Radnor House Surgery Patient Participation Group s1

RADNOR HOUSE SURGERY – PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

Minutes of meeting held on 04 September 2012 at Radnor House.

Present: Stephen Isaia (Chairman) Jo Taylor (Practice Manager) Sheila Sparks Peter Boyce Malcolm Brown Dr Rawlinson

Apologies: Roz Hansen Pam Lakin

1. The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and Jo will arrange for them to be posted on the website.

Letter to Councillor Yong: The Chairman had used the content of the letter in his response to “Shaping the Future of Healthcare in East Berkshire”. He requested that the letter be put onto the website.

Disabled Access: Now underway, the ground has been cleared and a pathway laid down the side of the building. Completion is expected in October as the work to enlarge the doorway is bigger than at first thought and funds for this will need to come from another source.

New Practice Boundary: Re-assessed and forwarded to the appropriate authority.

CCG Lay Members: The Chairman had been interviewed but to date had heard nothing further.

2. Update on the First PPG Network Meeting: The first meeting had been held on 9th August 2012 at the Town Hall, Maidenhead. The Chairman and Sheila had attended. The Group will cover PPGs in the Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead (WAM) CCG area. There are a total of 20 practices in WAM but only 4 were represented at the meeting (us, Datchet, Cookham and Claremont (Maidenhead) ). Ascot Medical Practice sent apologies. Michaela Helman (Project Manager – Healthwatch/WAM LINks Support and Development Officer) chaired the meeting and will continue to do so for 6 months by which time it is hoped that more practices will be attending. Also at the meeting were Nadia Barakat – CCG Manager, Brian Huggett – LINk Chair and Mike Holness – LINk Vice Chair.

The meeting began with a welcome, introductions and a discussion on the role of PPGs. This was followed by a general talk on the Aims of the Network, what each PPG might be able to contribute/gain from the Network and its Terms of Reference which will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting. Nadia Barakat gave a short update on the CCG, during which concern was expressed by the Datchet representative that he had not seen or heard about the recruitment of Lay Members. The other PPGs confirmed that information had been received and passed on as appropriate.

1 The next item was Healthwatch – which will be the independent consumer champion for the public – locally and nationally, to promote better outcomes in health for all and in social care for adults. (Following the meeting Michaela forwarded a consultation document and questionnaire regarding Healthwatch which Sheila had forwarded to PPG members and the Virtual PPG group for information and response as requested.)

Discussion followed on the changes within the NHS which was at times very hard to follow. Clarification was requested and subsequent to the meeting papers entitled “Health and Care System April 2013” and “The NHS Reforms; the old and the new” were emailed which make it a little clearer. These will be forwarded to members of the PPG for information (done).

Dates and times were agreed for the next two Network meetings to be held on 27th September and 1st November.

Michaela had subsequently emailed details of Public Meetings entitled “New Responsibilities for GPs” to be held in September and October where Dr Adrian Hayter (Chair of WAM) will be talking about their new responsibilities as part of WAM. This information to be forwarded to PPG members (done).

3. Shaping the Future (Heatherwood Hospital): Dr Rawlinson was able to give some information on what services may remain at Heatherwood, likely to be planned surgery and some outpatient clinics. It is expected that Urgent Care (taking the place of the Minor Injuries Unit) will be sited at Brants Bridge. This has received good feedback and seems to be acceptable to the majority of Ascot residents.

Peter expressed concern that his Grandson had had to go to Frimley Park for an MRI scan when there was a more convenient scanner at Heatherwood.

Discussion followed on the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as the new Health Secretary and what difference this might make to the future of the NHS.

The consultation process is now closed and public meetings should shortly be announced. Dr Rawlinson advised that he will be a figure head at these meetings explaining the situation and future plans to the public.

4. 2012 PPG Survey: It was agreed that the same GPAQ questionnaire would be used as last year. This would enable the group to compare and evaluate the two sets of results. Jo will photocopy and hand out approx 120 questionnaires and Sheila will email a set to the Virtual PPG. Sheila will contact Jo in mid-October to collect and collate the results.

5. AOB – Jo confirmed that the new GP and Registrar are now in post which should give greater continuity for patients.

The meeting finished at 7.30 pm

Date and time of next meeting: Tuesday 6th November 2012 at 6.15 pm