2013 Local Patient Participation Report from The Blundellsands Surgery Patient Reference Group

ContentsPage number

  1. About the Patient Reference Group1
  2. Wider practice survey2
  3. Survey results and action plan overview4
  4. Summary5

Appendix 1 – Action Plan9

Appendix 2 – Survey results10

Appendix 3 – Practice opening times11

  1. About the Patient Reference Group (PRG)

The Blundellsands Surgery invited patients to form a patient reference group in June 2011. The aim was to involve patients more closely and so improve the way patients’ needs are looked after.

Patients were invited to join through the surgery’s website (see and via forms & posters distributed around the practice’s reception area.

The current PRG has some 20 members, membership ranges in age from mid 30s-mid 80s and the surgery’s invitation to participate was open to all patients regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation and disability

The composition of the PRG is approximately 60% female, largely white British with an average age in the mid-50s. The majority of have been registered patients for in excess of 20 years.

The practice and the PRG realise that the group is not wholly representative of the practice population. Posters & leaflets publicising the PRG remain on display and any patient who expresses an interest is encouraged to join.

  1. Wider practice survey

A key objective of the PRG is to understand and improve the way the practice cares for its patients. To assist this, the practice and the group carried out a survey of a sample of the practice population during between mid-December 2011 and end-February 2012. A second survey was conducted during February and early-March 2013 to identify how the practice had performed in comparison with the results of the 2012 questionnaire.

The questions asked in both surveys were based on 4 areas identified as key during the initial PRG meeting held during July 2011. These 4 areas are contacting the surgery, access to appointments, clinical care and continuity of care.

A number of other topics were reviewed by the PRG, including opening hours & the premises itself, but the 4 areas listed above were clearly thought to be the most popular when the PRG was asked to prioritise the most important issues to be covered by a questionnaire

The 2012 survey was carried out over 10 weeks and questionnaires weremade available in the practice itself, posted to patients (housebound patients and patients resident in nursing homes)emailed to patients. These methods were chosen because as they offered ways of bringing the PRG survey to the attention of as wide a number of patients as possible. Prior to the survey being released, its launched was announced via a text message. The surgery has mobile phone numbers approx. 32% of its near 10,000 strong patient list. The 2013 survey ran over a shorter duration, but used the same methods to publicise its availability – hard copies in the reception area, emails, links on the practice website & text messaging. The surgery now holds over 4,000 patient mobile phone numbers (40% + of the patient population).

Both 2012 & 2013 questionnaireswere anonymised. With the 2012 survey it was not possible to give a complete breakdown of patient replies by age, sex etc. However, patient responses & discussions with the PRG would indicate that the surgery has managed to obtain feedback from a representative sample of patients. For the 2013 practice surveydemographic questions were added.

The practice sought to be inclusive with its questionnaire. It produced reports listing patients who were registered as not being White British & of those for whom English was not their first language. Lists were also produced identifying housebound patients, patients in nursing homes, patients with learning disabilities & visual impairment.

The survey was completely anonymous. Although some patients did chose to identify themselves, when they completed a free text box asking for general comments on the surgery.

  1. Survey results and action plan overview

The key survey results showed the following:

Overall Levels of Satisfaction

Overall, how satisfied are you with the care received at The Blundellsands Surgery?

Answer Options / 2012 Response / 2013 Response
Very satisfied / 68.9% / 69.2%
Fairly satisfied / 27.3% / 23.9%
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied / 2.1% / 3.9%
Fairly dissatisfied / 0.8% / 2.2%
Very dissatisfied / 0.8% / 0.7%

The results from both questionnaires indicate that over 90% of patients are either very or fairly satisfied with their levels of care at the surgery.

Contacting the surgery

•82.7% (80% in 2012) of patients said it was very/fairly easy to get through to the surgery by phone; 13.1% (approx. 18% in 2012) said it was not very easy / not at all easy.

•87% (90% in 2012) of respondents found reception desk staff helpful & easy to deal with.

•Over 63% (50% in 2012) of respondents had not tried contacting the practice via email.

The above figures indicate patients are now finding it a little easier to contact the surgery by phone and most patients still find reception staff helpful & easy to deal with.

Access to appointments

Patients considered access to appointments with doctors had remained roughly the same over the 2 survey periods. Access to nursing appointments has improved more patients saying it is now easier, according to the survey.

Question: Think about the last time you tried to see a doctor fairly quickly, were you able to see a doctor on the same day or within the next two days the surgery was open?

Answer Options / 2012 Response / 2013 Response
yes / 80.6% / 79.0%
no / 18.3% / 17.1%
can't remember / 1.0% / 3.8%

Question: Think about the last time you tried to, were you able to book ahead for an appointment with a doctor By "booking ahead" we mean booking an appointment more than 2 full days in advance?

Answer Options / 2012 Response / 2013 Response
yes / 79.6% / 75.2%
no / 11.8% / 12.4%
can't remember / 8.6% / 12.4%

Question: Think about the last time you tried to see a nurse fairly quickly, were you able to see a doctor on the same day or within the next two days the surgery was open?

2012 Response / 2013 Response
yes / 38.3% / 42.9%
no / 42.6% / 31.7%
can't remember / 19.1% / 25.5%

Question: In the past 6 months have you tried to book ahead for an appointment with a nurse? By "booking ahead" we mean booking an appointment more than 2 full days in advance

Answer Options / 2012 Response / 2013 Response
yes / 44.8% / 58.7%
no / 52.3% / 17.2%
can't remember / 2.9% / 24.1%

Clinical Care

7 areas of clinical were covered by the 2 questionnaires; in all areas a large proportion of respondents regarded standards as being very good or good. The surgery’s strongest results were in listening to patients & giving them sufficient time during consultations.

Answer Options / 2012 good or v. good / 2013 good or v. good
Giving you enough time / 92.9 / 90.1
Asking about your symptoms / 92 / 90.4
Listening to you / 90.7 / 89.1
Explaining tests and treatments / 80.2 / 81
Involving you in decisions about your care / 81.8 / 81.9
Treating you with care and concern / 91.6 / 88.2
Taking your problems seriously / 89.4 / 86.9

Continuity of Care

•A slightly higher proportion of patients 36.3% (32.4% in 2012) would not know how to contact the Out of Hours services.

•Majority of patients are at least satisfied with levels of continuity of care.

Areas of Improvement Identified from the 2012 Survey

•Appointments with nursing teamImproved

•Some aspects of Clinical care

•Explaining tests;Improved

•Involving patients;Improved

•Access to appointments/contacting mixed

surgery at peak times

•Knowledge of out of hours services deteriorated

A complete summary of the results is provided at appendix 1.

At a PRG meeting which discussed the old survey held on 12th March 2012 the practice agreed thatthe following actions will be undertaken:

-Surgery to work to enhance Practice Nurse skill mix where shortfalls have been identified.

-A new nurse prescriber was recruited during the summer of 2012, this new member of the clinical team provides an enhanced skills mix and has also increased the no. of nursing appointments available to patients.

-Partners to explain roles outside the surgery on the practice web site/newsletter;

-The partners’ non-surgery roles were explained at a previous PRG meeting in 2012. The practice has recently redeveloped its website and new information including the partners’ roles is being added.

-In-depth test explanations to be added to the web site/newsletter;

-See above

-Surgery to review the telephone system & handling peak time calls;

-The telephone system has been reviewed and enhancements were found to be too expensive to put into place. The surgery is moving to a new clinical platform EMIS Web which allows online appointment booking, a feature which will have the effect of reducing the no. of phone calls.

-Improve awareness of Out of Hours services;

-Further steps will be taken to publicise the Out Of Hours services. At time of writing all changes are being held up by problems with the role out of the NHS 111 service.

The full action plan is provided in Appendix 2.

  1. Summary

The development of a Patient Reference Group and carrying out a patient survey has helped The Blundellsands Surgery identify some key areas for action. The practice and PRG will continue to work together to understand patients’ views about their practice, and how it can be where improvement can be made

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Appendix 1 – Action plan

Issue identified / Action to be taken / Success criteria – / Timetable / Outcome
(or reason why this cannot be addressed in the near future) / how will we know our action has led to improvement / When will we implement / When will we measure progress
Practice Nurse appointment & skill mix / Review current provision of practice nursing & the current mix of skills / Reduced waiting times for appointments / On completion of training / During the next patient questionnaire / achieved see 2013 survey results
Partners to explain their roles outside the surgery on the practice web site/newsletter / Article to be added to practice website, leaflet & newsletter / Discuss with the PRG to gauge whether they feel better informed / End-April 2012 / On going / ongoing - see above remarks
In depth explanation of clinical tests to be added to web site/newsletter / PRG to be consulted about types of information required about tests / Improvement in patient understanding of tests in the next questionnaire / End-April / Next practice questionnaire / ongoing - see above remarks
Surgery to review the telephone system & handling peak time calls / Practice discussing with telecoms provider in April 2012 / Improvements in level of satisfaction with regard to phone access to the practice / 2nd quarter 2012 / Next practice questionnaire / ongoing - see above remarks
Reduced awareness of how to access Out of Hours - services / Publicise in waiting room, practice website & leaflet. / Improvement in awareness of Out Of Hours services. / On going / Next practice questionnaire / ongoing - see above remarks

Appendix 2 - survey results

A) see attachment for complete set of questions asked.

B)see attached a PowerPoint slides presented to the PRG on 25th March 2013.

C)In total 1100 emails & 4000+ texts were sent patients containing a link to the survey,584questionnaires were completed the survey.

D)29 surveys either posted/handed out in reception were completed – the total no. of questionnaires taken from reception, but not completed is unknown.

Appendix 3 – practice opening hours

Surgery Opening Times
Mon / 8.00am-6.30pm / 6.30pm-8.00pm (by appointment only)
Tues / 8.00am-6.30pm
Wed / 8.00am-6.30pm
Thurs / 8.00am-6.30pm
Fri / 8.00am-6.30pm
Appointments and Home Visits
Doctor surgery times
Mon / 8.30-11am / 3.30-6:00pm / 6.30-8pm
Tues / 8.00-11am / 3.30-6:00pm
Wed / 8.30-11am / 3.30-6:00pm
Thurs / 8.00-11am / 3.30-6:00pm
Fri / 8.30-11am / 3.30-6:00pm
Nurse clinics
Mon / 9.00am-12noon / 2-5:30pm
Tues / 8:30am-12noon / 2-4:30pm
Wed / 8:30am-12noon / 2-5pm
Thurs / 8:30am-12noon / 2-5pm
Fri / 8:30am-12noon / 25:30pm
Telephone Appointments

For Telephone Consultations with a Doctor or a Nurse, patients ring the surgery between 08:00 and 9:00 to book a telephone consultation. The doctor or nurse will ring back after morning surgery.

Appointment booking

  • Patients ring the main switchboard number on (0151) 924 6464 to book an appointment.
  • Urgent cases are seen the same day
  • Patients with non-urgent issues can expect to see a GP within two working days though they may have to wait longer if they want to see a particular GP. If patients do not need an appointment within two working days, there is also the option to book up to two weeks in advance if this is more convenient.
  • Nurses based in our practice treat patients for a wide range of common conditions. Patients can expect to see a nurse within one working day.

Repeat prescriptions

For repeat prescriptions patients can come to the surgery in person or complete an online form found on the surgery web page - note only medicines that are currently on your repeat prescription form can be ordered in this way.

Other services

Out of hours

Out of Hours contact phone numbers are given on the practice answering machine message and details are also available on the surgery’s website & practice leaflet.

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