Lockwood Surgery
Patient Participation Group (PPG) Tuesday 18th November 2014
Present: Chairman Ed Day, Dr S Atkinson,Dr K Marimuthu, Dr R Sharman,Practice Nurse Joy Oakley, Practice Manager Alison Bennett,Administration Supervisor, Heather Bellerby, Michael Shuttleworth, Kay Wade, YL, John Avison
Visitors, Sharon Lonnen – Expert patient Programme & Chris Morris – Smartphone app provider
Expert Patients Programme: Sharon Lonnen, co-ordinator for the Kirklees Expert Patients Programme, explained the background of the EPP concept and its value for patients. Attendees aged 18 or over with chronic health conditions apply for a place directly or are referred by their GPs to attend seven-week courses in three Kirklees locations (the Brian Jackson Centre, Huddersfield and at the Dewsbury and Batley Health Centres). Attendees are encouraged to self-motivate in matters of healthy eating, exercise, mental attitude and decision-making. Sharon said there were significant long term positive effects, breaking negative cycles of thought and action.
Smartphone 'app' for surgeries: IT specialist Chris Morris explained that he had been commissioned by Kirklees Council to produce an app which converted material from medical websites – such as Lockwood Surgery's – into material suitable for reading on a smartphone screen. The app, downloadable by scanning via a QR (quick response) 'barcode', was interactive. Users could book appointments at their local surgery, for instance and information fed into the website at source was instantly updated to the user's phone. A pilot scheme at Dalton Surgery had attracted 3,000 users from the 7,000 patient list.
Dr Sharman noted that, though many people assumed young people would use the app, the majority of people who already used Lockwood Surgery website via their computers or laptops were the over-65s.
DNA: ('Did Not Attend'). PPG member Shahida Karim had produced two letters to be directed at persistent appointment non-attenders, one 'polite' and one 'stern'. Dr Atkinson said that a last measure – that of taking the patient off the surgery register – merely passed the problem on to another practice. YL said it was important to ensure that people with a legitimate reason for not attending an appointment were not sent a letter. Dr Sharman said that the problem arose from the same small group, mostly of young people. Joy Oakley said that the surgery notice reporting how many people had missed appointments was 'negative' – would it not be better to thank people in the waiting room for attending, and say what percentage of people had turned up as promised? It was felt by the GPs that the letters would be more effective if they came specifically from the Patient Participation Group, and it was agreed to put this into operation immediately.
Patients Reference Group: Chairman Ed Day is Lockwood Surgery's representative on this group. Heather agreed to put the minutes of the PRG's next meeting on the surgery website.
NHS Choices website: The Care Quality Commission had not inspected the surgery yet, but might produce a report from information they already held. Lockwood Surgery had received feedback on this site from five patients. Two were negative, and related to appointments. Dr Sharman said the system was open to abuse, and that there was no point in arguing the toss: the best way to deal with complaints was to accentuate the positive, state the surgery's position, and refer the complainant to the PPG. Chairman Ed Day agreed to field such complaints.
Friends and family test: Another feedback tool that the Government requires to be filled in every month. The GPs described this as 'a very expensive waste of time' and said it duplicated other surgery appraisals and questionnaires on practice and quality. With more detail and context, JA said it might be possible to involve Kirklees' MPs in a campaign to have it withdrawn.
AOB:
Patient Survey: Heather Bellerby and Alison Bennett reported that 79 patients responded to the patient survey, and the information has been compiled into a series of pie charts showing a high level of patient satisfaction with staff, the website and the practice.
Electronic prescriptions: Michael Shuttleworth reported a non-delivery problem with a nearby pharmacy. GPs reported that there were bound to be teething problems. They said there had been a good take-up of the system and patients were nominating pharmacies over a wide area.
Date of next meeting: Tuesday February 17, 2015, 5.00pm, Lockwood Surgery