PPG MEETING THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY 2012
Present:
Shani Fairbrother Diana Key
Karen Warr ( Chair) Simon Key
Teresa Glover Maureen Taylor
Norman Geraghty Graham Tomlinson
Leonard Insley Barry Kernan
Apologies:
Maureen Ballinger
Donald Naish
Betty Matthews
Agenda:
- Survey results & action plan
Minutes of last meeting:
Karen discussed the Health Champions meeting at Sharps Pottery, she has been meeting up with other chairs from the locality, looking at what other practices are doing and how other PPG’s work, and also look at how we can make improvements to our group.
Karen wondered what the impact of Prestwood closing had on Heartwood. We have gained quite a few patients, however we have also lost some patients to Swadlincote Surgery due to Brennan’s chemist opening within the practice.
The group also discussed how to get information out to patients, perhaps via CVS or the library.
One PPG chair is keen to set up workshops, possibly on Saturday mornings, for patients suffering with depression , chronic disease management or mental health issues. The idea is to get speakers in to do an open question answering session.
Comments from our group are that Saturday is not a good day and they don’t think that it will get enough support as people don’t want to give free time up, especially at weekends.
Shani, Karen and Maureen are to attend the next Health Champion meeting at Belper on Thursday 26th January.
The Christmas raffle, coffee morning and guess the name of the doll raised £390 for the equipment fund.
Dr Salih has now joined the Heartwood team, she is currently working two days per week until 9th February, when she will be working three days per week. Dr Salih will pop in to our next meeting to introduce herself.
We have had a donation of £1000 from a couple who are patients at the practice to go to the equipment fund, this will enable us to purchase a pulse oximeter, which is suitable for infants and small children, hopefully to help prevent hospital admissions.
Thanks to everyone who helped, or donated prizes towards the raffle and coffee morning.
Patient Survey Online and Paper.
So far we have the results of 144 paper surveys and 44 on line.
As you can see the main topics for conversation were:
Car Park.
As everyone is aware, we have major issues with the car park at the Health Centre. Basically there are not enough spaces for either staff or patients. With a view to this problem Shani has been attending monthly meetings with members of the PCT, and various staff who work within the health centre, including Karen Hand the Health Centre manager.
9/16 comments in the online survey were regarding the car park, 24 /37 comments in the paper survey were also regarding problems with parking.
Action plan:
- Regular meetings with the PCT and health centre team as stated above.
- Bollards are to be put in place to stop parking on the flower beds.
- Double yellow lines to stop people parking on the ramps.
- A zebra crossing to ensure safer crossing for patients, especially those with children.
- A policy is to be written for all Health Centre staff, including the HeartWood team, this will prevent any staff that are in the building for over 3 hours parking in the car park. This must be adhered to by everyone and disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who doesn’t comply with the policy. The Heartwood team are lucky, as we have an arrangement with the fire station to park 6 cars at any one time.
- Signs are to be erected advising members of the public against leaving their car whilst shopping etc..
- A copy of the policy will be posted on the website and put in newsletters for patients.
Appointments.
4/16 comments regarding the appointment system in the online survey
10/37 comments in the paper surveys.
The main grumble is that patients would either like lunchtime or later appointments.
- We have discussed this with the GP’s who are quite willing to do a lunchtime session from April 2012, when we have more regular GP’s. This will enable patients, who are working to book lunchtime appointments.
We have started opening at 7.30am and offer appointments with GP’s practice nurses and Debbie Dodge, this enable patients to come to the practice before they start work or have to take children to school.
Unfortunately it isn’t feasible for us to open after 6.30pm or at weekends as the out of hours service operates from the first floor of the building, this would cause confusion for patients from other practices when attending the service.
Members of the group agreed that lunchtime appointments would help.
We had a few grumbles regarding the on call duty doctor system, but in general most people are happy with the system as they are brought in for an appointment if the GP deems necessary. Often problems can be discussed via a telephone consultation, this saves available appointments for urgent cases.
A few patients commented that you can’t get to see the same GP twice or book in advance. We do book appointments in advance, in fact up to 4-6 weeks in advance, we advise patients to book their next appointment as they leave the practice. Also if patient’s can ensure we get an up to date mobile number, we can send an automatic text message to remind them of the appointment.
Radio in reception
We had a few comments regarding the radio. Most patients like this and prefer not to sit without background music. We can look at the radio station to see if there is a more appropriate one other than radio 2.
Toys in reception
We only have the two tables in reception for infection control and health and safety reasons. Therefore, it is not appropriate to have a large variety of toys. We feel the tables should provide amusement for children from toddler stages to the age of five.
Action plan.
- We have discussed this with the GP’s who are quite willing to do a lunchtime session from April 2012, when we have more regular GP’s. This will enable patients, who are working to book lunchtime appointments.
- Regarding booking appointments, we need to publicise booking on line, this is available for GP appointments, and patients need to register for the service.
- Ensure notices are put up on the PPG board and also put a message on the jayex board advertising this.
- Notice to be put on PPG board with practice opening hours and Appointment times.
- A note in the next patient newsletter would also be a good idea.
- Move chairs in reception to ensure more privacy for patients.
Next meeting Wednesday 22nd February at 12.30pm ( sorry the room is booked every Thursday and Friday)