King Edwards Medical Centre: PPG
King Edwards Medical Group PPG
Date: 12 March 2015 4.00pm Thames View
Attendees: B S, S H, T P, P A
Apologies: T L, P O, J C, C W, G M, J R, A B
Practice Reps: Dr Jagan John, Mr Kaleem Haider
RE: PPG
Minutes:
Kaleem Haider (KH) greeted members and apologised for a delayed start as Dr Jagan John was stuck in a meeting. He read the minutes of previous meeting for approval. Minutes were approved without any objection.
Dr Jagan John (JJ) reiterated the greater objectivities of the PPG and invited members to take the ownership of the group and select a Chairperson amongst the members.
PPG discussed how practice and its services could be promoted and how the progress on various health initiatives could be advertised amongst patients to increase awareness. JJ suggested a periodical news letter, practice open day to engage with other patients.
SH and BS welcomed the Idea with a caution and expressed concern regarding workload. JJ offered practice’s administrative assistance to support the group which was greeted and members agreed. The election of Chairperson was postponed until next meeting. Members suggested a rotating Chairperson position which was left open for discussion until next meeting.
JJ again raised the issue of under utilisation of nursing provision. He mentioned that the low intake of practice nursing was highlighted in previous meeting. However no significant upward trend was noticed. He said that many patients could benefit if they use practice nurses. It can reduce the waiting time and will ease the pressure on GPs.
JJ updated the group on access. He said that due to “Open Clinics” in both surgeries, access was improved and GPs are now seeing at least 15% more patients then previously. He acknowledged that there is still a shortfall and practice is looking ways to improve patient access. He announced that practice is recruiting more GPs to address patients concern and a lady doctor will soon be joining the practice. This will increase practice’s capacity and will definitely help to meet the increasing demand. The announcement was greeted by the group. All members appreciated practice efforts and expressed their eagerness to meet the new GP.
BS informed the group about Health Watch, its objectives and activities. She invited all members to take part in this voluntary organisation’s activities which works to promote and improve health. Members agreed to explore the possibility to join.
KH updated the group on a low uptake of vaccination programme. He stated that this year practice struggled to immunise patients against influenza and yet could not achieve the desired target. He also said that there is also a very low uptake of Shingles vaccinations. Despite invites the a large majority of marked groups of patient declined to be immunised.
JJ requested the group to educate patients by highlighting the importance of vaccination and health risks if vaccines are declined.
BS and PA asked if the shingles vaccine is available to everyone over 65 years? The group was informed that at present vaccine is only available free of cost to patients age 70 and 78-79 . According to Public Health these two groups of patients are more likely o get the disease therefore they are targeted.
TP complained about the poor communication from the hospitals. She said that the detail of her follow-up appointment was never communicated by the hospital and that they have discharged her on non attendance. JJ and KH said that the communication between hospitals and primary care has recently improved significantly. They acknowledged that there is still more to be done. JJ said that he will raise this issue within CCG and will ask appropriate authorities to look into patients complaints in regard.
JJ informed the group about some new initiatives that have been introduced in the area. He explained about “Complex Care” and “Hub Site”. He said that complex care is a brilliant idea where patients who have more then one chronic / long-term problem or serious health issues like cancer are reviewed by a multidisciplinary team including consultant, GP and other supporting staff. This provides much needed benefit to patient by cutting down unnecessary referral time.
The Hub Site is another step towards improving patient access to GP services at CCG level. Those urgent patient who can not be accommodated by the practices, are sent to Hub Site for a GP consultation. He said at present only GP practices can book an appointment and patients have no direct access to Hub Site. The new services were greatly appreciated by the group.
JJ also commented about a relatively low rate of cancer diagnosis in the area. He said there are a number of reasons for this including patient’s education, culture, ignorance etc. He said there may be some GP training issues as well and the NHS E in general and B&DCCG in particular looking for the possibility arrange some cancer training.
SH said that like cancer there is a very low rate of Autism diagnosis in the area. He said he knows what difference an early diagnosis can make in patient’s life. He offered his services to train practice staff to recognise the sign(s) of autism. His offer was welcomed and JJ reassured the group that this offer will be passed on to the CCG.
PA highlighted the issue that the dedicated contact telephone number for “Admission Avoidance” is not working. It was checked and the number she had was not correct. It was corrected.
KH informed the group that patients soon will be able to access their medical record online. Initially this access will be restricted to their medication list , test results and a brief summary of their health problems. It may be extended to entire health record at a later stage but at present there is no indication for it. He said there are some technical hitches which will be removed shortly. The idea was welcomed by the group.
JJ apologised and said that he will have to attend a commissioning meeting therefore needs to leave early. Everyone appreciated that he spared time out of his extremely busy schedule.
KH also informed the group that there is an increase in patient’s complaints. However these complaints are not related to clinical care. Majority of complaints are patients inability to book appointments with preferred clinicians. He informed the group that GPs are on a rota between both sites and can not be available every day on both, main and branch sites. Patients who wish to see a particular GP also need to acknowledge that GPs are also human and can be off sick or on holidays. In those circumstances if a GP is not available we can only offer alternative clinicians.
KH acknowledged that these complaints can be reduced if the communication between patients and staff is improved. He mentioned that in current year practice will retrain their front office staff to enhance their communication skills.
KH asked if there is any other business. There was no other issue to discuss.
He thanked all participants and extended practice’s gratitude that members spared their valuable time to attend the meeting.
The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting date will be announced later.
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