Dr Simmonds and Dr Kühnen s1

Dr Simmonds and Dr Kühnen Family Practitioners Local Patient Participation Report 2012-2013

The patient participation group (PPG) for the practice of Dr R Simmonds & Dr M Kühnen at Canterbury Health Centre was created in August/September 2011 in response to the Government’s, and the Department of Health’s, initiative to get patients more involved in the range and quality of the services provided by their GP practice. The Canterbury Health Centre PPG is now in its second year of being.

The patient participation group has increased its membership this year from 63 members to 133 members all of whom are registered patients. All members are “virtual members”, there are currently no postal members, though the facility does exist for any patient who does not have access to the internet to be a member of the group. The group covers an age range between 20 and 87 years and represents patients from a variety of socio- economic, racial and religious backgrounds. 45% of the membership are male, and the remaining 55% are female.

All new patients who join the surgery are invited to join the PPG. There are also regular exercises undertaken by reception staff to update/verify patient registration details and all patients who have their details updated/verified are invited to join the PPG at that juncture. In addition thereto there are posters and leaflets displayed at the practice inviting membership.

This year the PPG was presented with a choice of 5 issues, which had been previously identified from the National Survey and the practices complaints log, for them to prioritise for inclusion in the full local practice survey. The Pre Survey Questionnaire received 23 responses, and the agreed areas were “Getting an Appointment” & “Opening Times”. The results of the questionnaire were communicated to the PPG, and published on the practice’s website, together with details of the agreed areas for the full survey. There were no dissenting comments received.

Following the results of the initial questionnaire, a full survey focussed on the agreed issues was forwarded to the PPG for completion, via the website. In total 19 patient members completed the survey and the results of the same were communicated to the group and published on the practice’s website and members were invited to comment on the same. (Please see appendix A for a copy of the survey results).

Following the survey an action plan, incorporating the issues identified in the survey, was drawn up by the practice and circulated to the PPG members and again published on the practices website. (Please see appendix B for a copy of the action plan). As before the members were asked for their comments on the action plan. There were no comments received from the PPG members, disparaging or otherwise. As a result of the patient survey, the following actions have been implemented:-

 Early Morning Appointments on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at 08:30 commenced the week beginning Monday 4th March.

 Early Afternoon Appointments from 14:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays commenced the week beginning Monday 4th March.

 Extended Hours Surgeries on Monday & Wednesday Evenings will continue.

 The trial of Vision Online Services (VOS) for online booking and cancelling of appointments, and the ordering of repeat medication commenced for PPG members on Friday 8th March.

(Please note the days are subject to change during GP annual leave).

A copy of the practice’s opening and access times, including extended hours, is contained in appendix C. Dr Simmonds and Dr Kühnen Family Practitioners Local Patient Participation Report 2011-2012

Appendix A Survey Results Survey 1st January 2012 Canterbury Health Centre intranet Getting an Appointment and Opening Times 2013 Number of Responses: 19 1. If the service were made available would you like the provision of more early morning appointments with the doctors from 8.30am? Yes 68% No 31% No response 1%

2. If the service were made available would you like the introduction of early afternoon appointments with the doctors from 14.00hrs? Yes 84% No 15% No response 1% 3. If the service were made available would you like an increase in available appointments with a female doctor? Yes 47% No 52% No response 1%

4. Would you like the practice to continue with the extended hours surgeries on Monday and Wednesday evenings? Yes 84% No 15% No response 1% Dr Simmonds and Dr Kühnen Family Practitioners Local Patient Participation Report 2011-2012

Appendix B

Action Plan.

Following your recent invaluable input to our survey we have now had the opportunity to consider your comments and review the way we provide our services.

 68 % of you who responded would like to see more early morning appointments - We are introducing GP appointments commencing at 08:30 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays.  84% of you who responded would like to see the introduction of early afternoon appointments - We are introducing GP appointments commencing at 14:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday & Thursdays.  84 % of you who responded wanted to see the continuation of extended hours appointments - These will continue on Mondays & Wednesday evenings from 18:30. (Please note the days are subject to change during GP annual leave).

As mentioned in previous emails, we are also pleased to announce our online booking service and electronic prescription service will go live for PPG members on 8th March 2013. You will be able to book & cancel your appointments with the doctor using a unique log in. To sign up, please complete and forward the attached form to any member of the practice team. The practice team will then provide you with a letter giving your unique log-in user name and password together with an simple user guide on how to access the services. Please be aware that in order to comply with Data Protection Legislation, and Information Governance Requirements, you will have to collect user log-in details in person and provide photo ID (ie passport or photo driving licence).

Please note that this service will only be available to PPG members for the first 6 - 8 weeks so that we can obtain your valued feedback and make any appropriate alterations before the service is rolled out to the wider practice population.

As always, should you have any comments or suggestions concerning the above, or any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact any member of the practice team. Dr Simmonds and Dr Kühnen Family Practitioners Local Patient Participation Report 2011-2012

Appendix C

The practice premises are open 08:30 to 18:30 Monday to Friday. Patients can contact the surgery during these times by telephone (01227 780437), in person, or for certain services (requesting telephone consultations, repeat prescriptions or certain administrative task) via the practices website.

The practice has also entered into arrangements with the Primary Care Trust to provided extended hours access. To this end we have late night GP appointments available, on Mondays (18:30 to 19:30) and Wednesdays (18:30 – 19:15). Appointments can be booked with reception in the usual way.