Minutes of Patient Reference Group
Monday 9th March 2015
Present:
Dr Beverley Scowen
Lydia Higginson, Practice Manager
Martin Boiles (Chairman)
Carol White
Doreen Denton
Anne Warner
Jim Hanson
Dorothy Chaffey
Nick Simon
Martin Lucy
Apologies:
Pam Prince
Mell Allison
Absent:
Robert Hall
Previous Minutes:
Building: To be discussed further in this meeting.
Coils: The Practice will receive funding to fit coils for any other reason than for contraception from 1st April 2015, this will save patients having to go to secondary care. Many thanks to Doreen for her letter to the CCG to support this.
Patient Survey Report: Now summarised and on the Website.
New Hospital: Still apparently plans to go ahead.
Phlebotomy: The new service seems to be working well and Jim had booked an appointment and he was seen straight away.
CQC Feedback: Lydia said she has received the draft CQC report and was delighted to report the Practice was rated as providing “Good” services in all five areas which were inspected. As soon as the final report is received Lydia will publish the findings on the Practice website. Lydia thanked the members of the PRG who took the time to come in and speak to the CQC inspectors.
The rest of the previous minutes were agreed as accurate.
Partners Update: Dr Katrina Webster is leaving at the end of March 2015 and will be replaced by Dr Paul Wharton. Dr Rosie Harries-Brown is now leaving at the end of July 2015.
Friends and Family Test: Lydia reminded all the patients to please complete the Friends and Family Test when visiting the Practice saying it’s a very quick survey. The group wondered if the ipad could be moved to a more visible place in the waiting room, Lydia said she will try and move it.
Buildings Update: Martin reported he has been successful in speaking to Helen Spencer who works for Hampshire County Council (HCC) who is running a Government backed scheme to house various health bodies in the community. HCC and the local council are very keen to house GP services in this building and the car park behind Sainsbury’s is currently the favourite, however Martin brought in a map of other possible venues. Martin will arrange a meeting with HCC for himself and Lydia to see it this is a possible option. Dr Scowen commented she thought this was an excellent idea as HCC are motivated to provide good services, including health services for their residents.
Articles in newspapers GP surgeries will open over Easter: Lydia explained this unlikely to happen as several years ago GP surgeries had their income reduced and were informed they no longer had to cover evenings, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays. Dr Scowen explained there was presently a national problem with GP recruitment and she could not see how all Practices could open.
Care Data: Lydia explained that the Government will be writing to all patients to invite them to share their medical data. Patients will automatically be opted in, unless they specifically opt out. Lydia said she has been assured their data will be anonymised. The patients asked for re-assurance their NHS number and postcode would not be shared. Lydia said that she has been assured the NHS number will be only used initially and the post code will only have the first part eg SP10. Nick feels strongly this is imporant data and that it will be useful for research purposes. Dr Scowen said that until the Government gains the public trust many patients will be sceptical; she also added this will be useful data for NHS trusts to compare health data. Lydia finally added the programme has currently been put on hold until after the election, so further details will be given at a later date.
Electronic Prescriptions: Some of the PRG reported they had delays when going to Pharmacies and had been told their scripts had been sent electronically. Dr Scowen said that once the doctor had done the script it went to a spine where the Pharmacies had to draw down from. However as the Pharmacies were very busy they didn’t always regularly draw these scripts down and priority was given to patients standing in their pharmacies with green paper scripts. Lydia has had a meeting the Pharmacy manager over the road at Charlton Hill Boots who has assured her these scripts are being regularly drawn down. Lydia asked the patients to report any problems as Carol is making a log of them.
Health Area in Waiting Room: Lydia said that a new Health Area, per the patient’s suggestions from the last survey had now been completed in the waiting area. In the Health Area patients were encouraged to take their own BP, weight and height. The PRG members said they had not all been aware of the area and could there be more signs and a better coverage of it on the TV.
AOB: Martin asked if the slides on the TV could be slowed down as sometimes it is so quick it is difficult to read, Lydia will investigate.
Touch Screen: Martin asked if we could collect patients current mobile numbers on the touch screen – Lydia will ascertain.
Date of Next Meeting: Monday 20th April 2015 at 5.45pm