Minutes of Patient Participation Group Meeting 29Th

Minutes of Patient Participation Group Meeting 29th. May 2013

Attendees JB, Dr. Peter Bush, IF, FH, Gill Lewis, KO, CP, Julie Piotrowski, RP, MW (Landseer Road Patient) and TY.

1. Chair opened meeting @ 18.05 hrs. and welcomed new member JB, MB and visiting speaker, Fiona Hanlon (Suffolk Dementia Helpline).

2. Apologies for absence received from SC. No apology from DM. KO to write to DM about non attendance and suggest he resigns from PPG.

3. No matters arising from minutes of 24/4/2013

4. Minutes from meeting 24th. April 2013 Agreed by RP, seconded by IF

5. Suffolk Wellbeing. Talk by Fiona Hanlon about ‘Suffolk Dementia Helpline’. Based at Sue Ryder Unit in Chantry Park. Set up by a consortium of Suffolk Family Carers, Sue Ryder and Suffolk Age UK and launched in September 2012. Now has funding until September 2014. Currently available M-F, 9am – 5pm (hoping to soon provide a help service until 9 pm and would like to include weekends.) Telephone service open to anyone in Suffolk who has concerns about dementia. Calls are confidential unless there are safeguard risks. Offers information about other services, charities, social services etc. Provides support (emotional support - caller led). The service has had 300 calls since inception. More specific advice for people diagnosed is provided by Suffolk Age UK Advisory Service by telephone or face to face. Volunteers to work at Suffolk Dementia Helpline need ability to listen and give support. Training is quite extensive and covers a range of skills from dementia awareness to lifting. Volunteers are recruited through agencies, radio, etc. PPG members suggested Rotary and Freemasons (Almoner) as organisations to approach for volunteers. Fiona distributed cards and pens to PPG members to use to signpost people in need of the service. The Chairman thanked Fiona for a most interesting talk.

6 Practice News/Communications (a) Slides approved, Info Screen mounted. Q cards to be abandoned. Final Draft may include dementia information. Expect to finalise detail over the next two days an have the system up and running as soon as possible. It will be necessary to hide seasonal information and the timing between slides is critical to allow patients to read content. ACTION GL AND PRACTICE STAFF

(b) Looking in more detail at clinical resources in the light of changes in Staffing at Chesterfield Drive and Landseer. ACTION GL

(d) Photos are being collected, full staff coverage not yet achieved. ACTION GL

(e) Now screen is sited a section of the notice board to the right of the main board and left of the POD can be allocated

(f) With Pharmacy getting busier, there is a bigger overflow of people into the Reception Area causing some confusion among patients as to which queue to join. Redesign plans should be received this week. GL has meeting with The Pharmacist on Friday to discuss. There is a need to be mindful of cost. ACTION GL

(g) GL said that according to ‘Guidance to Practices’ there was no requirement for the PPG to meet monthly. After a discussion on the pros and cons it was agreed to experiment with a meeting every two months starting with July with a review of effectiveness in September. . (h) GL said the Practice was not obliged to publish minutes of PPG meetings on its web site but will continue to do so. The only requirement was to publish the Annual Report.

(i) The Practice has decided that one PPG should represent both Chesterfield Drive and Landseer Road Practices. Currently the PPG at Landseer Road is not functioning and there is little interest amongst patients to join. There is still much work to be done to amalgamate the two clinical and administrative systems and it will need a lot of proactive effort to interest/recruit people for the PPG.

7. Car Parking

GL has agreed with the Scouts to rent 8 car parking spaces for Practice staff at The Scout Hall in Chesterfield Drive. There has been a query about the number of available disabled spaces at the front of the Surgery. The positioning of the disabled sign indicates one but the need is probably for more. GL will examine whether there is adequate space for three and have the sign moved to cover the spaces allocated. ACTION GL

8. Pharmacy.

Black posts outside Pharmacy repainted with luminous yellow bands.

9. Patient Feedback Surveys TY showed the Group the form she has produced for the Virtual Group. Minor amendments were requested relating to ‘waiting room’. Practice will send form to Virtual Group and notify TY when replies received. She will have replies analysed. TY presented two new posters about PPG for the PPG notice board. She will display them when the notice board is allocated.

10. AoB

(a) JB complained that he has been unable use the Chesterfield Drive website to make an appointment with the doctor of his choice. GL will look at the situation but certain doctors are in great demand and may not have any slots available over the period covered by the computer.

11. Chairman summed up, thanked all contributors and closed the meeting at 20.06

The next meeting will be on 31st. JULY 2013. Gather in Meeting Room at 17.45 after signing in at Reception.