PATIENT REFERENCE GROUP REPORT
BRAMHALL HEALTH CENTRE
MARCH 2012
This report summarises the development of the Patient Reference Group (PRG), the process to identify
the area(s) of most concern to the patients and the outcomes of this investigation. It will also outline the
action plan resulting from this process.
Bramhall Health Centre is situated in the village of Bramhall, Cheshire, a largely affluent area, which has a
population of around 25,500. Bramhall Health Centre has a patient population of around 13500.
1. Profile of Practice
Bramhall Health Centre (at the time of writing this report) has a patient population of 13529 of which
49% are male and 51% female. 16% are aged 16 or under, 60% are aged between 17 and 64, and 24% are
65+. Although there is an ethnicity field in our Practice Database, we have not in the past been routinely
required to record ethnicity on our patient registration information, however, where this has been
indicated, data is available. In our PRG Joining forms, some participants have made an indication about
ethnicity, but as this is not the case for all patients, it would not be appropriate to suggest at this point, a
breakdown of ethnicity amongst our members. This is something which can be explored in future
reports.
Patient population by
age/gender
Total population by age
16 or
under%
65+
female
17-64
17-64
male
16 or under%
65+
0%
20%
40%
2. Profile of our PRG – and recruitment process
There had been in the past a Patient Participation Group, but due to the increasing size of the patient
population and reluctance on their part to participate in recent years, this had not been active. We
treated the formation of the current PRG as a new process, inviting all patients who were interested in
joining a ‘virtual’ group to join the PRG. It was our impression at the outset, that due to the size of the
practice, a virtual group would be more effective and easier to engage, as the logistics of accommodating
130+ patients in face-to-face meetings would be difficult to manage and hard for some members to make
their views heard.
To recruit members to our PRG we used the following methods:
 We put posters in our main public areas, with leaflets informing patients of the scheme
 We placed posters in local pharmacies/newsagents in the village, inviting people to join
 We discussed this with patients in person at reception and within the practice
 We wrote to patients, including some housebound patients
 We sent text messages to patients who had previously given consent to be contacted in this way
for any reason
 We had an page on our Patient Information Screen in the waiting area
Our initial response was comprised of a 52% female and 48% male population, with 4% being from
ethnic minority groups. They were then surveyed to ascertain which areas out of possible 5 where of
most concern, or whether they wished to suggest a concern of their own. Those areas were as follows:
Practice Premises, Telephones, Website, Access to Appointments/Availability, Clinical Care or
another area of their own suggestion.
3. Mini survey results and compilation of main survey
The results from this mini-survey indicated that the area of most concern was Access to Appointments
and availability, as this was also an area about which we had had feedback from patients (who weren’t as
yet part of the group) suggesting it needed improvement, we chose this as the most appropriate area to
examine for our first major survey. Further recruitment efforts for the group generated additional
members, bringing the group total to 133 members. These were recruited by the same methods as
before, with the addition of GPs inviting members to join across a wide spectrum of the demographic to
try and give a more representative membership. 10 of the members are from ethnic minorities and two
are known Carers.
Prior to starting this process, Bramhall Health Centre did have a website, but it was very basic and more
for information purposes for patients rather than being interactive. We obtained a new provider for our
Website and have now created a much more user-friendly site, on which we were able to post our joining
forms and questionnaire. However, the questionnaire was already devised and being responded to, prior
to discovering that more user friendly, electronic options were available within the website function. The
main survey would then be analysed manually by the Practice and results published accordingly.
The main survey was sent out via email to PRG members, by post to those who had indicated a
preference for that method and also given to patients at reception. Some patients were given a copy by
their GPs. Copies were also offered to known housebound patients for whom it was felt may be
agreeable to completing the information. However, we have found that they were unwilling to take the
time at the present to complete the form and return it. We will still continue to try and encourage
participation and sharing of opinion from Housebound patients.
4. Survey Analysis
Looking carefully at the responses given in the survey, there were some immediate indications that we
identified:
 11% of patients would like an additional method to book appointments to coming in person or using
the telephone
 52.5% of patients have not found it easy to get through to the practice on the telephone
 31% of patients were not able to get an appointment with a GP more than 2 weekdays in advance
 48% of patients were unaware that we offer extended hours appointments, outside of the normal
working day
 99% of patients found it easy to access the building at the surgery
 97% of patients found the receptionists to be very helpful or fairly helpful
 80% of patients felt the didn’t wait too long for their GP appointment
 17.5% of patients felt they waited too long to be seen for their GP appointment
 74% of patients had a preference over which GP they see for their appointment
 66% of patients always or a lot of the time, saw the GP they preferred
 23% of patients saw their preferred GP some of the time
We then fed this information back to the patient members and asked them for their comments about the
survey findings.
The Survey results were posted on our website, in Reception and also in the patient waiting room for
patients to review and comment upon.
The key findings were as follows:
 We need to improve access for patients by telephone
 We should look at alternative methods for patients to communicate with the Practice than just
the telephone or coming in person, where appropriate
 We should give more patients an awareness of the Extended hours service and prioritise it for
patients who work and have difficulty attending during normal surgery hours
 We need to try and give more opportunity for patients to make their appointment with their
preferred Doctor or one of their choosing
 It would be beneficial to enable more opportunity for patients to obtain telephone advice from a
GP rather than (or prior to) attending for an appointment, where clinically appropriate
5. Action Plan
We identified that initially, the following actions were appropriate in order to address the immediate
concerns and that a further review of the situation would be ongoing.
 A key concern was that we need to improve access to patients by telephone. The practice is
looking at the possibility of introducing some automated options to our telephone switchboard to
enable a more prompt response to the initial telephone call and allowing more staff to be
available to handle patient appointment bookings, particularly in peak calling times.
 The practice has a menu of appointments available and has increased the number of
appointments that patients can book more than 1week in advance.
 The Practice would prioritise extended hours appointments for working patients and publicise the
details more proactively
 The Practice would consider putting telephone consultation appointments in the Duty Doctor
Schedule to allow patients to speak to a Clinician about their medical concerns
 The Practice would consider the possibility of doing Chronic illness review by telephone
consultation
These proposals were discussed with the Participation Group Members, and agreed as part of our Action
Plan.
6. Areas where we could not achieve what the PRG wanted:
One of the most common requests was for the Practice to provide ‘on-line’ appointment booking and
cancellation. We are not yet confident that the combination of the Practice Website and current
software package used by the Practice for appointment booking are suitably able to cope with the
demand for booking amendments that a Practice with 13,000+ patients would create. This is an area
which we will continue to investigate and keep patients updated with our findings.
As the Practice is run from a building which is owned by the Primary Care trust, we are not able to offer
additional car parking facilities over and above those already provided. We will however feed back
comments to the appropriate department that at times, patients have difficulty in finding a convenient
place to park when attending for their appointments.
7. Opening hours of the Practice Premises
Reception is open
Monday to Friday 8.30am to 6.00pm
Appointments are available
Monday to Friday 8.00am to 6.30pm
Extended hours appointments are available between 6.30 to 8.30pm weekdays by prior arrangement
This report has been published on the Practice Website and is available in paper copy for any patients
who would like one.