PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP MEMBERS

PHYLLIS BETHELL-

PAUL CALIFANO- VICE CHAIR-

JENNY MILLER-SECRETARY-

LUCIA KENDALL

If you are interested in the work of our group please contact the chair, Phyllis Bethell.

Thank you to Mike Kelly for his contribution, he has now relocated and therefore has left the group. Welcome to Sheila Joslin, our newest member.

The Chair, Phyllis, has links with local councillors should you wish to make contact with them.

RECEPTIONIST OF THE YEAR

Thanks to everyone who voted in Bexley’s Favourite Receptionist 2012 poll. Many of our receptionists’ were individually nominated and Gill Ebdon was once again a finalist. The team were also runners up in the team award, great recognition for their efforts on the patients’ behalf.

SERVICES IN THE SURGERY

The following services are available by appointment: Asthma, Diabetes, Hypertension, Heart Disease, Minor Surgery, Contraception, Travel, Smears, Baby, and Maternity. Smoking cessation help and advice is available from the nursing team.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Please remember to book your travel vaccinations well in advance of your trip. For more information visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/Travel-immunisation/Pages/Introduction.aspx

ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION SERVICE

'The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is an NHS Service that allows you to change how your GP send your prescription to the chemist t of your choice. You can nominate where to collect your medicines from by completing a form available from your pharmacy. This means that you should not have to attend the GP practice every time you request a repeat prescription, you can collect your medicines from the same place most of the time. For more information visit www.cfh.nhs.uk/eps

FLU SESSIONS

Based on the positive feedback received from the patients survey regarding the flu clinics, it has been agreed to hold dedicated flu clinics on Saturday again this year - the dates for this years clinics are : - 6th of October and 20th of October. Further details available at reception.

STAFFING

Dr Nazeer and Dr Trice have both come to the end of their training placements with the Practice and we wish them well in their future careers. Dr Goss will be with the practice from August 2012-August 2013 and Dr Akolo will be with the practice from August 2012-January 2013 on a part time basis. Both doctors are working under the supervision of Dr Gill and are qualified doctors who have chosen a career in General Practice and their placement with the surgery is the final stage in their training.

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

You can make comments on anything regarding the practice by either completing a comments form and placing it in the box in the waiting room or by logging onto the NHS Choices website at www.nhs.uk . Feedback can be positive as well as negative and helps us gauge how well we are doing, all comments are welcome!

Comments from the suggestion box have been received on the following areas:

Comments/Suggestions / Action
Appointments - you don't like having to ring back for an appointment the same day and made comments about how the appointments system works. / As a result we have published an explanation about how the appointment system works. In a nutshell, We release a limited number of appointments in advance of the booking date, we term these as pre-bookable appointments.. The actual number of appointments released for pre-booking is entirely dependent upon doctor availability which varies from day to day. It is important to understand that these are limited in number and once they have been fully utilised for a particular date then no further pre-booking is allowed on that particular day. We then release further appointments at 8.00am and 3.00pm daily that are available for booking on the day, this allows for greater flexibility for you the patient to book your appointment and having pre booked sessions should mean that you are not sitting around and waiting to be seen for longer than necessary. In the National survey 2010-11, 96% of our patients surveyed were able to get an appointment either the same day or within the next two working days.
Waiting times - sometimes you have to wait too long / We aim to keep waiting times to a minimum by running the appointment system. Unfortunately, due to the reactive nature of the service, on occasions this is not possible but whenever there appears to be a significant wait we aim to let you know on booking so that you are informed and prepared.
Toys and Books in the waiting room / There was a request for some more up to date books and magazines for children in the waiting room and we have now added a variety of books and magazines for younger patients.

BOOK EXCHANGE

We are aiming to set up a book exchange scheme in the waiting room where you can borrow books for a small donation. All proceeds will go to a charity agreed by the members.

September 2012