BRIDGE SURGERY’S PATIENT GROUP
Minutes of Group Meeting held on
Wednesday 18th March 2015 at 6.00pm
Present:
Fiona Sellens (GP)Julie Finch (Practice Manager)
Cyril Burton (Patient) / Angie Carpenter (Patient)
Gerald Chatfield (Patient)
Marion Grenville (Patient) / Angela Henry (Secretary)
David Leese (Patient)
Janet Watkin (Patient)
1Apologies
Vivien Brooks (Practice Administrator), Heather Robinson (Patient), Conor Wileman (Patient) (via Rob), Robert Wilkinson (Chair). Due to the Rob's absence, the meeting was chaired by Angela, and notes for the minutes were kindly taken by Angie.
2Notification of Any Other Business
Angela requested time to talk about Medical Exemption Certificates. Gerry has a couple of questions relating to the Improving Lives Initiative.
3Minutes of Last Meeting
The minutes were approved unanimously.
4Matter Arising from the Minutes of the Last Meeting
Cyril apologised regarding two topics he raised at the last meeting, which were for information only and, particularly regarding the parish emergency plans, which had provoked some discussion, when in fact he shouldn't have started a reply. But if we know someone within our local area who is cut off or lonely, we could try to help before official services are needed. Similarly, we don't need training to help people whether or not it's an emergency. If we see someone who is on their own or lonely, we could spare a few seconds to say, "Hello, I only live a short distance away, are you alright? Call me if you need help" or maybe chat to them on the phone or even knock on their door with two tea bags in your hand.
Dr Sellens gave us the latest news from Dr Georgiou regarding the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). It was the low scores in some areas of this which triggered the band 1 rating as part of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Intelligent Monitoring report last year. The six outstanding areas have now turned green (from red), due to recordingbeing tightened up and the doctors appropriately exempting some patients. She stressed that allpatients were still being cared for and followed up by the GPs and nurses, and that they are still looking after patients as they always did but are now ticking boxes to comply with CQC expectations.
5Group Business
Pat has tendered her resignation. Rob has both spoken to her and written. In his absence, Angela passed on a message from Rob who wished every member to know that their contribution is valued and appreciated, however large or small. The PPG is essential to the Practice, and we need to be a diverse group of individuals since this will help to make sure that different viewpoints and opinions are heard and taken into account.
The Group membership now falls below the maximum and therefore there is a vacancy. The person on the waiting list will be contacted in due course.
In previous meetings, we have discussed the issue of GPs attending the meeting. Since the outset, it has been the senior GP, but when Dr Pidsley was unable to join us in November last year, it was agreed that other GPs attend, for at least two consecutive meetings. Angela wondered if, for continuity, Dr Pidsley would like to come to every third meeting, i.e., in between the other doctors. Julie will ask him. Dr Sellens did comment that some GPs are looking forward to their turn.
6News from the Practice
A self check-in screen will be installed at the end of this week to the left of the reception desk. Its use by patients will be optional, as there will still be a receptionist on duty, but it is hoped that it may reduce the queue which builds up at busy times.
There is to be a trial of clinicians' rooms being known by number instead of by name. Numbers have been put on the doors today, and the electronic display will change to show the clinician's name and the room number. Room 1 is Dr Georgiou's (first left on the corridor), with the numbers going down that side of the corridor, round to the bottom end (the nurses rooms), and back up to the latest-built (purple walled) room, which is numbered 10.
The trainee GP, Dr Farida Seedat is shortly to return from her maternity leave.
From April, SystmOnline users will have access to a summary of their medical records online, and to view their medications. Further information will be available from the Surgery in the forthcoming weeks. There are now some 800 users of SystmOnline.
7CQC October 2014 Inspection Report
Julie advised that the draft report has still not been received although the inspection was over five months ago. She has made enquiries, and the delay is in part is due to leave taken by the inspector, but it should hopefully arrive within the next few weeks
8Improving Lives Initiative
Marion attended the first of the planned meetings for this and produced a very well balanced and informative report for the Group. Angela extended her apologies to Marion personally and to all members for misspelling Marion's surname. Unfortunately, Marion will be unable to attend the next meeting, at Pirelli Stadium, on 4th May, but Cyril and Gerry both suggested they may be able to. Cyril was given details to book places.
9Friends and Family Test
We looked at the results for February and Dr Sellens expressed her disappointment with the response that suggested the author was extremely unlikely to recommend the Practice to friends and family because the free text made it clear that this was only because their contacts do not live in the catchment area so would not be allowed to register, but that if they did so they would not hesitate to recommend the surgery. No national figures are available yet for comparisons. Angela commented that a card picked up from Derby hospital had a lot more questions and icons, but had forgotten to bring a sample. Julie advised that the Test is going to run until at least March 2016.
10National GP Survey Results
This questionnaire is sent by post to random patients, and returned by post, so there is no involvement or input from the Surgery, and it is not known how many patients are contacted. It covers the period January to March and July to September 2014, and 166 of our patients responded. There are 62 questions, and we looked at the first 20, comparing our responses with the averages for East Staffs. Because the questionnaire is so large, we agreed to try to view it online and discuss the results at our next meeting, but our results looked similar or above the local average. (The results can be found at ).
11Enhanced Service
The PPG is now part of an Enhanced Service, and Julie will need to complete a template, a draft of which was distributed at the meeting, by the end of the month to show we have met the specified requirements. Either Rob or Angela will sign the completed version off. March is a month with large reporting requirements for Julie, and she is working through several, including this. The Group asked that she let us know if she needed any help, and agreed to supply ethnicity information.
12Virtual Patient Group (VPG)
The VPG now has 43 members, up from 36 last year, with a very diverse age group - from under 16 to over 75. Angela and Rob had discussed VPG membership, and wondered if, should we have advance notice of someone being unable to attend one of our meetings, an invitation should be extended to VPG members to attend, probably one per meeting, chosen on a first to reply basis. Such attendees would need to be aware that they were there as a one-off guest, should treat anything they saw or heard as confidential and would not have voting rights. The Group agreed. For this to work, anyone who can't attend a meeting should please notify Julie as far in advance as possible.
13Action Plan
Julie said that this is still a work in progress, but the remaining item - the provision of a bookcase for children's books - is in hand as the equipment has been ordered and should arrive shortly.
14Patient Leader Programme Pilot
We had all seen the e-mail from Amy Riley regarding this, but no one was clear on what the initiative was about and therefore we could not offer to be a pilot site. Cyril wanted to put this on a back burner for six months, just to see where it sits with the other groups, but David suggested he would put some feelers out if someone else would contact Amy to try to find out more detail. Angela agreed to do this.
15Any Other Business
Angela said that she had seen recent media publicity regarding people claiming free prescriptions under their Medical Exemption Certificates (MEC), only to receive a £100 fine because the certificates had expired. In the Surgery, there is a leaflet entitled "Claiming Free Prescriptions" which gives some information on this, and calling the Medical & Maternity exemption certificate helpline on 0300 330 1341 provides some assistance. A month before a MEC expires, the NHS will write to the holder at their last known address to advise how to renew. Dr Sellens advised that patients can pick up from the surgery a form FP92A, complete it and then ask their doctor to countersign it. The helpline can advise the expiry date of existing certificates.
Gerry asked what ACS (Ambulatory Care Sensitive) meant, as shown on page 18 and 20 of East Staffs CCG's Improving Lives booklet, and MI, mentioned on page 23. Dr Sellens answered that MI was Myocardial Infarction, or heart attack, and that she thought ACS related to conditions such as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) which need to be confirmed within a hospital setting but are treatable outside a hospital environment.
16Date and Time of Next Meeting
Due to non-availability of some members during May, the date of the next meeting was agreed for Wednesday, 10th June 2015 at 6pm. Please would attendees notify Julie, Rob or Angela of any suggested items by 1st June, and read these minutes together with any accompanying papers before coming to the meeting to avoid wasted time. If anyone is unable to attend, please notify Julie as soon as possible so that a VPG member is given an opportunity to attend.
17Meeting Close and Effectiveness of Meeting
"Effective". The meeting closed at 7.10pm.
Message of the Moment suggestion arising from this meeting:
- To renew a Medical Exemption Certificate, ask for a FP92A application form. It will need to be countersigned by a doctor, so please complete the form and hand it in to reception. To find out when your current Certificate expires, look at your card or ring 0300 330 1341.