HIGHLANDS SURGERY PPG MEETING
Held at The Estuary Club, 1386 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea,SS9 2SQ
Minutes of the meeting held on 28th June 2016
Members present: Gemma Cohen (Practice Manager), Dr Jamie Grant, Debbie Warrington (Asst. Practice Manager,) Sarah Bagnall (Practice Nurse), MC, BG, LH, PH (Chair), AJ, SJ, TL, EM, SM, MP, MS, PS-S and JW.
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
The Chair PH welcomed everyone to the meeting, particularly Mark, a new member to the group, and thanked MS for providing clear, printed name labels for everyone. Sarah Bagnallwas welcomed and introduced as the Practice Nurse responsible for looking afterclinical trials.
Apologies were received from CM & ST.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
These were agreed as true and correct.
CLINICAL TRIALS
Sarah introduced herself explaining that she was a nurse at the surgery who was research trained and in charge of trials that take place. She informed us that various levels of trials were undertaken. She explained Highlands Surgery was part of The Research Network, which produces a monthly bulletin, and the surgery was able to decide what studies would be useful, appropriate and feasible to undertake. As a general rule in Primary Care, some studies will be observational, others looking at well-known drugs on the market. An example cited was of studies in asthma where different inhalers were tested in different conditions. It might also be the case of a normal drug being administered against a placebo. She explained that there are of course inclusion and exclusion criteria. Testing can be done opportunistically within clinic, or letters will be sent to patients asking if they wish to participate in a trial. Requests were well received by patients and obviously all information was well documented in the patient’s notes.
A question was asked ‘What if the patient was to exhibit side-effects?’ Sarah explained this would be unlikely to happen with the drugs being used but, if it were so, the patient would be withdrawn from the study. Sarah assured us that close monitoring takes place, and protocols are set up with each study. The impetus is on patients to phone in if experiencing any problems. Trials are often European, and multi-centre studies take place; we are just one site on the Network.
It was noted that research was not majorly advertised on the website. It was explained that research used to be more commercially viable but often when finances are not a driver there is a drop due to other pressures. A question was asked as to why commercial testing had been given up and Sarah explained that the NHS Research Network is better risk assessed. Sarah concluded by saying that without research medicine stands still. Highlands Surgery always wants to be involved in research but only within a safe environment.
BABYLON UPDATE
Karan from Babylon attended our meeting. He told us a new app had been created, where the user could use the same account as their smart phone, but use the app on Desktop which many people preferred. Obviously users would need a web-cam on their laptop or computer to use the app.
Babylon had also built a new feature - The Symptom Checker. 3000 people are already using the feature on a daily basis.
The Symptom Checker gives advice such as, visit A & E, speak with a pharmacist, or book an appointment with your GP. It was built to be able to give a patient some reassurance within 5 minutes.
A patient on the PPG said she had used the app but had found that it gave her no idea of what was wrong with her, which she felt the NHS symptom checker did seem to provide. Gemma explained that this could be difficult as symptoms can have more than one cause. She advised that the idea of the Symptom Checker is to emulate NHS 111, which is to tell you the next appropriate step to take, and was not designed as a diagnostic tool. She explained that when you clicked on the feature it did make that point clear. If you aren’t satisfied with the information you receive, there is the facility to book an appointment with a Babylon GP.
Babylon is at present developing a Paediatric Symptom Checker.
HEALTH EVENT REVIEW
It was reported that comments had been very positive, and that the event had gone very smoothly, and had proved to be a first class event, as feedback forms showed. Feedback was received from approx. 50% of the audience. It was suggested that, if possible, it would be a good idea to ask for copies of the visual aids displayed on the night.
There had been some problems with the sound system, and this information had been fed back to the school. Also, at future presentations, attendees with hearing difficulties could be invited to sit near the front.
Dr Grant expressed that he was very grateful that busy people were willing to come and give their expertise.
We were asked about subjects that we thought might be pertinent to the next Health Event, but it was requested that Debbie sent out an email listing previous events, as some newer members did not know which subjects had already been covered.
SUMMER NEWSLETTER
Debbie said that, as she had received no feedback, she had gone ahead and prepared the Summer Newsletter and copies were available at the meeting. Any feedback on what had been prepared would need to be received by 8th July.
WEBSITE
Gemma informed us that she had been working hard to update the site, and had managed to replace some of the older material. There was now an email for communication and also several types of forms. If members could think of any other forms that might be helpful, suggestions could be brought to the next meeting.
It was suggested at the end of the meeting that we should definitely ask Karan from Babylon back again to a meeting in the near future, as some members had to leave before he was able to give his video presentation and talk more about Babylon.
Date of next meeting,Tuesday 26th July 2016 at the usual time of 12.30pm.