Patient Participation Group Meeting s1

ALREWAS SURGERY

PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP MEETING

Monday, 8th October 2012 at 1.00 p.m.

Present: Action David Kenton, Elaine Dolman, Jan Herriott, Jan Mager-Jones, Janette Points Potter, Kate Roberts, Paula Dumolo, Rachel Orton, Ros Birkinshaw and Sue Hughes

Apologies: Charles Elliott, Chris Cheadle, Kay Griffiths, Marion Woolhouse and Steve Herriott

Members were welcomed to the meeting by RO, chair of this meeting. Apologies were received from members named above.

C/F Report from East Staffs District Meeting. DK attended the last regional meeting on behalf of the surgery & reported that the following issues were discussed:  Mental Health Provision & the aim to provide early diagnosis of dementia is an ongoing issue which is raised at regional meetings. The commissioning bodies are working hard to bring the contract up to date and ensure it is fit for purpose. There is a report available from the East Staffordshire Commissioning Group if anyone wants to look at this in more detail.  The Queens Hospital is re-designing services & looking into the out- patients clinics. DK  DK offered to pass information to WC re stroke services, including details of local support groups.  Information about the NHS membership scheme is to be sent to the surgery for patients to read/join.  Healthwatch has commissioned a survey for patients using the transport service provided by NSL Care Service. RB & JMJ were not familiar with this company & advised that the surgery has a central no. for patient transport. Following the meeting KR can confirm that NSL Care Service has run the Patient Transport Service for South Staffs since Jan 12. Transport is provided by NSL for patients attending hospital appointments arranged by the GP Practice, booked directly by patients themselves or the hospital.  Information will be sent to the surgery to let people know about the enormous waste of medication on repeat prescriptions. When ordering repeat prescriptions people need to consider if the item is still necessary. JMJ added that evidence shows the massive wastage & cost to the public could be cut with education & medication reviews.  DK is to attend the 2nd East Staffordshire Commissioning Group Stakeholders meeting on 10/10/12 which is being held at Uttoxeter Racecourse. There are 19 surgeries in the clinical commissioning group. A poster is being produced to explain what the commissioning group is & the changes to health provision when PCTs close in April 2013. Patient Survey 2012/13 RB asked the group to look at & agree the wording of the survey, so it could be signed off & distributed to patients. RB went through each point that PPG members had commented on from the original copy of the questionnaire circulated to members & the subsequent 2 page draft copy. After a considerable amount of time being spent on getting the correct wording & questions retained that were felt relevant & appropriate, it was agreed that the surgery could go ahead with the survey once the changes that had been discussed were made. RB thanked PPG members for their input & asked for help distributing questionnaires to local organisations/groups. Having a PPG presence in the surgery to encourage completion of surveys was also discussed & several members of the group volunteered to do this.

A.O.B. JP expressed concern that the PPG was not really moving forward & achieving things for our surgery. We had been successful in last year’s survey & the Open Day was a great success, but this could not have been achieved without a great deal of input from the surgery. We have of course been involved in this year’s questionnaire & hope this too will be successful. JP felt that we should have a permanent Chair & Vice Chair, who could ideally be present at either the daytime meetings or the evening meetings, preferably both. We do need some continuity & commitment. JP also felt that we need to take more ownership of the group & find ways of taking it forward. Ideally this would mean tackling one area at a time & when achieved, moving on to tackle another area. JP will be attending a PPG meeting in Rugeley on 8th November & will report back at our next meeting. ED asked if there was funding available for creative ideas for recruitment to the group, to which RB replied that there is. This could be an agenda item for the next meeting. RB asked that confirmation of attendance & items for the agenda are received at least 2 weeks prior to a meeting. It was felt that many patients walked past the PPG notice board in the entrance lobby without noticing it. There was discussion on moving the PPG notice board into the waiting area & also making it attractive to look at. JP asked for a decision on the choice of “logo” for our group. The majority approved the eye-catching logo & this will be displayed in the near future.

The minutes from the last meeting were agreed & the meeting closed at 2.30 p.m.

The next meeting is to be held on Thursday 29th November at 6pm at the Methodist Church.