Alrewas Surgery Patient Group

Alrewas Surgery Patient Group

Notesof meeting held on 20 July 2017

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Present

Sue Hughes, Ralph Seville, Stan Whitehead, Janette Potter, Sonia Senior, Lorna Lewis, Merelyn Jacobs

Apologies Paula Dumolo, Helen Newman, Mark Lodge, Donna Moss, Jo Spence,John Cassidy,Rachel Iles

The group welcomed new member Mrs Merelyn Jacobs

Surgery Update

Sally Gallimore leaving

Sonia advised that unfortunately Sally will be leaving the surgery after 14 years. She will be greatly missed. We are currently recruiting for a replacement practice nurse for up to 28 hours a week. Recruitment can take some time but we hope we will have a nurse in October. In the meantime, we will face a brief period where nurse appointments will be more limited than usual.The group discussed support to patients with diabetes as this was Sally’s particular area of expertise. This has been discussed by the doctors and the nursing team and Tracey our healthcare assistant will be undertaking further training to support diabetes patients with their annual reviews.

Patient Information Screen

The surgery will be having a patient information screen installed in the next few months. It will display some adverts from appropriate local companies and health information from national charitable organisations as well as our own surgery messages.

Test result turnaround

Sonia confirmed that test results (bloods, xraysetc) usually take at least one week to be returned to the surgery and doctors then have to view and comment on them. Merelyn asked what safeguards were in place for giving results over the phone. Sonia advised that staff only give results as advised by the notes from the doctor reviewing the results. Patients can also see their results and doctor comments directly via the online system. Merelyn also sought clarification on patient confidentiality. Sonia confirmed that all staff both clinical and reception are bound by patient confidentiality and trained appropriately; breaking this would initiate disciplinary action.

Private vs NHS services

Sonia clarified that the surgery principally undertakes NHS services, however some services are over and above NHS work and incur a charge. There is a list of the services available and the relevant charges on the waiting room noticeboard and on the website. These include reports for holiday cancellations, insurance claims, mortgage applications and copies of medical records. All these require doctors to review medical history and records and therefore can take time to complete to ensure they are accurate. We generally advise that they will take at least 14 days. To avoid confusion, the surgery will be issuing all patients who hand report requests into reception with a form to advise them of the process and the appropriate charge. We hope this will reduce administrative delay and duplication and provide clarity for patients.

Defibrillator Update

Training:Keith Mann will be able to provide training for us on a private basis. The group agreed to book a 2hr session with Keith in October/November. It was agreed that we would charge a nominal fee for the training e.g. £3 per person in order to offset some of the cost as we also need to buy replacement items for the defibs in the near future. Sonia and Janette to meet to plan which items need replacing and when and relative costs..

Faulty cabinets

Janette has contacted Turtle engineering regarding condensation in some of the cabinets and has had a response advising of costly replacements/modifications. The group felt that the proposed charges were not acceptable as the cabinets are under 2 years old and the charges were very high.

Janette and Sonia to review the paperwork relating to the purchase and write to Turtle engineering again.

Defibrilator collection box

The box has gone missing from the surgery. Sonia will do a final check around the reception areas, but staff have checked the reception area and advised they have not seen it for some time. It is more likely that it has been mislaid, and though it is of concern, Janette advised that the amount in the box was likely to be small.

Any Other Business

Janette and Ralph expressed interest in coming to sit with reception team to experience how things work in the mornings. Janette and Ralph to contact Sonia to arrange date.

Date of Next meetings:

Monday 18 September, 12:45, Surgery (presentation by Specsavers Audiology)

Thursday 23 November, 5:30, Methodist Church

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