Dr Alec Frank
Minutes of St Andrew’s Surgery PPG meeting
Held on Wednesday 8th July 2015
House keeping - Neil Walter welcomed those attending, and was sorry to hear that Shelley had been called away. He outlined the format of the meetings would confine discussion of the minutes to any inaccuracies, taking the detail under the appropriate Agendaitems. He thanked Alec Frank for taking the job of Secretary and asked those leading on Agenda to provide written notes to Alec to help him. Action All
Present: Dr Jason Heath, Meic Goodyear, Alan Keys, Gill Hamilton-Cramp, John Fry, Neil Walter, Wendy Brewer, Helen Ross, Alec Frank, Richard Partridge, keith Hayes
Apologies:Shelley Christou, Jane Tyrer, Barbara Cummins, Joan Holker, Kate Springford, Joan Shall, David Tufnell, Frances Tufnell
Matters Arising - There were no matters arising from the previous minutes.
Jason Heath was present in his capacity as an active partner and gave considerable information; in particular he said that consideration had been given to disabled access, the possibility of having Stannah lifts, or a specific lift,etc. but these things were impractical due to the age and structure of the building and the exorbitant costs involved. The present arrangement whereby any disabled person could be seen downstairs worked tolerably well.
PPG/PRG - This was not discussed exhaustively but it was thought that the PPG was probably more appropriate for St Andrews’ at the present time. St Andrews had never been a fundraising PPG but as Jason explained any funds for PPG s were absorbed into the total practice expenses and could not be separated easily. Since the last meeting we had affiliated to the National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP)Mr Walter was surprised by the importance attached to the title. He distributed a paper from the NAPP website and He proposed that this be an Agenda Item for the next meeting when all had had a chance to form a view.
Practice survey - There was no further as a discussion as a result of the practice survey.
Patient transport - A brief discussion was had concerning the possibility of a transport co-operative to assist patients coming to the surgery, being taken to hospitals and so on. Such a co-operative had never been used by St Andrews but Jason knew that Newick had a scheme and suggested that we investigated this to see how useful it might be for St Andrews. Alec volunteered to contact Newick and report back. The question of insurance for drivers was brought up, the payment of drivers’ voluntary donations and so on.
Hospital referrals - Jason confirmed that most referrals to hospitals were now made by Emails and this was desirable due to the number of referrals, availability of secretarial help and the administrative services of the hospitals. Jason stressed that if patients had difficulty with their own appointments that they should follow it up themselves with the hospital, as this was a time consuming exercise for the secretaries and contributed significantly to the total workload of the practice.
CCG report by Alan Keys - Alan gave a verbal report, a synopsis of which is attached to these notes. He spoke of the changes that would come in general practice and that he thought the changes would be for the better in producing a wider and better service for patients. As patients we should prepare ourselves for seeing therapists other than the GP for many complaints.
Care would be provided by four clusters of nurses, therapists, mental health and social care practitioners. These clusters would be working in conjunction with existing GP practices. Alan believes it will definitely lead to improved services in spite of there being national shortages in some disciplines such as speech and language therapy. East Sussex Better Together is a major programme intended to integrate social care and health working more closely.
The CCG is also considering the impact of GP returners and recruiting shortfalls. It is clear that surgeries will employ staff that would reduce workloads on doctors without detriment to patients.
Victoria Community Hospital - It was commented on that the Victoria Community Hospital was under-used and ways of increasing the benefits of this asset were under consideration.
Jason talked about what was already happening within the practice and how pharmacists and paramedics might be increasingly used together with helping patients towards more self-reliance. Already the practice employs nurses with special training.
Patient booklet - There was some discussion about the issue of patient booklet which was more easily read by some who do not use the website.
Missed appointments were discussed. Jason did not feel that this was a very big problem for this particular practice. It was felt that most patients used the surgery’s services responsibly and sensibly.
PPG Facebook page – Neil Walter reported that he had altered our Facebook Page as agreed at the last meeting. It now pointed to the Surgery Website. He felt it still could be improved, and was seeking help with this.
Nursing Home provision – Jason spoke about the nursing home provision in the area and agreed that there is a need for a special care home for the elderly and those with dementia. Discussion in general covered the expected inadequacies of dementia care homes and the desirability of not having all patients in one home suffering from dementia. It is much more desirable that patients with a range of problems are looked after in each home. In the end this is a problem that is based on supply and demand and is outside the remit of individual practices.
The meeting closed at 8.05 pm. The next meeting is due on Monday 28thSeptember2015. Thereafter it is suggested that the day of the meeting is rotated so that those with particular responsibilities do not miss them repeatedly.
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