The Whiteley & Locks Road Surgeries Patient Participation Direct Enhanced Service
Report and Action Plan 2011-2012
The Practice first conceived the idea of a patient participation group (PPG) in the
Autumn of 2009 and a subsequent exercise to recruit willing and interested participants
took place in the form of an advertising campaign via the website, newsletters, posters,
handouts and opportunistically face to face
The Practice sought advice from already established PPG’s in surrounding areas and also
joined N.A.P.P (National Association of Patient Participation) the governing body for
patient groups
The first formal meeting took place on 4/2/10 and consisted of 19 members and was
very much a Who, What and Why meeting to decide on future aims and objectives
Elections of group members to Chairman and Secretary were decided along with terms
of reference which are accessible via our website www.whiteleysurgery.co.uk
The group has met regularly every 2-3 months since then (depending on commitments
personally and professionally) and always include one GP, Practice Manager, and members
of the admin team
With the new Government initiatives and a greater emphasis on patients views the
practice has from the Summer of 2011 sought to develop a ‘virtual’ patient group to
enable the views of the wider practice demographics to be heard
A contact form was created and made available via our website and also handed out to
patients attending the surgeries to complete if they wish to join the PRP
The Practice carried out a independent Improving Access Questionnaire (CFEP UK
Surveys) in February 2010 ( published results are available via our website
www.whiteleysurgery.co.uk ) total number of responses were 424, from this survey free
text comments were around booking appointments, times of appointments, getting
through on the phone and having online facilities
It was therefore decided that the first survey to our newly formed virtual group would
centre on how patients access services provided by the practice
The core PPG met with the Practice on a number of occasions during late summer 2011
and both the contact form and questionnaire for those patients wishing to join a virtual
Patient Reference Group was agreed. Copies of the Contact Form were made available in
each of the two surgeries, placed on the Practice Website, and also on notice boards
during August 2011.
A total of 650 patients completed the contact form. Of these 365 wished to be
contacted electronically and 285 asked to be contacted by post. The core PPG agreed at
their meeting in September that all 650 contacts would receive a questionnaire and that
the closing date for returned forms would be 31 October 2011
Break down of the Group
Practice Population
16+ under
3034
17-24
1044
25-34
1708
35-44
2297
45-54
2145
55-64
1436
65-74
1055
75-85
603
Over 85
201
Total
13522
%
PRG Profile
22.4%
5
7.7%
51
12.6%
93
16.99% 145
15.9%
123
10.6%
83
7.8%
74
4.5%
66
1.45%
10
100%
650
Male
Female
49.99%
50.01%
6755
6767
230
420
%
0.77%
7.8%
14.3%
22.3%
18.9%
12.8%
11.4%
10.1%
1.5%
100%
35.4%
64.6%
A questionnaire was created and this was sent out sent first week in October to all 650
contacts
However, subsequent inspection established that contact forms from 37 patients
wishing to be contacted electronically had provided undeliverable email addresses.
In total 246 (38.7%) completed questionnaires were received of which 165 and 81 were
by email and post respectively. All the information from the questionnaires were
electronically and manually collated by beginning of December 2011
From the raw data ( ANNEX B ) results it was agreed that as some questions were multichoice answers this in turn recorded higher data it therefore would be more
constructive to analysis the data more closely, 2 members of the PPG volunteered to do
this independently
The core PPG met in January 2012 to analysis all the information and subsequent
independent results
The results are as follows: ( ANNEX A )
NO1 Analysis of Results of the Virtual Patients reference Group
Q1 How do you book your appointments.
At present patients can contact the surgery by phone or in person. Some 47 patients
said they used both methods. However the majority of patients (78%) contacted the
surgery by telephone.
Q2 Preferred methods of Booking Appointment at Surgery
Four options were offered. Some multiple answers – 484 boxes ticked from 246
patients. What this showed was that 40% opted for the telephone. Some 27% of
patients said their preferred method would be via website. However it must be borne in
mind that the vast majority wishing to book appointments via the website (87%) were
patients who had opted to be contacted by email. Of those who had opted to be
contacted by post (86%) preferred to book appointments either by phone or at
reception. Question Is this because they do not possess computer hence preference
for postal replies?
Q3 How easy is it to contact the surgery by phone
Overall 75% found it very easy or fairly easy to contact the surgery over last 6 months.
Making an appointment
Overall 75% found it either fairly easy (51%) or very easy (24%).
Speaking to a Doctor or Nurse
45% said they had not tried. 38% found it very easy or fairly easy. The percentage
breakdown is 12% and 26% respectively.
Obtaining test results by phone
Six options including “Don’t know”which was 8%. The majority 53% said they had not
tried. Of the others 18% said it was fairly easy and 12% very easy.
Q4 Finding out information about the surgery.
Six options. Some multiple answers – 254 boxes ticked from 246 patients. Of these 29%
chose website. However the majority (86%) of those who ticked the website box had
chosen to be contacted by email. Only 13% of postal returns ticked this box. This
appears to indicate that many of those who chose to be contacted by post do not
possess a computer?
Of the other options 22% chose telephone and 23% said “Notice Board. Only 1% chose
email.
Would you like dedicated telephone numbers.
Three options- Appointments, Test Results and Home visits. On Appointments 76% said
“Yes”. On Test Results 67% said “Yes”. On Home Visits 58% said “Yes”.
Would you like more routine Appointments between 11am and 3pm?
The majority (87%) said “Yes”.
Q5 Hampshire Health Record (HHR) – Do you agree that summary information is
made available from surgery and stored on HHR?
92% said “Yes”.
NO 2: Analysis of the free text comments at the end of the survey
An initial analysis of the comments supplied during the survey by the respondents is
shown in the subsequent Pie Charts. As can be expected they are dominated by two
major categories - the proposed closure of Locks Road Surgery and the Appointments
process - which was the main drive within the survey.
However there were some other points raised which, although low in number, offer some
ideas that will be discussed with the Practice.
They cover such diverse topics as having more specialist nursing, auto reminders for
follow-up for diabetes and other illnesses, how to handle results from tests, access and
parking, and the handling of prescriptions.
The second Pie chart shows the major categories within the appointments process that
were raised in the comments:
 More flexible hours
 How to book for the current day
 Seeing ‘my Doctor’, especially for home visits
 Booking ahead for regular periodic appointments
Additionally
 Speaking to a Doctor
 A Triage style system where a nurse may make an initial assessment
 How to progress the Hampshire Health record service.
The PPG will be talking with the Practice about the above points.
Is it a known fact that the Locks road patients are on the whole older than those in
Whiteley? Certainly the analysis seems to indicate that those who opted for contact by
post said they preferred to make appointments or find out information by phone, notice
board or newsletter. Those who chose to be contacted by email were keen to use
electronic methods and telephone for appointments and information about the surgery.
However the common denominator appears to be that the telephone is the preferred
method for making appointments and contacting the surgery.
The Practice with consultation from the PPG have decided on the following priority areas
and recommendations following the survey for 2011-12

Access to the services provided
Telephony: To investigate the costs involved with the following changes
Dedicated lines for Appointments / house calls / test results
ACTION: Costing have been sought and whilst the practice is fully aware
this area is a major priority with patients it has to be noted that both the
Whiteley and Locks Rd branch surgery are linked for telephony and whilst
the consolidation process is ongoing it may not be feasible or cost effective
to resolve this issue until this has been completed, other options are still
being discussed with telephony provider

Promotion of the current service provision
Who is the most appropriate person to deal with the medical concern, to design a
leaflet to give to patients on Who What Where and When to seek medical advice
How to request: Telephone consultations / Urgent appointments / Extended
hours appointments
ACTION: Patient leaflet currently being designed

Investigate New Services
Electronic check in / online facilities to make / cancel an appointment
Electronic messaging portals in the waiting areas enabling up to date practice
information to be given to patients
ACTION: Community Network have been contacted to provide information
screen to waiting room
Current clinical software service provider to provide costs

Clinicians
Engage a Nurse Practitioner with triage and minor illness qualifications
ACTION: Advert and subsequent interviews have taken place and the Practice
hopes to engage candidate in early April
Staggered surgeries to enable patients to be seen throughout the day
ACTION: Partners and administration staff currently looking at feasibility of
this over both sites

Patient data
Enable the electronic link to allow summary of patient details to feed into the
Hampshire Health Care Record in the case of an emergency
ACTION: The Practice is looking to implement by the end of 2012
Information leaflet has been uploaded to website and added to registration
pack,leaflets have been freely available in the practice
This report and action plan will be available via our website and on NHS Choices website,
plus copies will be made available in the reception / waiting areas
The practice will continue to seek feedback and a further survey will be carried out in
August 2012 to ascertain if the changes have been favourably received and successful
or further investigation needs to be gained on priority areas
Future Participants
All new patients are able to join the group on registering at the practice and via our
website, any patient who wished to join the face to face PPG are able to give their
details to the practice and this will be passed on the Secretary of the group this
process will be ongoing and indefinite
Practice Opening hours for 2012
The Whiteley Surgery
Mon & Friday 8am-6:30pm
Extended hrs
Tues / Weds / Thurs 8am-7:45 & Alternate Sat mornings 8:30-11:30
Locks Road ( Branch)
Mon-Friday 8am-6:30pm