Minutes of the previous meetings were approved
Practice Update
- The practice trialled a new way of sharing information with us using a Power Point slide deck to show information in a more visually appealing way. The practice asked if PPG members could give feedback about the slide deck.
- The year end figures were presented: The 90% target had been met for flu vaccinations, which is above the national average. Annual Review targets were being met, this in part was due to the hard work of backroom staff chasing up patients who are due for a review
- DNA statistics show that there is a downward trend; the latest monthly figure is 4.4% for March down from 6.1% in October. It is felt that the improvement is due to patients now receiving two text reminders plus it has been made easier for patients to cancel.
- Online access is at present being used by 40.4% of all patients across the nine sites and it is hoped that at the next meeting a figure can be given just for over sixteen year old patients who are permitted online access. This will then be used to determine the number of online appointments.
- Friends & Family feedback, since the introduction of the new system, the response has been very good. This month there have been 1144 responses, across all sites, of these, 88% of patients rated the service as either good or very good, also 84% would recommend the practice to friends & family.The comments section highlighted the good and the bad, the good being that patients felt that staff were very polite, and their problems were listened to. The bad, highlighted the problems in getting through on the telephone and also the lack of available appointments. The practice is finding the feedback information useful and is acting on that information to improve areas where necessary.As a result of this information four bank staff have been appointed to help with peak time call handling. Two are in-house staff and are receiving training, two more have been recruited and training is being arranged. This should certainly help when call handling demand is high. Additional appointments are put on when it is safe to do so but clinical vacancies remain.
- There is a national shortage of trained GPs so the practice has decided to try and attract GP fellowships with an intensive programme being put together to recruit more personnel.The practice explained that GP fellowships are where a GP wishes to specialise in a certain area, they will be given a set time out of their schedule to study that branch of medicine. The practice already employs a GP who specialises in respiratory disease and, as a practice with a high density of patients with COPD, this means RPC has that clinical knowledge in-house. The clinical fellow areas are based on identified areas of need and a recruitment campaign is being put together to attract more clinicians to the practice.
- The practice will be at the Peak District Highland Games at Matlock Farm Park on 27th August with a nursing team in support of RPC’s vision to improve health and wellbeing not just for its own patients but across the wider community. The nursing team will be doing blood pressure and BMI checks and generally spreading the RPC vision.
- ANP Mel Baker and Dr Ruth Bentley have both successfully completed the Manchester Marathon, Mel in a personal best time of just under 4 hours and Dr Bentley, who was competing in her first marathon, an incredible time of 4 hours and 45 minutes, along the way raising funds for Weston Park hospital. Both Mel and Dr Bentley would like to thank members of the PPG who supported them with donations towards their total which was in excess of £700.
PPG Matters
- The chair gave an update on his investigation into dormant members. All have been contacted and several had no further interest in PPG matters however one member said that although they were unable to attend meetings, they would still like to receive copies of the minutes.As a result, we are now down to fifteen members, not many considering the size of the practice, and more needed to be done to attract new members, especially from those groups not currently represented.One member suggested that our meeting times should be in the evenings and also copies of our meeting minutes be placed on the PPG notice boards in surgeries. The practice informed us that there were strict guidelines on what items could be put up in the waiting room notice boards due to infection control, and that everything would have to be laminated. Other avenues could be explored, possibly using the TV monitors in the waiting rooms, Facebook could also be used.
One member asked if holding meeting after 6.00pm would impact on the availability of RPC staff. The practice admitted that it may pose a problem, but the situation was not insurmountable, and that maybe a mix of afternoon and evening meetings could be trialed. After further discussion it was agreed to poll members for their preferences.
Questions for the Practice
- Several members had been in touch with comments regarding the lack of privacy in and around the reception areas in all the surgeries and asked about the use of Meet & Greeters like those used by banks. The practice have reassured us that if needed there was always, either a room or an area, set aside for patients to discuss their need in private.A member asked if there was any way a cheap and cheerful way could be found to save patients in the waiting rooms overhearing what was being said to the receptionists. The practice have looked into this and there are systems that could be used such as a white noise system used in many banks however this would be a large cost to the practice. Background music was suggested, but here again the cost of Performing Rights licences would also be expensive.Suggestions on improving privacy, especially at peak times, would be appreciated.
- A member had said he had been having problems in being unable to see and check his and his partner’s future appointments online. The practice asked what type of device they were using to try and ascertain the cause as they hadn't received any other feedback regarding this issue. A few other members confirmed they hadn't experienced any problems with SystemOne. Although one member said that she had at times experienced problems.The practice advised wherever possible that Airmid was the preferred system as SystmOne is no longer being updated.
- A member raised that they had seen a comment online about the practice where a patients appointment had been cancelled and they had to rebook and take another day off work. The members first thought was why had the patient not booked an out of hours appointment. The practice offered that depending on the urgency of the appointment an out of hours appointment may not always be suitable as receptionists will try to offer the first available appointment, however the practice will ensure that where possible and appropriate the call handlers and reception team will try to ask when the most suitable appointment would be for the patient.