Audley Mills User Group

AUDLEY MILLS USER GROUP Wednesday 23rd March 2011 AUDLEY MILLS MEDICAL EDUCATION CENTRE MINUTES

1. Welcome & Minutes of last meeting

B. Dawbarn welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. He particularly welcomed Mrs Val Bramley who had newly joined the Group and also welcomed Doctor Wright and Doctor Arikawe who were joining for this session.

S. Doherty said that he had received a message from Beverley Rolfe to say that unfortunately she would be unable to attend any future meetings as the timing did not suit her domestic arrangements. He said that he had thanked her for participating and said that she could contact him any time with any concerns.

2. Minutes of last meeting

These were agreed as correct

3. Action arising

 Patients checking in at the main surgery

S Doherty said that the doctors had discussed the suggestion, but were of the opinion that there was just not sufficient space for a queue of patients waiting to check in as the reception area in the main surgery is always very busy. It is used for making appointments and collecting prescriptions as well as other queries, whereas the area in the Education Centre is only for checking in. It was felt that this was unfortunate, but understandable and it was suggested that the idea should be revisited at sometime in the future.

 Carers

S Doherty said that the subject of carers had been discussed and he agreed that not a lot of time was being spent on collecting the data. However, this is because it was very time consuming and often patients were not willing to be labelled as carers. It was suggested that the question about whether they were carers could be put on the new patient form which is completed by each new patient when they join the Practice and it was also suggested that information should be put on the website.

Action: S Doherty to arrange this. 4. Questionnaire results

B Dawbarn explained that he had devised a questionnaire to be given to patients and had enlisted the help of Mrs Smith and Mrs Bramley. They had approached patients in both waiting rooms and the results had been collated. The issues raised were discussed and these included favourable comments about the premises and the doctors and some unfavourable comments regarding the phone system and the attitude of receptionists. B Dawbarn thanked Mrs Bramley for collating the information for the Group.

It was agreed that the questionnaire should be amended slightly and then left for patients to complete if they wished and any completed forms to be given to B Dawbarn. It was also agreed that if any member of the User Group wanted to spend a short time giving out the forms, this would be welcome. If anyone wishes to do this, they should contact S Doherty beforehand.

Action : S Doherty to amend the form and to arrange for them to be left out in the waiting areas.

5. Update

 Workload/Appointments

SD said that the Surgery was operating quite well at the moment despite this being the busiest time of the year for appointments. He said that making sure that there are at least 850 appointments available each week seemed to satisfy the demand, although there were always fluctuations and, with the book on day system, always people having to wait on the phone first thing in the morning. This led to a discussion about promoting the SystmOnline online appointment system for those patients able to have access to a computer.

Action : SD to check the phone system to make sure that patients are not being held in 2 queues -- one to get through and then one to speak to reception.

Action : SD to look at how many available appointments are shown on SystmOnline on various different days and times.

 Newsletter

SD said that a new newsletter was in the process of being prepared. He said that he would be grateful for any suggestions for items to be included. BD reminded SD that on the last occasion he had asked if the newsletter could be circulated to members of the user group.

Action: SD to arrange this.  Surgery Premises

SD said that there were no significant changes planned to the premises for the time being. He said that the decision to change the room on the second floor of the Education Centre had been postponed, possibly permanently. It was felt that there was sufficient need for this room for meetings and that it would not be as effective to convert it to consulting rooms.

 Staff & Doctor Changes

SD said that there had been no major changes to the doctors in the last six months. Several long serving members of staff had retired recently.

 Flu/Swine Flu

SD said that the usual annual flu campaign had gone very well and as a result of the publicity surrounding swine flu, all of the vaccines had been used. He said that the swine flu panic had caused quite a few problems, but overall, this campaign had gone well.

 Care Quality Commission

BD said that he had been given some literature regarding this to read by SD and he said that it was important that members of the Group realised how much bureaucracy was involved in running General Practice these days. He said that the new guidelines ran to several hundred pages and there were many categories that had to be satisfied on an annual return. The Practice would have to sign up to this register after October 2011.

6. The Health & Social Care Bill

SD said that no doubt many of the members would be aware of this legislation which was currently being debated in Parliament. He said that unless it was changed, from April 2013 each GP Practice would be involved in purchasing all health services for its patients and would have to work in conjunction with other Practices in local consortia. He gave out a list of the practices that are currently working together in the Enterprise Consortium.

He said that Patient User Groups would be very important in developing new services and responding to requests for feedback concerning the quality of the services provided.

He said that the current position was that the Enterprise Consortium was just looking at starting to shadow a budget and prepare plans for the future. 7. Enhanced Services – new criteria regarding Patient Groups

SD said that there had been new Enhanced Services published for the following year and these emphasised the importance of consultations with patient user groups.

8. Diabetes Clinics

Dr Wright gave a short presentation about the provision of diabetes services by the Practice and how the provision of diabetic clinics was a large part of the healthcare provision. He also answered various questions on the subject and was congratulated on the excellent service to the patients.

Action : SD to find out if a general diabetes advice leaflet is available for RAVS.

Date of next meeting : Wednesday 5th October 2011 6.30pm Audley Mills Education Centre