Agenda For The Meeting Of The Milton Abbas And Milborne St Andrew Patient Reference Group ‘Patient Voice’

Notes of the group meeting of the Milton Abbas and Milborne St Andrew Patient Reference Group ‘Patient Voice’ held on Wednesday 16th December 2015, 12:30pm at Milton Abbas Reading Room

Present: Colin Harte (CH) (Chair), Gillian Brindle (GB) (Practice Manager), Nigel Hodder (NH), Sarah Noble (SN) (Assistant Practice Manager), Gina Dobbins, Heather Jaggard, Marion Hargreaves, Val Downes, John Morley, Christine Charlesworth (CC), Peggy Chafer, Peter Chafer, Mike Walker, Val Andrews, Dave Andrews, Pam Schultz (PS), Allen Tice, Alan Morgan, Dr Martin Longley (ML) (p/t)

Apologies: Ann Butler, Ann Fookes, Pam Thornton, Ellie Payne, Colin White, Annie Thom

AGENDA ITEM NOTES ACTION

1. Welcome and CH welcomed all attendees. Apologies were received from those listed above. Dr Apologies Longley attended for Item 4 onwards.

2. Minutes of The minutes of the meeting held on 24th September 2015 were agreed and approved. Last Meeting A copy will be placed on the PV page within the surgery website. SN

3. Matters There were none. Arising

4. Introduction Gillian Brindle introduced herself to the group and provided a brief resume of her previous experience in the NHS. Prior to her current appointment as Business Manager (a role shared between Cerne Abbas and Milton Abbas surgeries), Gillian worked within Dorset CCG as a Locality Manager; as a consequence she knew ML via the CCG. Her main responsibilities are Patients, Financial and Strategic management. In response to a question she advised that patients can report any concerns to Sarah who would in turn involve Gillian if it was deemed necessary.

5. Practice Full report is attached. Highlights are as follows: Report  The number of patients registered with the practice at 9th December 2015 is 3,627. This compared with 3,538 last December and represents an increase of 2.5%.  Jane James started with the team in October this year and brings with her vast experience of community nursing. Jane has settled well and is enjoying working with the team.  Although the practices (Cerne Abbas & MA) are similar, there are lots of differences too! Working across the two surgeries is already allowing them to work closely together as well as giving opportunities to share best practice.  Over the past 12 months there have been 400 Doctor DNAs (did not attend) and 479 missed nurse appointments. The GPs and nurses average about 30 appointments in a day, so this means13 days of GP appointments and 16 days of nurse appointments have been lost over the year.

Not only is this time wasted, but it also means that patients who need appointments are having to wait.

In an attempt to reduce the number of DNAs the Practice sends a text message reminder before an appointment providing a mobile number has been provided. If we don’t have your mobile phone number or you have recently ALL changed it please telephone reception to update your records.

6. AOB Future agenda items – we would like to introduce different subject matter to our future agendas. Anyone with suitable suggestions please let the Secretary know. At the meeting the following suggestions were discussed: Specialists address meetings about their areas of expertise – e.g. pharmacy, physiotherapist.

Perhaps consider a health or fitness expert to provide guidelines on staying healthy.

Merger – ML responded to a question from the group that there were no immediate plans for the two surgeries to merge from a patient perspective following the appointment of GB. In fact, originally there was a view that GB might have provided a service at Puddletown as well, but there were some differences that could not be overcome. He could not predict where they would be in 5-10 years’ time but current facilities needed enlarging/improving.

ML felt that Patient Voice had a significant role to play in helping to “shape” future service provision. ML also emphasised that all 3 Practices aspire to providing local continuous care for their patients. There are opportunities to bid for a basket of services to improve care and revenue – many of which are already provided by the surgery.

Communication – PS reminded the meeting that the purpose of Patient Voice was not only to communicate with the Practice but to communicate our views further up the hierarchy in an attempt to influence future CCG decision making.

Pharmacists – CC stated that there is much dissatisfaction in Blandford where Boots have a monopoly and give a lousy service. ML responded that the CCG does employ its own full time pharmacists and that within the Locality there are 8 pharmacists covering 45,000 patients. Milton Abbas patients are not really affected as there is a dispensary at the surgery.

7. Next Meeting Wednesday 9 th March 2016 at 6:30 p.m. in the MSA Surgery Waiting Room