Lower Gornal Medical Practice

LOWER GORNAL MEDICAL PRACTICE Minutes of Patients’ Panel Meeting - Monday 12th January 2015 Present: Lynn Britton (Practice Manager); Donella Bullas; Liz Carrier; David Gill (Chairman); Helen Newton; Margaret Sargeant; Lorna Stevens; Dr Suleman; Gerald Wood.

Apologies: Christine Bate; Geoff Davies; Elaine Lloyd; Gaynor Ormerod; Julie Pitt.

Minutes of Previous Meeting Donella asked if there had been any contact with the Ridgeway Practice to discuss a possible joint bid for a grant from Dudley CCG. The Chairman said that both he and the Vice Chair had attended the Ridgeway PPG but as yet, there was no agreement about the nature of the bid. Another meeting is planned to discuss the bid proposal. Apart from this query the minutes were accepted.

Matters Arising There was a general discussion about the need to increase the membership of the Patient Panel Group (PPG). Lynn reminded us that we need to try and reflect the patient population in the panel. People at a housing scheme on Stickley have been approached about joining the panel but no reply has been received. Members were encouraged to think of people they know who might expand the profile of the Group. David Gill has asked Gill Browne, a patient who lives opposite the practice, if she would be willing to be nominated to join the panel. She agreed and the meeting agreed for her to be asked to join. There has been no further response from Ellowes Hall School following our request for two young people to become part of the PPG.

Gerald asked if many patients have joined from the new Tansey Green estate.

Dave and Chris are to meet with Lynn regarding virtual membership of the panel, but this hasn't been arranged yet.

It has been decided that the Panel notice board will now be the one that is currently used for 'social' notices.

The Patient Survey was handed round. The survey will be carried out for two weeks week commencing 26th January. Dave will send a chart round for everyone to sign up to when they can do the survey.

Reports and Information To Be Received The POPs minutes have been distributed. If Dudley CCG can qualify for co- commissioning status then we would have a higher status and greater powers to purchase more services. Dr Suleman said that PCTs used to manage GP contracts but that CCGs can't do this as there are GPs on the CCG so that would be a conflict of interest. It is now NHS England who manage contracts. Co-commissiong would mean that NHS England would pass this authority to CCGs. CCGs know better what services to provide and there would be more flexibility in the way services are offered. There is talk of more integration but more authority is needed to do this. There is currently a lack of communication between physios, district nurses and GPs. Dudley could also attract more quality GPs through co-commissioning but there is concern that not enough are being trained nationally. We need to have good GPs to be a good practice, to attract more GPs. Gerald asked if there had been many changes since moving from being a PCT to a CCG. Lynn said there had been and that things had become more fragmented. The report from the POPS Meeting included reference to the ‘Pharmacy First’ Scheme. There is a drive to get more people to talk to a Pharmacist and release ‘doctor time’ by creating a free medicines service to target groups. There has been some query over whether it is a free advice service or if it also means the provision of free medicines. It was confirmed that the service is targeting those who receive free prescriptions. It is hoped that this will save people necessarily having to go and see their GP for conditions that the Pharmacist can prescribe for. The pharmacy you go to needs to be part of 'Pharmacy First'. Gerald asked if Pharmacists can prescribe antibiotics. They cannot yet but, we do have a prescribing Pharmacist attached to the Bull St. Practice.

Dave and Chris have been to a meeting of The Ridgeway Panel meeting. They have similar issues to us, including getting a practice profile membership. They have two virtual members. They give new members an information pack. We decided that we probably give the same information out with the forms and pamphlets that we distribute when someone joins the Practice.

The meeting was asked if doctors can give out vouchers for food banks. It was believed they might be able to but the GPs at Gornal don't have any.

Geoff Davies wished to pass on his thanks for the service received when calling in recently when ill. In response to a question from Geoff, via the Chair, it was confirmed that there are 8940 patients at the Practice.

There was concerned that the blood pressure machine for use by the public would be underused. This has not been the case, however, and GPs have seen more patients arriving at appointments with slips. It helps being able to take blood pressure in a calm environment.

The value of phone consultations was discussed. They can create more work if a follow up visit is required. Also it is difficult to diagnose without seeing the patient. Phone consultations can put the practice at a disadvantage both medically and legally. They could be used, however, for blood pressure results and medication changes as an interim measure if the patient can't get to the surgery.

Gerald asked if a patient needed a further course of antibiotics could the Prescribing Nurse give a repeat prescription over the telephone. The answer was that the patient would need to see a GP for a further course of antibiotics to confirm that this was appropriate.

Lynn informed the meeting that funding is available to the PPG. This was from 1st December and there is no closing date. The funding is for growth and development, innovation and health improvement. £1,000 per year is available. This could be used to buy a laptop, pay for printing or for social media. Joint bidding has been discussed but no common agreement has been reached.

The PPG needs to present 3 priority areas and 3 action plans from our survey and friends and family questionnaires. This needs to be done by the end of the financial year. It was agreed that the first one would be raising awareness of patient on line services, including medication summaries. The second one will be raising awareness of non-GP services, such as the minor illness clinic and Pharmacy First. The third area will be self care to reduce A&E attendance.

Gerald said the 111 service tended to advise callers to see their GP or go to A&E. This is because they are trained administrators not nurses. Arrangements for ‘Meet the Patient Panel’ Friends and Family surveys started in December but responses have not been collected for the first month. Responses for January are good. There has been one negative comment regarding the counselling service, which is provided by Walsall Mental Health Trust. This service is out of our control so it is a shame the comment was made on NHS Choices as it has reduced our score.

Dr Suleman reported that there have been contract changes between the practice and NHS England. There has been a split between GMS and PMS services (General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services). We are a PMS practice so we receive more funding per patient and offer more services. PMS practices are being assessed to see if they continue to meet criteria. The Bull St Practice has agreed to move to a GMS contract. This means a possible loss of funding in the region of £167,000 in funding. The loss of funding will be gradual over a period of 7 years. We need to look at what we can afford as a practice, such as keeping Masefield Road open. As of 1st April we will loose £20,000. We could look at moving some PMS services, such as fitting coils, to us being a GMS practice and get paid for the work. We also need to confirm what the difference is between GMS and PMS work. We could tender for other work but a single practice is too small to do so. It would be better to do Borough wide bidding and as a result Future Proof Health Limited has been set up in Dudley to do this. Stroke Awareness The Chairman said that he had been contacted by Clare Hamilton with the opportunity of the PPG having a talk by someone from the Stroke Awareness Unit. The meeting agreed that it would be best to widen the audience and invite local groups to a talk in a venue such as a local church hall. David Gill is to contact the Stroke Awareness Unit with a view to organising a talk for local people.

Any Other Business There was no other business.

Date of Next Meetings Monday 9th March, Monday 18th May and Monday 13th July – all at 6.30pm.