The Practice has a newly formed Patient Group for 2012. If you are interested in contributing please leave your details at reception to be passed to the chairman of the group.

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

 

1. Title of the Group

The Group shall be called THE CHISLEHURST MEDICAL PRACTICE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP (PRG) of The Chislehurst Medical Practice in Chislehurst, Kent, and shall look to be affiliated to the National Association for Patient Participation.

 

2. Aims of the Group

The aims of the Association are to promote co-operation between the Practice and Patients to the benefit of both and to influence the provision of patient services outside the practice.

 

3. Membership of the Group

Membership of the Group shall be open and free to all registered Patients and staff of the Practice and all shall be welcomed warmly.

 

4. Activities of the Group

4.1 The Group will aim to be kept informed of the Practice policies and services providing feedback on changes as appropriate.  The group will then endeavour to keep all patients abreast of changes by way of the notice board and through an occasional newsletter.  A notice board or section is to be provided for our use in the surgery.

 

4.2 The group will try to establish patients’ additional needs and priorities in the practice whilst consulting with the practice on development of services and join with other patient groups with a view to influencing local provision of health and social care services.

 

4.3 The group can look into and advise on where appropriate on matters such as education needs of the community within the practice and ways of encouraging them to consider preventive medicine as well as leading a healthy lifestyle.

 

4.4 The group will aim to inform, initially about the existence of the group and subsequently of any achievements made in the past months as well as any changes in services available.

 

5. Meetings of the Group

5.1 The Group will endeavour to meet no fewer than four times a year, and will, in addition,

normally hold an Annual General Meeting in December each year.

 

5.2 Notices of meetings, reports on meetings and information about the PPG’s activities will be displayed on PPG notice boards in the surgery waiting room and on the appropriate website.  Members will be notified by email alerts, and through the post when necessary.

 

6. Organisation of the Group

6.1 The groups activities will be organised at the regular meetings of the group and sub-committee groups may be appointed for needs that may arise in the future.

 

6.2 The Committee will be composed of a Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary, and

between 6 and 15 members, to be agreed at the AGM. Other members will be co-opted as

required.

 

6.3 Administrative assistance will be provided by staff at the Practice.

 

Annual Patient Participation Group (PPG) Report

 

March 2012

 

Ø       The PPG consists of 12 members including an elected chairman. 

 

Ø       The group profile includes members who are in full and part time employment, retired, carers and mothers of young children.

 

Ø       The Practice feels that the group is representative to the practice demographics although there are particular groups of patients we would like to engage with as the PPG becomes more established in the future.

 

Ø       The Practice ensured that when establishing the group we left leaflets and other material on the PPG in clinics such as child immunisation, chronic disease clinics and early and late clinics so that we could target patients in minority groups such as adolescents, mothers, commuters and disabled patients.

 

Ø       The PPG met initially in December 2011 to establish the group and elect a chairperson.  They have since met on 2 other occasions where they reached agreement with the Practice on issues which they felt had priority and were therefore included in their patient survey.

 

Ø       The Practice has sought to obtain the views of our registered patients by asking the PPG to undertake the patient survey.  This was carried out in-house over a 3 week period in February 2012.  The PPG surveyed over 130 patients.

 

Ø       The PPG met on 22 March 2012 to discuss the results of the survey and to agree an action plan with the Practice.  The summary of results was presented to the Practice and we will action the points highlighted where applicable.

 

Ø       The Practice feels that the issues of priority are; support for carers and patients awareness of services the practice offers. 

 

Ø       We will invite a representative from Bromley Carers Support Group to the next PPG meeting. 

 

Ø       We will review our website and patient call screen in our waiting area to improve awareness of services provided

 

Ø       The PPG will produce advertising material of the group for display in the waiting area.

 

Ø       The PPG Patient Questionnaire results are available to view on our website.

 

Ø       The opening hours of the Practice changed in April 2011.  The practice is now open as follows: 

 

Monday             8am – 6.30pm

Tuesday            8am – 8pm

Wednesday       7am – 8pm

Thursday           7am – 8pm

Friday               8am – 6.30pm

 

Patients can access the Practice during core hours (8am-6.30pm) via telephone, walk in, internet access (for booking appointments and requesting medication).  For more information please see our website www.chislehurstmedicalpractice.co.uk.

 

Extended hours appointments are offered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6.30pm-8pm and Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 7am.  Each GP runs an extended hour surgery based on a rolling rota.

The Chislehurst Medical Practice PPG patient questionnaire Results

                                                                                   

                                                                                                            March 2012

 

PPG asked -              Have you read the Practice Leaflet?

You answered -         Yes – 37%

                                    No – 63%

Practice Response – We asked the PPG “How can we ensure we are informing all of our patients?”  Suggestions included:  Up to date telephone messages, using our advertising screen in the waiting room to direct patients to our website.  We will look to implement these updates.

 

PPG asked -               Are you happy with the appointment system?

You answered -          Yes – 87%

                                    No – 13%

 

PPG asked -              If you attend any specialised clinics are you satisfied with the availability and quality of service provided?

You answered -         Yes – 91%

                                    No – 9%

 

PPG asked -               Would you like to see any additional clinics/services?

You answered -          Yes – 26% see below for suggestions

                                    No – 74%

Practice Response –

                        Blood Tests – the Practice has over 13,500 patients.  To offer an in-house phlebotomy clinic is not viable as we do not have the consulting space available to do this.  We have outsourced phlebotomy to The Willows and Mottingham clinics. 

 

                        Letters to be handed to specific addressee – All correspondence received into the Practice is stamped and put in the Drs pigeon hole.  The Practice works a “buddy” system for covering Drs who are away from the Practice or on annual leave to ensure that a Dr has looked at any medical correspondence in a timely fashion.

 

                        Ability to set up long term regular appointments – The reception manager manages the appointment system.  Appointments are added up to 6-8 weeks in advance.  It is not feasible to add appointments further in advance as the partners work on a rolling rota basis.

 

                        Be able to book more than one appointment on-line – This is something we don’t allow as has led to high levels of missed appointments (DNA) in the past.  DNA’s are a problem for the NHS as a whole and unfortunately do account for waste of significant resources.

 

                        Better format for self blood pressure readings – We have updated the recording sheet and this is in line with the current guidance on home blood pressure monitoring.

 

                        Baby clinic breast feeding sessions – We would like to be able to offer more clinics such as these but we do not have the capacity in the building to do so.  The Health Visitor offers this service at their clinics, please see our website for more information.

 

                        Menopause advise – This is available within the Practice Nursing team.  We will look to make a link available on our website.

                       

                        Well Woman / Well Man – We offer a similar service called

NHS Health Checks.  Please see our website for more information.

 

                        Audiology Clinic – This currently is a secondary care service; however we can feed this back via the PPG into the Clinical Commissioning Group.

 

                        Evening Clinics – We currently run evening surgeries for pre-bookable appointments with the GP.  We have also implemented Practice Nurse clinics from February 2012.  These appointments can be for asthma checks, family planning or other routine nurse appointments.

 

                        Commuter drop in clinic – early morning / late evening.  We currently run these surgeries although they are pre-bookable appointments only.  We do have a blood pressure/height/weight machine available in the waiting area for use which doesn’t require patients to book an appointment. 

 

                        Podiatry – There is a community service available.  Please see our website for more information.

 

                        Family Planning – We have always had appointments available for Family Planning.  We have recently recruited a Practice Nurse to run Family Planning clinics in the evenings.  Please see our website for more information

 

                        Support & recognition of ME – This is something we can work with the PPG to see what patients would like to see within the service.  Your GP is also available via appointment for you to discuss this with.

 

PPG asked -               Do you consider reception staff adequately trained?

You answered -          Yes – 93%

                                    No – 7%

Practice Response – We ensure that all staff are adequately trained and are kept up to date of changes both in-house and within the NHS.  We feel that the evidence presented in the results to the questionnaire suggests that patients are happy with the service they receive at the Practice.

 

PPG asked -               If you have recently been discharged from hospital, was your progress followed up by the Practice where you felt it was needed?

You answered -          Yes – 40%

                                    No – 60%

Practice Response –   The Practice is aware that there are currently gaps in communication between hospital, community services and general practice around discharge of patients from hospital.  This can lead to patients not clearly understanding what their arrangements for follow up are.  We acknowledge the findings in this questionnaire and want to work with clinical commissioners to try and improve the system.

 

PPG asked -               During your consultation do you consider that the GP/Nurse gives you sufficient information, time and support?

You answered -          Yes – 91%

                                    No – 9%

 

PPG asked -               Are you satisfied with the methods the Practice uses when ordering repeat prescriptions?

You answered -          Yes –75%

                                    No – 25%

Practice Response – We advertise turnaround times in the waiting room behind the reception desk and in the lobby.  This information is on our website and is available in the Practice leaflet.  Some responsibility should be with patients to ensure that they give a reasonable amount of time when requesting their medication.  Currently 75% of patients are happy with our service and we will continue to look at ways to improve the service.

 

PPG asked -               If you are a carer for a sick or elderly relative, do you consider you receive adequate support from the Practice?

You answered -          Yes –48%

                                    No – 52%

Practice Response – We agree and fully support the PPG in prioritising Carers Support in 2012/13.

 

PPG asked -               Please state any aspects of the practice you would like to be changed or improved upon.

Your suggestions are summarised below

Practice Response –

                        Telephone waiting time – We increased our phone lines in April 2011 to try and meet demand.  We always ensure that there are 3 receptionists available on the telephones during our busiest time of day; between 8am-10am.

 

                        Waiting time for appointment when in the surgery – There are times when Drs run over their appointment time due to emergency situations; they ensure that the receptionists are made aware so that they can keep patients up do date of the expected waiting times.  Please see our website “Hints and Tips” on making appointments.

 

                        More efficiency from receptionist – This point is linked to question 7 and already covered.

 

                        More privacy needed – If you wish to speak to a member of staff in private please ask and we will ensure that this happens.  We are aware that the reception area is an open area and are looking at ways of improving the current design.

 

                        Appointments – This point is linked to question 6 and already covered.

 

                        On-site x-ray machine – This is a hospital only service because of the building requirements to house x-ray equipment.

 

                        More electronic communication – We are always looking at ways to improve communication but still adhere to our strict confidentiality policies.

 

                        Saturday opening – Currently the Practice does not offer Saturday opening.  We do offer other extended hours appointments during the week both early in the morning and late in the evenings.  If you need to see a Dr when we are closed please see our website for information.

 

                        Improve seating in the waiting room – We are aware that the seating area is sometimes an issue and we will look at ways of improving the current design in the future.

 

                        Use screen to promote more services – We will look into this with our service provider.

 

                        Should not close for training – We currently close the surgery 6 afternoons per year.  The dates are available in advance on our website and in the waiting room.  We feel it is an important to train staff efficiently and this takes part at different times of the day during the year and includes the 6 afternoons as above.

 

                        Drinking water to be more available – There is a drinking water machine available in the waiting area. 

 

                        Clothes hooks in toilets – This can be implemented.

                                                                                    

From the PPG - The following age groups did not have sufficient representation:

10-19

20-29

50-59

70-79

It is therefore clear that any further questionnaires need to be targeted to those age groups by either email or post.

Practice Response – We will undertake the next survey using an on-line tool and are happy to look into this with the PPG.  Posting surveys is not an option as is deemed as not cost effective, we will discuss with the PPG other ways of ensuring representation from the above age groups.