Gower Street Practice Patient Participation Group Meeting
25th October 2012 – 1.00pm
Present: Patient members: Felix Pirani, Roy Prentice. Staff: Dr Raj Murthi, Dr Mark Hunter,
Dr Sabrina Ahmed, Dr Sonia Chester, Marcia Menichetti (Practice Manager), Suzanne Pavitt
(Practice Secretary), Virda Pempengco (Receptionist)
1.
Apologies for absence: Ian Butterworth, Francis Lillie, Esther Murray
2.
Minutes of last meeting were circulated. Dr Hunter will upload these to the Practice
website.
3.
Update on new patient registration: the Practice has experienced a very busy
period of new registrations over the last several weeks and to some extent this is
ongoing. Practice population is currently over 9,000 but this is subject to rise and fall
over the year particularly as new students arrive and leave. In addition, “University”
non-NHS patients can make in particular the Same Day Appointments clinic very
busy at times.
4.
Bowel cancer screening programme: this is under way for patients aged 60 to 74
inclusive. Home test kits are being sent out and the Practice will write to nonresponders to encourage them to take the screening test.
5.
Flu campaign: the last of four walk-in clinics for flu vaccination is today but patients
can still book a routine appointment with the nurse. Last year we achieved a high
level of take-up and aim to achieve at least the same this year. The PCT
subcontracted the sending out of flu invites and it was noted that the letters had
Gower Place Practice’s address on them in error. There was a query about the
clarity of the question relating to allergies on the consent form and this will be
addressed.
6.
Staff issues: Dr Hunter reported that the practice is short of one nurse and two parttime receptionists. At present experienced temporary staff are in place. He
mentioned that it is at present difficult to recruit practice nurses in central London.
7.
Funding for upgrade of premises: we will be able to replace carpets with washable
lino, install a nappy changing unit and an emergency pull cord in the patient toilet etc,
which are requirements for Infection Control and CQC standards. No information
regarding new premises at present.
8.
New members for PPG: it was agreed to advertise for some new, young members
for the Group. They would be recruited possibly via Halls of Residence and
encouraged to join even if only able to attend a couple of meetings.
9.
Any other business: Professor Pirani reminded that he had requested a coat hook
in the patient toilet.
10.
Date of next meeting: Thursday 31st January 2013 at 1.00 pm.
Gower Street Practice 2012