Patient Participation Group

 

Our Patient Participation Group (PPG) meets to provide a forum for discussion about the practice.

The Aims of the Patient Participation Group

We have a Patient Participation Group (PPG) which meets bi-monthly.  We respect the views of our current members and welcome new members.

If you would like to join the Patient Participation Group please telephone the Surgery on 01843 209 300 to speak with one of our Reception Team who will pass your contact details to the PPG organiser(s).

If you are unable to attend meetings, our Patient Participation Group would still like to hear the views of our patients with regards to the Surgery.

To do this we compile a contact list of email addresses so that we can contact you every now and again to ask a question or two. 

If you are happy for us to contact you occasionally by email, please click the link below to open the sign-up form and complete all the fields.

Getting Your View

The group would like to contact patients on occasion by email and/or text so that they can obtain the views of the widest group of patients possible. We would like to obtain your email address and mobile phone number to do this. Please complete the Patient Contact Form to provide your consent for this.

Become a PPG Member

Latest Meeting Minutes

  • Date: 14th August 2024
  • Apologies: 1 PPG member
  • Attendees: Rachael, Jo, Alison, 10 PPG members

Sign off previous minutes

Rachael asked the PPG if they were happy with previous minutes, everyone who was at the previous meeting agreed they were accurate.

Rachael advised the new members that the minutes will be available on the website.

Matters arising

The only outstanding action is: Subgroup of PCN PPG's to come up with questionnaire which was Lorna to arrange.

Post meeting note: Jo has spoken with Lorna and she said the RCGP group is looking into this but she no longer runs the meetings. Bethesda is going to send a questionnaire to all patients.

Staff/Practice update

Rachael informed the PPG that the telephones are now answered from 8am in the morning which will hopefully reduce the queues at the surgeries in the morning.

Rachael also told the PPG that Dr Karamat and Dr Sohail are trialling a triage system, where they and an admin assistant go through the triage list each day and deal with the queries and book in directly with the doctors.

Action: This is currently still in the trail phase so will be reviewed.

Brief overview for BMC operating model

Rachael explained the different types of patient appointments at the surgery. She explained that we have a nursing team with Practice Nurses, Nursing Associates, Health Care Assistants and Phlebotomist. Their appointments are to manage the chronic conditions such as diabetes, COPD etc and then they do the vaccinations, travel injections, blood test and dressing clinics.

We have a New Problems Clinic which is for patients with conditions that have presented in four weeks or less or any exacerbation of existing conditions. This clinic is run by the Acute Care Team and an On call GP.

The GP appointments are for the more complex cases and anything that the patient have had for more than four weeks or out of the scope of the practitioners.

We also have econsultation clinics where a senior member of the ACT triages the econsultations and then books with the appropriate clinicians.

Rachael also explained we have a Frailty Team who help our frail patients.

There are also four registered Mental Health Nurses who work across the PCN and team of social prescribers who help with any social requirements.

Referral to hospital

A PPG member explained that she looked on the website and she cannot see anything in regards to orthopaedic referrals as patients are not aware that the referral does not go to the community before the hospital. It was agreed that this can be looked at during the website sub group to see where this can be added onto the website.

Post meeting note: Jo discussed this with secretary and Pain clinic referrals also go to be triaged first.

The Frailty Team was discussed, Rachael advised that Paula (a member of the Frailty Team) will attend the next PPG.

Action: Jo to send invite to Paula.

Patient survey

A PPG member brought the national survey to everyone’s attention. Rachael said some areas need improvement but that this was not a true reflection of the surgery as this questionnaire was only sent to 300 random patients and out of the 300 only 100 responded. Rachael said that this has been discussed with the Partners and it was agreed that the practice is going to send out the survey again to all patients to get a true reflection.

Action: Jo to send survey and share results at next PPG meeting.

GP industrial action (how will it affect Bethesda)

Rachael explained that the BMA are suggesting actions as primary care does not receive sufficient funding compared to the hospital and they are pushing more work and pressure on the GP surgeries. Recommendations have suggested to take action but The Partners have decided not to take any action currently.

PPG said that this is really good and should be publicized.

Action: Rachael to discuss with the Partners.

Earwax

A PPG member explained his experience when it came to booking ear irrigation. He explained that this could not be seen on the website and that he had to see two different people at the surgery.

Rachael explained that patients get reviewed firstly by Practice Nurse and they will advise regarding how long a patient will need to use oil and then patients see a HCA who will syringe the ears.

Phone message

The phone message was discuss and agreed it was too long before getting in the queue.

Action: Jamie to amend this by adding the Zero Tolerance Policy once patient is waiting in the queue and to reword this to soften the tone.

Rachael advised the team that the STATs for this month show that the average wait times was around 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Action: Bring the call data to for the next PPG meeting.

Advise QEQM patient voice and involvement

A PPG member said he had a meeting with Adam who is the lead of patient voice and involvement team and he felt unclear on what the team is doing and wondered if it had made any change from when it has started. A PPG member said it has taken a long time but they have been making changes, there team goes out into the community to get feedback to try and make a difference.

A PPG member explained that they are different from PALS as they do not deal with complaints but they do work closely with them. A PPG member said there is a patient participation group for the hospital who get together via teams and take the feedback and there team advocate for change.

Action: Information to be added to website and a PPG member to send information to Jo who can put up in waiting room.

Patient Access app

Patient Access was discussed and it was discussed how there was some issues with the apps.

Joanna explained that unfortunately this is now something that can't be changed by the surgery.

AOB

A PPG member asked if DNAR can be made into a small card.  Rachael said this is not something the surgery can change.

A PPG member advised that the NHS app will not let you delete messages sent by the surgery they disappear after time.

Action: Jo to check set up of messaging system

A PPG member advised that he had really good experiences with the practice and offered to assist with any volunteer work that may be required.

A PPG member asked about post op care as she recently did not receive any information other than a telephone from the frailty team.  A PPG member explained that the hospital should have given information to her before leaving the hospital.  A PPG member asked for the name of the ward so she can check in the hospital.

The sub group for the Website meeting was agreed for Wednesday 18th September at 10am.

The next PPG meeting was agreed for Wednesday 2nd October at 10am.

Previous Meeting Minutes

  • Date: 5th June 2024
  • Apologies: 3 PPG members
  • Attendees: Rachael, Jo, Alison, 7 PPG members

Sign off previous minutes

All members happy with the previous minutes.

Matters arising

The 5 outstanding matters were completed, they were the items below:

17/04/2024     Review the times that new patient registration forms are being processed/accepted 
17/04/2024     Changes to be made to website 
17/04/2024     Look into creating a Bethesda Facebook page 
17/04/2024     Process to be amended for patients that repeatedly DNA appointments 
17/04/2024     Make sure all policies and procedures on website are up to date and correct

Alison explained that the reason we only allow patients to register with us in the afternoon is because reception is so busy in the morning and the forms take time to get through and complete and the patient needs to be present when the form is being filled in case of mistake or ID purposes. Therefore keeping the time that forms can be accepted/proced in the afternoon is sufficient.

Update for the website, Jamie has advised us that it should be ready to go live end of next week with the changes that have been suggested, we will still be able to make changes to it when it goes live. Also within this all policies are being checked that they are up to date ready to be displayed on the new website.

Jo has created a Bethesda Medical Centre Facebook page, it has been set so that members of the public are unable to comment, it displays a link that takes you directly to the website therefore it is more of a notice board for patients.

We do already have a DNA process for patients, when they DNA the 1st time they get a letter. The 2nd time they get given a warning. The 3rd time they do get taken off our books. We have become more lax about it but we are now going to keep on top of the process. The patients will get given the allocation number and advised on how to obtain a new GP if they do end up DNA 3 times.

Staff update

Rachael explained that staffing wise we are very stable at the minute, we’ve had no new staff and nobody leave and that we are not looking at recruiting as we are at full capacity.

PCN update

Lorna explained how the PCN is made up of 4 Surgeries; Bethesda, Northgate, Mocketts Wood and the Limes, the idea of this is that we work together on different projects.

For example Lorna explained about Child Health and wellbeing project which has a younger demographic looks into things such as childrens mental health and school absences. The PCN are currently in 5 schools in the local earlier in breakfast clubs which gives the patients an opportunity to give feedback on services and opens up for many health promotions and charities/health visitors to come in and educate.

They have also done a pilot for BLS sessions in schools which are 2 hour sessions where for the 1st hour the parents learn about BLS for the children and the 2nd part being about minor illnesses and when should they take their child to A+E.  

The other project they have running is the mobile hub/Ambulance which is due to start a Health Promotion at Millmead at the end of July which will include offering childhood vaccines as many children in the area do not have up to date vaccines and will also focus on general health such as diet.

They’re also going to pilot a prostate screening/Wellman clinic programme we can collate data from Emis and pick out those who could be as risk of prostate cancer and they can have bloods done and screening.

Becoming a dementia friendly town is also in the pipeline, there is currently a dementia coffee morning which is held at Holy Trinity every Friday morning which started off with about 7 members and now they have 60.

Econsult variation (PPG Member)

A PPG Member raised concerns with the E-consult system in that it needs to be clearer on what it can and can’t help with as it is not clear.  Rachael explained that is the software and it is standard and it’s not something we are able to change/alter.

Alison explained that every single E-consult is dealt with and signposted to the department that is appropriate for the individual request. You will be always contacted with an outcome. We have clinicians triaging the econsults to free up GPs time so that they can help with the more complex/serious issues.

News of any new surgery projects (PPG Member)

A PPG Member asked if there were any new projects that we were doing and Rachael explained that all the projects are mainly undertaken by the PCN and our main focus to see the patient’s every day.

However we do have the New problems clinic for any illnesses that patients have had for less than 4 weeks that they can be booked into to see a clinician, also 3 members of our acute care team also now have their own clinics which are to deal with the more advanced problems which has massively reduced the wait time on econsults.

New website category (PPG Member/Rachael)

A PPG Member explained how he feels that we offer a lot of services/information that we do not advertise about, for example when going to have his hearing aid calibration you need a new referral from the GP which he did not know. Therefore this could be something that is advertised, telling people about what we do or how to access things when they need them.

Lorna explained about a new guide that is in the process of being finalised called Padlet, essentially it will be an outlet where you can search for services/information nationally and local to you. It will be installed to each receptionists computer so that can advise about the different services, therefore a link for it to go onto the website would be beneficial for patients own use.

Telephone announcement sequence (PPG Member)

A PPG Member explained that when calling the surgery before you get through to a receptionist it takes 2 minutes 47 seconds due to the telephone sequence, which could be played when you are in the queuing system.

It was raised that people could run out of credit on their phones before getting through to someone and that the message that’s played seems quite abrupt.

Action: Rachael to listen to sequence and see what we can do.

First aid policy and procedures at the surgery (PPG Member)

A PPG Member explained how his wife had cut her hand and needed a few butterfly stiches and thought we could deal with it at the surgery.

Rachael explained that anything like that would need to go to A&E, anything such as open wounds, fractures and dog bites we physically do not have the right equipment to treat. It is outside of our Remit therefore would need to go to a facility such as Estuary View, Deal urgent care of A+E at QEQM.

Disabled Parking facilities location and quantity (PPG Member)

A PPG Member explained how we only have 2 marked disabled bays in the carpark which are a fair distant from the front entrance.

Also many people park inconsiderately even though we have marked double yellow lines.

Action: Rachael to mention spaces to partners/messages about inconsiderate parking to be put on Facebook page/Website.

AOB

A PPG Member touched upon us having dedicated pathways and making sure we can just educate as much as possible.

A PPG Member explained that sometimes in the afternoon when he calls the surgery he can be caller number 1 and stay caller number 1 for 15 – 20 Mins.

Action: Alison to look into.

A PPG Member explained how he didn’t receive a referral letter that was being sent from ourselves, the letters will be displayed on the patient access app when sent.

Action: Rachael to check that referral letters are on there.

A PPG Member also brought up some issues regarding A+E procedures that he noted during a recent visit. There is a patient voice involvement team who Amanda is part of who can bring the issues up.

Action: Jo to pass over email to PPG Member.

The next meeting has been agreed for Wednesday 14th August at 10am.

Earlier PPG Meeting Minutes

For earlier PPG meeting minutes, please contact us to request a copy, stating which date(s) you would like to view.