Attleborough Surgeries Patient Participation Group

Notes from Meeting 29th August 2017

Chair: Vera Dale

Attendees: Tony Crouch, Beverly Bulmer,Peter Spurway, Terry Cracknell, Dr Paul Roebuck,Lucy McLean

Notes from Previous Meeting

Agreed

Welcome to New Members

Peter Spurway was welcomed to the group.

Matters From Previous Meeting

Diabetes Support Group – Lucy updated members and confirmed that this group was going very well and met on the first Wednesday evening of every month at Queens Square Surgery. It is planned that this will become a patient run group, with clinical support gradually reducing.

Town Expansion

Tarmagan has recently advertised that the development they are proposing will include shops a community centre and a GP Surgery. The Practice has not been approached regarding an additional location for primary care provision and this would go against government policy and NHS England strategy regarding primary care at scale. The Practice has the backing of NHS England to expand on its Station Road site, but we are frustrated at the delay in getting commissioning support in order to progress these critical plans. Lucy requested that PPG members write to give a community voice to the concerns regarding the slow progress on the support needed to move forward with Surgery expansion plans. Please send any letters of support to Lucy who will share with NHS England, South Norfolk CCG and Breckland Council.

Lucy also explained that the Neighbourhood Plan would soon go out to referendum to the people in Attleborough. It was important that residents knew that the plan to build 4,000 homes could not be reversed and the purpose of the Neighbourhood Plan was to get the essential infrastructure in place that would be needed to support population growth.

Staff News

Lucy reported that Callum Metcalfe, a member of the nursing team, had gone through as a finalist for the Nursing Times Awards in the category of rising star. The grand final would be in London in November.

Members discussed Practice recruitment and how the Surgery planned to meet rising patient demand. Dr Roebuck reported that we had appointed Dr Chriba and that Dr Domek would also be joining us in October; this would bring the Practice to a full complement of doctors. The Practice is also investing in its nursing team and has two people who will be progressing through the Masters level Nurse Practitioner course at the UEA. This was in addition to the recruitment already made to expand the Nurse Practitioner team and employ a Paramedic.

Frequency of Future Meetings

Vera tabled the question regarding frequency of meetings and the wishes of the group regarding what they wanted to achieve. If the group wanted to use the PPG forum as an information exchange with the Practice, quarterly meetings would probably be sufficient. If the group wanted to proactively take projects forward and organise more events that other patients could be invited to attend, more regular meetings would be necessary.

The group felt that it was a balance of what time commitment people could give outside of the meeting and agreed to give this consideration and discuss at the next meeting.

Active Signposting for Receptionist

The Practice, along with other Surgeries in South Norfolk are investing in its reception team in a programme known as ‘active signposting’. It is based on the principle of giving our staff the confidence and knowledge to help patients access different gateways into care and not as a barrier to accessing care. Training will be taking place during October. Dr Chriba and Dr Read will be the GP champions for this project.

Evaluation of Over 75s Project

The Practice secured funds 18 months ago to invest in outreach services to our care homes. We employ nursing, nurse practitioner and GP time specifically to focus and support this group of vulnerable patients. The pilot was a great success, with a significant reduction in emergency admissions, a reduction in the length of stay of those who were admitted and some very strong qualitative measures from the care homes regarding the support and education of their staff and the strong relationship that has been established between the homes and the visiting teams. The Attleborough Scheme has been put forward as a model to be emulated in other Practices. This service is however still subject to non-recurrent funding and we will continue to work hard to secure the funds needed for it to continue next year.

Publication of PPG Member Details

A number of other PPGs advertise the chair and members name and contact emails on their website, which can be helpful if there are new members who are interested in joining but who are unsure how to contact someone. Lucy asked members what they thought about this suggestion.

There were mixed views around the table, with some being very happy to have their details included. It was agreed that names only of those who had given permission would be included and Lucy would investigate setting up a PPG specific email address that the Practice would monitor and forward onto members if communication was received.

PPG Feedback and Comment

  • Choose and Book – Peter discussed arrangements regarding choose and book as he was concerned regarding the delay in being aware of a booking letter being available to collect from the Surgery. Lucy explained that patients are contacted immediately and follow up contact was made at 1 week , 2 weeks and then the letter was posted if not collected. Contact is made by text to a mobile where this number is known and does rely on patients keeping the Practice up to date with any change in details. Lucy agreed to review the arrangements as this had not been Peter’s experience or that of someone else that he knew.
  • Medicine Identification – Terry was concerned that often medication issued could look different from one month to the next as different manufacturers did not comply with specific colours or shapes of items. Dr Roebuck said that this was a supplier issue and was not something that we would be able to influence. However the Practice does provide trays for people who meet the criteria and medication for these patients is therefore prepared into days of the week and times of day to improve the accuracy of the patient taking the correct medications.

A.O.B.

  • Breckland Older Peoples Forum – Lucy discussed the details of this event, which will be taking place on 8/9/17.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held at 5.45pm on Tuesday 31st Octoberat Station Road Surgery.

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