1

Donnington Medical Partnership - Patient Participation Group Meeting Minutes

Attended by: Kathryn Wilkinson, Tony Hallatt, Pam Drumm, Anita Lightstone, Malcolm Bourner, Alan Mordue, Andrew Colleran

Apologies from:Jean Minshull, Sylvia Martineau, Stella Dunn

Action
1. / Previous Minutes and Matters arising-
Re Dr Mack on hospital lists, Pat/Secretaries have checked and Dr Mack is correctly listed as a GP working here.
Re timings of meetings- No one has got back to Jean re any thoughts about meeting times so all agreed to stick to current pattern. All thought that the possibility of holding a meeting at the new Rose Hill Community centre was a good idea.
2. / Update-Alan Mordue-Practice Manager-
This is last meeting of financial year so Alan went over Action Plan. His feeling is that we haven’t made as much progress as we could have.
  1. In surgery communication- this is much better since screens installed. We hope to update monthly now that there is a dedicated person in place to look after them. One of the screens will be moved to behind the new reception making it more visible.
  2. Online engagement- we now have a dedicated person in place to manage the website and so hope to promote more online engagement. We are compliant with all that we need to be but need to focus on it and do more. Andrew asked if we could do more jointly with other surgeries.
  3. Managing patient expectations- Alan has been collecting data re waiting times and intents to get it displayed on screens and on website. Texting as a means of communication is up from 54% to 69%.. We now have the opportunity to put in more lines at DHC. Increasing the uptake of electronic prescribing is a national focus. Malcolm asked whether a box could be added to registration forms to ask patients if they have online access at home. All thought it was a good idea. Andrew asked if it was possible to email individual doctors or directly into one’s own medical record. Alan said not but Pat explained how patients can get in touch with doctors re the generic practice email address .
Alan/Jean will meet to clarify the Action Plan and will study responses from the Friends and Family Test to pick out issues for a new Action Plan to be brought to the next meeting. Using the FF test responses feels more current/relevant that the old practice questionnaire. We get approx 250 responses per year. Malcolm asked if there were other ways of monitoring feedback from patients. Patients can log onto NHS choices and leave feedback there. Perhaps there might be a way to get more immediate feedback as people leave.
The Friends and Family Test score this month is 95%. Generally people recommend the practice highly.
Other news- Dr Anscombe and Dr Hope have now retired. Dr Shamim Rahman has been employed as a salaried doctor for 6 sessions per week and has taken Dr Hope’s list of patients. The Nursing team is struggling to recruit at the moment in keeping with many practices. We are very short of doctors at the moment with one on long term leave and another leaving in April and are finding it very difficult to recruit either salaried GP’s or Locums. It’s not only us but is a big problem across Oxfordshire and nationally. There has been a 16% increase in demand over the last three years. When we are not able to offer routine appointments more people come as same day extras putting huge pressure on the doctors. Andrew asked about cancellations and whether a system could be arranged to utilise them. Alan said they are not a problem as they usually get filled but DNA’s are a problem and we lose appointments that way. Consultations are averaging 12 minutes but the waiting time for a routine has gone up from 8 days to 12 days at present. Appointments offered are generally 10 minutes but its very difficult if a patient takes longer. Malcolm said these things can’t be regimented.
3. / PPG Activity-
Alan had been to a meeting with Dr Merlin Dunlop at the new Rose Hill centre and all felt that holding a meeting there in the future would be a good idea. There are consulting rooms there and they hope to offer a range of services including Midwifery and mental Health services but they are some months away from this yet.
Tony asked about the PPG noticeboard and questioned whether it should be more towards the front of the waiting area. Alan said Jean had selected that one as most people waiting for doctors/nurses/phlebotomy would sit at that end. It is the job of the reception team to look after it and make sure no one else puts things on it. Pat will put the information re out of hours back by the front doors. The dates for the next few meetings are as follows.
Wednesday 18th May @ 12.30- Wednesday 20th July @ 12.30- Saturday 17th September @ 10.30
4. / National Citizen Assembly-
This is a project run by NHS England as a channel of communication between themselves and patients. Its been going for 2-3 years now. Topics are suggested and 5 are picked via a jury system. These then get worked on by a citizen assembly. The last one was in November and Andrew attended. Anyone who is interested can look up National Citizen assembly online or contact Andrew directly.( )
5. / PPG Members Input-
Kathryn/Andrew had been to locality meeting with presentation by Director of Finance for CCG. Both reported that it was a disappointing meeting.
PPG had received a letter from Christine Hemming who made a number of points including
  1. The patients toilet needs a more visible engaged sign at DHC
  2. She felt that patients need a clear indication of where to sit when waiting. Alan/Pat said that they felt that reception do tell people when booking them in but would remind them again. Also the signs on the wall indicating which door patients will be called from will be updated as part of refurbishment so that will help.
  3. She felt that information on how to register should be displayed in the surgery. Alan/Pat said that it’s on the website and prospective patients are given a pack containing forms, handbook and ppg leaflet.
  4. She asked about patients being asked to show exemptions when collecting prescriptions. All felt this is a pharmacy matter.

6. / Any Other Business-
Andrew asked what’s happening with OxFed. Alan said a lot in a sense that they have appointed lots of roles to help practices and begun to take on contracts to generate income including the School Nurses. They have also appointed a Chief Executive. There is a possibility that contracts will only be awarded to groups with 30,000 patients in the future which is aimed at forcing practices to collaborate and OxFed will really come into its own then.
Next meeting is Wednesday 18th May @ 12.30pm
Patient participation group] / meeting minutes (March 2016)