The Friary Surgery
Dr S J Wallace MB ChB MRCGP
Dr R J Parrott MB ChB DRCOG
Dr L M Barnes BSc MBBS DRCOG
Dr A E Roddie MB ChB MRCGP
Tel: 0844 4996637
Fax: 01748 850356
The Friary Surgery
Queens Road
Richmond
North Yorkshire
DL10 4UJ
The Friary Surgery
Local Patient Participation Report 2013/2014
Introduction
The Friary Surgery Patient Reference Group (PRG) was formed in 2011. This then is
the 3rd year of existence. The aim of the PRG is to ensure that our patients are as
involved as possible in decisions which may lead to changes in the way we provide
services in the future.
The Friary Surgery has a list size of approximately 5800 patients. There is little
change in the list size year on year. There were 473 new patients registered with the
practice and 620 left the practice or died during the last year.
No patient’s were compulsorily removed from the list during the past year. The
practice received 7 complaints and all of which have been fully resolved to the
satisfaction of all parties.
There are 4 GPs and 2 Practice Nurses. The Friary Surgery has a full time Practice
Manager and Dispensary Manager, and 8 receptionists/admin/dispensers of which
the majority work part-time.
The Friary Surgery is also a training practice. In addition to training medical students
over the course of the year we also have in post a foundation year 2 doctor. These
doctors work in the surgery for a period of 4 months. Many of our hospital doctors
then choose to train as a GP so this is a valuable placement for them during their
training.
There were 801 appointments lost over the year to patients who did not attend for a
booked appointment.
Due to concerns voiced over the cost of calling the surgery from mobile phones the
Friary surgery will revert to a local telephone number from July of this year at the
latest.
The practice has migrated to EMIS web. This should allow us to extend our service
to enable patients to book appointments online, order repeat prescriptions and view
their medical records.
During the last 12 months we have increased the number of patients in our PRG to
27. The Friary Surgery continues to advertise the PRG on the website and
welcomes new members to sign up.
The Friary Surgery continues to collect information regarding ethnicity to ensure that
we can make comparison between our practice population as a whole, and the ethnic
mix of our PRG.
The PRG is wholly representative of the practice population as a whole. This group
remains open to any of our patients who wish to join. The Friary Surgery has worked
hard to involve those from under-represented groups. This was done by direct
targeted contact by the Doctors. This has been successful with the full spectrum of
minority populations represented on the PRG. An open letter of invitation was
available to pick up from the reception area and a link was placed on the practice
website.
The virtual group consists of 27 members who were initially asked to consider what
areas they felt that the Friary Surgery could improve.
The matter of access had
been raised previously as this was an area of some concern. The PRG was keen to
see if the measures adopted had led to a significant improvement in access.
As a result of the previous years work various measures had been put in place to
improve access. It was agreed to re-run the survey questions that measured this
outcome.
It was also discussed that satisfaction with waiting times to get an
appointment, opening and extended opening hours along with satisfaction with the
service provided by receptionists, nurses and GP’s and that this information would be
individualised would be included in the survey.
The PRG were also advised of the proposed survey and there was no objections
raised.
The number of completed questionnaires was 161. This equates to 3% of the
practice population.
The results of the survey were fed back to the PRG and published on the Friary
surgery website. The PRG was supplied with a draft copy of the action plan and
invited to submit any comments or recommendations.
The demographic make-up of the Friary Surgery patients is approximately;
White British 96%
Other White ethnic origin 2.5%
Black African 0.07%
Other Black origin 0.43%
Asian origin 0.5%
Mixed origin 0.5%
The demographics of the PRG is as follows;
White British
Other/Eastern European
Asian
African
94%
2%
2%
2%
The PRG comprises of both male and female members with an age range of 20-74.
The group includes both professional and non-professional workers along with carers
and those with significant health problems. The composition of the group is wholly
representative of the patients registered at the Friary Surgery.
Agreeing areas of priority with the PRG
The virtual PRG was contacted by email to inform them that we were planning our
annual patient survey. The PRG was asked as to what they thought were the most
important issues regarding the practice. It was explained that this feedback would
help determine on what issues the wider practice population would be surveyed on.
Feedback from the PRG as well as any suggestions that had been submitted over
the course of the year was used develop the annual practice survey.
Since the Friary Surgery first developed its website and PRG the overwhelming area
of concern has been access. The PRG were previously consulted on trialling a
telephone triage system called “Doctor First” and it was felt that more traditional
methods to improve access should be tried first.
Accordingly changes were made which included more minor illness slots with a
Nurse practitioner, dedicated INR and phlebotomy clinics to free up nursing time and
the provision of on average an extra 35 patient appointment slots per week.
The PRG were keen to learn if the changes that had been implemented over the year
had led to improvements in patients experience in booking an appointment. It was
therefore of great interest to see if these endeavours would lead to an improvement
in satisfaction as measured by the practice survey.
The PRG were keen to compare the results of this year’s survey with that of the
previous year to see if any measurable improvement had taken place.
These measures were;

Appointment of hospital doctor in training under the supervision of the partners
who would see an average of 35 patients each week

The redirection of all routine blood tests to the phlebotomy service. This
would free up valuable nursing time that is best used to manage patients with
chronic conditions.

The appointment of an in-house phlebotomist one morning per week.

An increase in the available appointment for dealing with minor illnesses.
The Annual Patient Survey
The survey took place in January 2014. It was widely publicised with paper copies
available in the waiting room along with the ability to complete online via the practice
website.
We collated all the comments submitted and composed the survey based on the
common themes. These broadly fell into the following categories;

Communication

Opening Hours

Appointments

Overall Satisfaction
Information regarding the patient's age, gender, employment, ethnicity and religion
was also collected.
The survey was published as an interactive questionnaire on the practice website
and also in paper format given to patients upon arrival for their appointment at the
surgery.
Results of the Survey
The PRG was informed that the survey results had been published. The results of
the survey were analysed and published on the practice website in early We asked
the PRG to feed back to us comments and in particular their suggestions for any
improvements that could be made to the service which we provide, based on the
survey results.
We also made available some paper copies of the survey results and placed these
on the reception counter and in the waiting room. Patients were invited to make
recommendations.
Results of the survey can be found by clicking on the following link:
http://www.mysurgeryoffice.co.uk/psurvey.aspx?p=184483&v=B82072
I am pleased to report that the overwhelming response to this years survey has been
positive. The vast majority (>90%) of those asked gave the top two answers in
almost every category.
It would appear that the GP’s at the Friary surgery are good emphatic listeners who
involve their patients when making decisions about their care. Our patients have
complete faith that we are trustworthy and honest.
70% of patients found it easy to make an appointment. 86% of those asked found it
easy to get seen if their condition was urgent.
97% would be happy to see the
same GP again.
(3% No response). 92% of patients found it easy to book an
appointment in the next 2 weeks.
97% of patients found it easy to been seen
either on the day or within 2-4 days.
There was a marked difference in the no response rate seen this year to several
questions.
These were questionnaires that were completed online and were
probably due to operator error.
Our patients also found our reception staff to be helpful and courteous. They are
also pleased with the provision of nursing services at the surgery.
Overall 88% of patients found their experience of the Friary Surgery to be excellent
with 8% saying it was very good. There can be no more a ringing endorsement than
this of the changes implemented at the Friary Surgery to improve the level of
services for our patients. The overwhelming majority would recommend the Friary
Surgery.
The survey questions regarding opening hours show that satisfaction with and
awareness of the opening hours have improved in the last 12 months. There has
been a great improvement in the satisfaction level with regard to available
appointments.
The practice has made great efforts to meet the demand of our patients and has
successfully allocated resources to the satisfaction of all parties.
PRG
It can be clearly seen that the Friary Surgery has a PRG representative of the
population as a whole. To comply with the guidelines this description of the PRG is
published on the website. The results of the survey have also been published online.
The PRG was consulted and agreed on the areas of priority that needed to be
addressed. The make-up of the survey was agreed and the results fed back to the
PRG. The survey was available to complete both in the practice and via the practice
website.
The PRG has ample opportunity to comment and discuss the findings of the survey
along with other relevant information.
Following feedback from the PRG an action plan was developed and is laid out
below. This plan was agreed with the PRG.
Action Plan
To continue to roll out and extend the ability to book appointments on-line. We will
monitor the demand for such appointment and increase their availability if required.
We plan to develop the on-line prescription ordering process. At present it is
somewhat clunky and we hope that having migrated to EMIS web a new system will
shortly be introduced.
We will continue to consult with the PRG and also listen to and consider suggestions
made by all our patients. The next annual survey will take place in January 2015.
Practice opening times, extended hours and out of hours
arrangements
Opening Times
Times
Monday
08:00 - 18:00
Tuesday
08:00 - 18:00
Wednesday
08:00 - 18:00
Thursday
08:00 - 18:00
Friday
08:00 - 18:00
Extended Opening Hours
Late evening appointments are available for those patients that may find it difficult to
attend during normal surgery hours
When We Are Closed
Between 6.00pm and 8.00am Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and bank
holidays, the practice will be closed. During these hours the practice is covered by
the local out of hours service.
If you require urgent medical attention when the surgery is closed, please telephone
111
Calls to the NHS 111 service are free from both landlines and mobiles.
Call 999 in an emergency. Chest pains and / or shortness of breath constitute
an emergency.