Kintbury Patient Participation Group Meeting
Monday 23rd May 2016
Minutes of Meeting
In Attendance:
Kintbury Patient Participation Group
Bridget Hickey, Chris Turner, Glenda Heaton
Apologies:
Ann Budd, Merle Manson, Penny Brookmanand Elizabeth Willmott.
Woolton Hill and Kintbury Practice
Dr Heather Howells (Kintbury Surgery) and Gavin Smith
- Introduction and Apologies
Gavin opened the meeting and agreed to take the minutes of the meeting.
- Minutes of the KintburyPPG Meeting held on 16th February 2016
Outstanding item from last meeting - Gavin to forward the PPG recruitment advert to Chris to upload on social media.
The minutes of the Kintbury PPG meeting held on 16th February 2016were agreed and signed off.
- Patient Participation Report and Action Plan
Gavin talked through the 2015/2016 PPG report and action plan which had been circulated to all PPG members and published on the surgery website.
The three Priority areas that had been in place during the year were discussed in detail and the meeting agreed that:-
- Whilst the Fibromyalgia Patient’s Champion scheme had been a great success, the Practice was not in a position, at present, to set up and support other Patient Champion groups due to ongoing GP recruitment problems. The Practice would however, continue to support the existing Fibromyalgia group. Dr Howells explained that given the benefits to patients of the Patient Champion scheme the Practice would look to consider setting up other groups once the GP recruitment issues have been resolved.
- The Priority to provide oversight and support for vulnerable patients had achieved as much as was reasonably practical and as such the meeting agreed to sign off this priority.
- The priority to achieve wider representation on PPGs was still a work in progress. Gavin explained that the GP contract requires the Practice to continue to seek to engage with PPGs that are representative of the patient profile and as such the Practice would continue to work with the PPG to recruit new members from under-represented groups.
Gavin outlined the changes that had been made to the appointment system over the last year and confirmed that the Practice had been able to maintain its guarantee to Patients to provide pre-bookable appointments for at least 4 weeks in advance. All pre-bookable appointments with the Partners are now also available for booking online.
Dr Howells explained that the Practice was still facing severe problems trying to recruit GP’s to cover the sessions lost following Dr Coakley’s departure. Dr Howells advised the meeting that in order to provide continuity of care for patients, the Practice was looking to employ a small number of locums that were known to the Partners.
All members of the PPG highlighted the improvements made at Kintbury surgery following the staff recruitment and training undertaken during 2015.
The proposals for priorities for the Practice detailed in the Action Plan were discussed. Gavin explained that despite encouraging more patients to use the online appointment booking and repeat medication ordering facility, the Surgery telephone system was still under pressure and patients were waiting too long for calls to be answered. Chris asked whether it would be feasible to have a single dedicated telephone line for booking appointments at either surgery. Dr Howells explained that this was something that the Practice has considered in the past and will look at again. Gavin explained that the Practice would be looking in detail at the problems with the existing system over the next year and examining whether it was financially viable to replace or enhance the existing telephone system.
The issue of car parking was discussed but despite ongoing contact with local councils and local businesses there is no likelihood of any increase in the car parking capacity at Kintbury.
As the setting of the three key priorities suggested by the Kintbury and Woolton Hill PPGs and the Practice had proved to be of benefit to both patients and the Practice, Gavin asked the members if they would be willing to look at setting new priorities for the coming year. It was suggested that as with the previous priorities, the Practice and each PPG would come up with their own suggestion for a priority which would be discussed and agreed at the annual joint PPG meeting in August.
- Extended hours for 2016/2017
Dr Howells confirmed that the Practice would continue to provide extended opening hours during 2016/2017 but at a reduced level from the previous year. The Practice recognised the importance of providing both evening and weekend appointments for patients but had to balance this provision against the availability of Dr’s. For 2016/2017 the Practice will provide pre-bookable appointments on 34 Saturdays alternating between Kintbury and Woolton Hill surgeries, these sessions will be targeted to provide additional capacity at periods of expected high demand (Winter months and the weeks following the end of the school summer holidays). Evening surgeries will continue to take place every week at Woolton Hill, on either a Tuesday or, a Wednesday evening and every other Thursday at Kintbury.
- Patient Survey
Gavin provided some initial feedback from the recent Patient Survey which indicated that Patient satisfaction with the way they were treated by staff had improved significantly since the previous survey. Early indications showed that whilst online ordering of medication and appointment booking was popular with patients, many people had experienced problems when trying to register for the service. Chris kindly offered to come in and help patients to register. Gavin will discuss this with the practice IT manager and with Karen Blunden.
The full survey results should be available by early June and a copy will be sent to PPG members before being published on the surgery website.
- Care Quality Commission Inspection
Dr Howells confirmed that the long anticipated CQC inspection had taken place on 18th May. The Inspectors visited both surgeries and spoke to a number of patients and to PPG representatives at both surgeries. Dr Howells thanked Chris for stepping in at short notice to speak to the Inspectors at Kintbury.
The full results of the Inspection will not be available for several weeks but the initial feedback provided by the Inspectors highlighted a very high level of patient satisfaction along witha number of positive comments about the Practice staff. There were a number of issues which will need to be addressed, mainly in connection with dispensing procedures and accessibility for disabled patients. Once received, the full report will be displayed in the surgery.
- Friends and Family Test update
Gavin confirmed that despite significant advertising, the number of patients responding to the Friends and Family test remained at a very low level.
- GP staffing update
Dr Howells advised the meeting that the Practice had managed to recruit two Drs who had previously undertaken part of their initial GP training at the surgery (Dr Nafousi and Dr Chana) to cover some of Dr Coakley’s sessions over the summer. Dr Dace will now be providing cover for three days a week and will continue to work for the Practice during Dr Newman’s forthcoming maternity leave.
- Members Reports
Bridget highlighted the issue of the number of appointments that are lost as a result of patients failing to attend pre-booked appointments and provided a copy of an advert placed in a local magazine by the Hungerford surgery Patient Participation Group. That advert indicated that 360 people failed to attend their booked appointment in a three month period at Hungerford surgery. Bridget asked whether this was an issue that should be examined at Kintbury, especially in light of the GP recruitment problems that the Practice is currently experiencing. Gavin explained that whilst this was something that had been looked at in 2014, it was certainly an area that should be looked at again. Gavin will discuss this with the Practice Manager Karen Blunden to see if it is a major problem at Kintbury surgery and will then seek the views of the PPG members to see how best to tackle the issue.
- Any other Business
Chris, Bridget and Glenda asked whether the Practice felt that the PPG was of help to the Practice and questioned whether there were other ways that the PPG could assist the Practice. Both Dr Howells and Gavin highlighted the importance of the PPG to the Practice and to patients. Dr Howells explained that the PPG provides an important role in terms of providing valuable feedback on issues concerning patients and also highlighting areas for improvement. The group also allows the Practice to raise awareness of operational issues that arise and to increase knowledge amongst patients of the Practice’s aims and objectives.
Gavin highlighted the recent publication of the Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Groups Primary Care strategy and vision for primary care services to 2019. There will be a number of public meetingsheld over the next month to highlight the strategy and to explain what impact it will have on the provision of primary care in the area.
- Date of next Meeting
The next PPG meeting will be the annual, joint PPG meeting which will take place at Woolton Hill surgery in August on a date to be agreed. The dates suggested were Tuesday 23rd or Tuesday 30th August, Gavin will liaise with the Woolton Hill PPG Secretary and advise members of the agreed date.