Yarm Medical Practice
Patient Participation Group
3rd March 2015
Present: Dr Barron, SB, JB, AW, KM, AC, JC, BA, MA, GP, AB.
Apologies: DR
Minutes were reviewed and agreed.
Updates from items on last minutes:
Within the last minutes we discussed the practice trying to reduce the amount of post that it sends out to patients. We trialled this in flu season where only those with a chronic condition were invited to a flu appointment by letter, the over 65s who didn’t fall into this category were not reminded by letter, but we hoped that the national flu campaign would prompt them to attend.
Unfortunately this was not the case, uptake was poor so before the end of flu season we sent out invites to those who hadn’t attended and our numbers picked up again. It seems that a more gradual introduction of reducing clinic invite letters is needed. This is something that the practice is looking into.
1. Dawa
Dawa’s operation went well and she is doing well in her recovery period. Dr Donne is keeping us updated as to her progress.
2. Book stall
This very successful venture raised £270 which was donated to A Way Out.
It has been decided that when the collecting box fills up, the charity is changed.
The next charity is The Trussell Trust which helps local communities to combat poverty through food banks.
We welcome all book donations, just hand in at reception.
3. Future of Patient Participation Group
Dr Barron mentioned to the group that there is a waiting list for members to join the PPG. Although we have tried to recruit a varied demographic it seems that busy lives, jobs and young children mean that most of our members are in the 50+ age bracket.
• It was agreed that we would aim to keep the group to a similar size of about 12-14 in order to keep it interactive and manageable.
• Dr Barron asked if anyone would like to step down - GP offered to do so, we thanked him for his input to the PPG.
• We felt that anyone who hasn’t attended 50% of the meetings in a year should forfeit theirmembership.
• Ideally members should serve 2 years on the PPG. This would start to be monitored from now and members would be reminded of this at yearly intervals.
2 members felt that they would like to become known to the wider practice as contact points should other patients wish to have an item discussed by the PPG.
Keith Marlow 01642 652732,
Alan Bruce 01642 892691
A poster explaining is now displayed in Reception. This information will also be included in the June edition of the Practice Newsletter.
4. Yarm Medical Practice history
This is an interesting work in progress that the members of the PPG are developing. Ultimately a potted history of the practice would be available on the website and mentioned in the newsletter.
KM has informed us that Dr Lawrence (retired YMP GP) will be preparing an article on the history of the practice for the PPG.
5. There were concerns about the effectiveness of the telephone system that informs patients where they are in the queue.
Dr Barron will discuss this with the Practice Manager.
6. Topics for future PPG meetings were discussed. These included some medical topics and explaining more about the GP contract to provide extended hours provision. For the next meeting we are going to ask one of our current GP Registrars to explain a little about GP training.
Next meeting Tuesday 2nd June 6pm