics – confidentiality at Reception, the vast majority rated it good or adequate, which
suggests that no major change is called for. An automated check-in facility did not meet with much approval,
and so I don’t feel this warrants any further investigation. Removal of the existing wooden divider and
installing a perspex screen but not a full height one, would be relatively inexpensive and would open up the
view from both sides. It may also help to reduce telephone discussions being so easily overheard by patients
waiting in Reception. Your comments would be most appreciated on this aspect, so that I can draw up an
action plan.
Regarding the Surgery web-site, there was a mixed response with over half of the respondents rarely or never
using it. This may reflect the fact that the majority of patients that completed the Survey did so whilst visiting
the Surgery, rather than on-line. I do feel that we will have to improve the ease of completing it online next
time. The links were not that obvious and did not work all the time. My feeling here is to have a ‘refresh’ of the
site perhaps with more photographs and change the home page layout and give better links to other NHS sites.
Can I ask if any of the Group members feels able to offer their help in this work or indeed knows someone that
could? - I can do the basics with a computer but know I don’t use them to their full potential! However, your
general comments on the results in this area would also be welcomed.
Turning to appointments, the key results to me seem to be that 84% were able to see or speak to a GP or Nurse
quickly on an urgent matter and 69% felt that the introduction of more telephone appointments had been a
success. At a time when most Surgeries are experiencing a lot more pressure on appointments, this seems to
me a good result. Apart from feeding this back to the Doctors, there is probably not a lot else to do in this area
– unless you have a different opinion, in which case please let me know.
Again thank you for your invaluable input to the Patient Group at the Surgery.
David Fleetwood
Patient Group Co-ordinator
03 March 2014
5 comments were received in favour of an action plan based on taking forward the first two
points. The PRG was given a 2 week window to respond.
Action Plan
This was drawn up by the Group Co-ordinator and circulated to all the PRG members by
email/letter. We have had two approvals to date but further responses are expected.
The Action Plan is given below.
Leybourne Surgery - Action Plan 2014 following Patient Survey findings
Task
to improve confidentiality
at Reception window
Enhance web-site
Action
a. obtain costings and
assess feasibility of
removing existing divider
and installing a partial
glass/perspex
screen
b. subject to cost being
acceptable, implement
the proposal
a. undertake review with
My Surgery web-site
(current providers) to
provide a clearer more
user friendly web-site.
Consider other web-site
providers if necessary
b. discuss most suitable
option with PRG
members
c. implement any agreed
changes
By whom and date
Dr G Turner and D
Fleetwood by 30/06/14
D Fleetwood by
30/09/2014
Dr G Turner and D
Fleetwood by 30/06/14
PRG members and D
Fleetwood by 31/07/14
D Fleetwood and web-site
provider by 30/09/14
March 2014
D Fleetwood
Concluding comments
The Doctors and staff at the Surgery thank all those patients that took time to give us their
views. We hope that the PRG will continue to play an important role in focussing our
attention on aspects of our services that could be improved or indeed additional ones
provided where a need is established.