Sherburn & Rillington Practice
Patient Participation Group
Annual Report
March 2014
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Introduction
The Sherburn and Rillington Patient Participation Group (PPG) have been established since
March 2011 and have been working together in making decisions to identify changes that
could be made to improve the range and quality of services provided by the practice. The
outcomes of the meetings of the group, and the survey developed by our PPG, are published
in this report which we will make available on our website and in the practice premises.
Background
Sherburn & Rillington Surgeries offer a range of services to approximately 4970 patients in
Sherburn, Rillington and the surrounding area. Details of our services are available in our
practice leaflet which is available in our practices and on our website – www.srpractice.co.uk.
We have four GP partners, two male and two female (Dr Carrie, Dr Kempston, Dr Thornton &
Dr Caine), and an Associate GP (Dr McKay) together with a team of Practice Nurses, including
a Nurse Practitioner, who work across both Surgeries.
Who are members of the Sherburn & Rillington Patient Participation Group?
Our PPG consists of 10 members recruited from the practice population. We struggled to
recruit certain ages and therefore made the decision to create a “virtual group” to open up
the membership to patients who would struggle to get to our evening meetings. The virtual
group are provided will all agendas and minutes along with any other correspondence relating
to meetings. We had a positive response to this and have been able to recruit additional
members to represent the lower age group. We invited patients to join our group by;
 Posters in hall ways and reception
 We advertised our group in our practice newsletter
 Posters in the local factory
 Posters in the local shop
 Posters in the village noticeboards
 Advertised using our practice website
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As can be seen from the graph above we appreciate that the middle age group of males and
the older female population are under-represented in the PPG, however we will continue
with the detailed means of recruitment, especially using the local factory, to attempt to
engage the middle age group of males (for many of whom this will be their place of work) and
sending the posters out with the delivery of prescriptions to the older female population. We
do have a member who works as a carer for many of our elderly patients in the area allowing
them to inform the patients of any issues that need to be addressed and sharing their
opinions within the group.
A copy of our Terms of Reference is attached at Appendix C.
One of our group members is actively involved in the Scarborough & Ryedale Patient
Participation Group and updates the rest of the group with information regarding the
Scarborough & Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group.
Ethnicity profile: From our records the profile of patients registered with Sherburn &
Rillington Surgeries show that the vast majority of our patients are of White British or mixed
British origin.
White British or mixed British
Other White background
Irish
White Asian and other Asian
White and Black African
Other
Ethnic category not stated
97.5%
1.4%
0.1%
0.2%
0.1%
0.3%
0.4%
Our PPG is 100% White British but as you will see this is representative of our practice
population.
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Current areas of priority for the PPG
The Patient Participation Group, have met on three occasions over the past 12 months where
the following has been discussed;
*
*
*
*
*
*
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Care Quality Commissioning (CQC)
Updates from our representative who attend the local Scarborough and Ryedale
Clinical Commissioning Group PPG meetings
Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and their projects including the Right Care, First
Time proposal
Surgery updates including major staff changes
Building extension works/plans for both sites – including ideas of how we can keep
functioning throughout the stages of building
Collating a Patient Survey for 2013-14 – based on outcomes from previous 2012-13
survey
Review the results of the survey and create an action plan for the year 2014-15
A copy of the survey is attached at Appendix A.
Carrying out the survey
A meeting was held on 12th September 2013 where ideas for the survey were discussed. The
group felt that our next survey should have two parts the first being the Patient Participation
Group to help raise awareness of the group and to gauge patient’s interest in joining the
group. We would also ask the patients’ interest in being kept informed of the outcomes of
the PPG meetings and their ideas for communicating this information. The second part of our
survey would be based on the Nurse Practitioner role following a change in the practices’
appointment system – moving away from Nurse Practitioner triaging to patients booking
directly into the Nurse Practitioner clinics. The Nurse Practitioner was low on appointment
numbers for patients because the patients continued to book in with the GP. After
completing a short audit of the urgent appointments booked on the day the results showed
that the majority of these patients could have seen the Nurse Practitioner. We decided by
adding this topic to the patient survey this would both inform the practice of how many
patients are aware of the Nurse Practitioner role being available, and update patients on the
role of the Nurse Practitioner and what they can do.
The group also agreed that the survey should be kept to a minimum of two sides of A4 making
it quick and easy for patients to complete whilst visiting the surgery.
The survey was carried out over a two week period from 30th September 2013. All patients
who attended the Sherburn and Rillington Surgeries and the village hall flu clinics during this
time were asked to complete the survey.
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The Survey Results Based on 212 replies
Q1 – Which is your main Surgery site?
Q2 – What gender are you?
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Q3 – How old are you?
Q4 – Were you aware of the Practice’s Patient Participation Group?
Q5 – Would being part of our PPG interest you?
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Q6 – As a patient would you want to be informed of the outcomes of the PPG meetings?
Q7 – Other than the newsletter and website do you have any suggestions of communicating
this information?
 Facebook/Twitter
 Emails update
 Email
 Text
 not all of us are on a website
 More info in Warbler, benefice news, village newsletter, More leaflets in community
not just surgery
 email newsletter
 Q&A via email/website?
 Minutes of PPG meetings available in surgery, advanced notice
 I cannot think of anything. I have only received excellent service at this practice, last
minute appointments, friendly and very helpful receptionists and great service from
doctors and nurses. I couldn’t ask for any more, thank you.
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At the end of question 7 there was some space for patients to write down any
issue/suggestion they would like us to discuss at our next PPG meeting, comments left are
below:

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

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
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Toys/books for children in waiting room
Are you increasing surgery hours? Late night clinic would be helpful More same day
apt/ late night for working people
As q5 no meetings in working hours (9-6). Too many instructions signs around (please
open door with care etc). Distracts from the really important ones also does not create
a friendly welcoming atmosphere. Make the reception are MORE private -can hear
telephone conversations
Sometimes it takes too long to see the preferred doctor of your choice
privacy of patients records
text messaging day before apt
Sometimes some people just want to ask a question, why not have a system using
emails for a question and answer system?
All staff throughout surgery are really helpful
Q8 – Are you aware that Anne Patterson is a qualified Nurse Practitioner?
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Q9 – Are you aware that a Nurse Practitioner can: Diagnose and treat a range of conditions,
Prescribe medication, Refer for further investigations?
Q10 – If you have seen the Nurse Practitioner in connection with any of the above were you
satisfied with the outcome?
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Action plan:
The PPG held a meeting with the practice, on 27th February 2014, where the survey results
were discussed and analysed.
Areas were identified for improvement and an action plan was put together for the following
year. Any actions that had not been completed in the previous year have been included.
Action Plan
2014-2015
Patient Participation Group
Action point:
 Advertise both the Virtual and non-virtual Patient Participation Group in the Newsletter and advising
them of where to access the application forms
 Continue to provide applications forms online and in the practice premises
 Continue to provide minutes of PPG meetings for patients in both waiting rooms and website
 Send applications and leaflets of the PPG out to patients in the lower represented group with the
delivery.
Nurse Practitioner – Survey results show that some patients are still unaware of the Nurse
Practitioner role within the Practice.
Action Plan:
 Advertise the role in the newsletter, website and posters within both sites
 Continue with patient education by receptionists at the point of booking appointments.
Building – Plans for the extension at Sherburn are now moving forward and will cause some upheaval and
disrupted access for some time. Alterations are currently undergoing at Rillington to provide a third clinical
room.
Action point:
 Promote telephone consultation availability – especially for when Sherburn will be closed during the
build
 Maintain communications to patients during this time
 Keep PPG members informed of the progress – members volunteered to help out where they can
throughout the time Sherburn will be inaccessible.
 Update the patients of the changes via the newsletter (can’t be done for Sherburn yet until more
details from the builders)
 Paint white strips on the hump at Rillington (from 2013-14 action plan).
SMS Messaging – The practice has started using SMS messaging for ad-hoc individual patient
messages/reminders and to advertise the flu campaign. SMS appointment reminders are currently under
discussion within the practice.
Action point:
 Continue to update patients mobile numbers – notes have been added to recall letters and
newsletter
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Next steps
The report will be available on the website, paper copies will be available from within the
practice and posters will advertise how copies can be obtained. We will make large print
format available on request.
One of our patient group members will continue to represent the practice, and its patients,
on the Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group PPG, to ensure that the views
of our patients are voiced when discussions are held about future provision of local
healthcare services.
We will continue to hold PPG meetings to review and highlight any new and on-going issues
and improvements within the Practice and local healthcare.
The final report was reviewed by all members of our participation group including virtual
members and agreed for publication.
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Appendix A
The Sherburn & Rillington Practice
www.srpractice.co.uk
PATIENT SURVEY 2013/14
Q1. Which is your main Surgery site?
Sherburn
Rillington
Q2. What gender are you?
Male
Female
Q3. How old are you?
Under 25
25-64
65-75
Over 75
Questions 4 - 7 are about our Patient Participation Group.
The Sherburn & Rillington Patient Participation Group (PPG), have been established since
March 2011 and have been working together with the Practice to identify changes and make
decisions that could improve the range and quality of services provided by the Practice. The
PPG consists of a range of patients who represent our Practice Patient Population. We aim to
meet roughly once a quarter but we also have a ‘virtual’ group who we keep in contact with
via email. This is for patients who would like to be involved but cannot commit to attend the
meetings.
Q4. Were you aware of the Practice’s Patient Participation Group?
Yes
No
Q5. The aim of the group is to represent the patients within our practice list and address
any issues they may have. Would being part of our Patient Participation Group interest
you?
Yes
No
If yes, applications are available from reception or from our practice website (address above).
Q6. As a patient would you want to be informed of the outcomes from the PPG meetings?
Yes
No
Q7. If yes, other than the newsletter and website do you have any suggestions of
communicating this information? Please write suggestions below.
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The group suggested the use of SMS messaging to remind patients of appointments, with a
view to reducing wasted appointments due to none attendance. If you would like to
receive these messages please update your mobile contact details at reception now.
Please use this space to write down any issue/suggestion you would like us to discuss at our
next PPG meeting. (Please note that no medical information or questions will be responded
to.)
Questions 8 – 10 are about our Nurse Practitioner
Q8. Are you aware that Anne Patterson is a qualified Nurse Practitioner?
Yes
No
Q9. Are you aware that a Nurse Practitioner can:
Yes
No
Diagnose and treat a range of conditions
Prescribe medication
Refer for further investigations
Q10. If you have seen the Nurse Practitioner in connection with any of the above
were you satisfied with the outcome?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Fairly
Dissatisfied
Thank you for taking time to complete this survey.
A report on this survey and the Patient Participation Group will be available to read by 1st April 2014.
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Appendix B
Sherburn & Rillington Surgery Opening Hours and Access Arrangements
Opening times for Sherburn/Rillington/Staxton plus extended hours
Sherburn
Rillington
Monday
8.00am to 6.00pm
8.00am to 12.00noon
2.00pm to 6.00pm
Tuesday
8.00am to 6.00pm
7.00am to 12.00noon
2.00pm to 6.00pm
Wednesday
8.00am to 6.00pm
8.00am to 12.00noon
2.00pm to 6.00pm
Thursday
8.00am to 6.00pm
7.30am to 12.00noon
2.00pm to 6.00pm
Friday
8.00am to 6.00pm
8.00am to 12.00noon
2.00pm to 6.00pm
Staxton
11.00am to 11.30am
11.00am to 11.30am
Sherburn dispensary is closed between 12.00noon and 12.30pm.
Telephone Access
General switchboard (Sherburn)
General switchboard (Rillington)
01944 710226
01944 758325
Prescription line (Sherburn)
01944 711411
When the practice is closed between 6.00pm to 6.30pm, and you require medical attention
please phone the Sherburn Surgery Switchboard 01944 710226 or Rillington Surgery
Switchboard 01944 758325 and you will be transferred to the Out of Hours Service. If you
require medical attention after 6.30pm and 8.00am you will need to dial 111 for the NHS111
helpline. Please ring 999 for any life threatening emergencies.
Website
The practice has a website www.srpractice.co.uk which contains lots of useful information. You
are able to request your repeat medications and manage appointments using a secure link from
the website, please contact reception to receive your username and password – you may be
asked to provide some form of identification at this time. You will require some signed consent
from the patient if you’re requesting a username and password on behalf of a relative or a
friend – forms are available from reception.
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Dispensary
The practice is able to dispense medication to our patients who live more than 1 mile away
from a chemist. The dispensary staff can also deal with most aspects of repeat prescriptions
and can assist with the majority of queries that you may have about your medication. The
dispensary is open Monday to Friday, from 9.00am to 12.00noon and 12.30pm to 6.00pm at
Sherburn and from 9.00am to 12.00noon and 2.00pm to 6.00pm at Rillington. When the
Surgery is closed for bank holidays there will be a notice available to remind patients of
emergency pharmacies.
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Appendix C
Sherburn & Rillington Surgeries
Patient Participation Group
Terms of Reference
Title of the Group
The group will be called Sherburn and Rillington Patient Participation Group.
Aim of the Group
The aim of the group is to get a cross section of our patients suggestions and thoughts on how
as a practice we can work together to continually improve our services.
Membership of the Group
Membership of the Group is open to any patients registered at our Sherburn/Rillington
Surgeries.

We will as far as possible ensure that the group is made up of a cross section of our
Surgeries population.

Our aim is to have a membership of 8 members at anytime, and if anyone resigns we
shall endeavour to replace with the same criteria.
Activities of the Group

Provide a member to attend the Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning
Group PPG Meetings.

Represent other patients registered with the practice.
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Contribute to the implementation of actions resulting from the patient survey.

Regularly meet to develop and assist with practice issues ongoing improvement to
services.
Meetings
The meetings will be held at the Sherburn Surgery.
There needs to be at least 4 members for a meeting to be valid.
The group will endeavour to meet at least four times a year.
At least two members of practice staff will attend each meeting.
Reporting
Minutes will be circulated after each meeting and be available to anyone who wishes to read
them. We will inform patients via newsletter, website and posts that these are available.
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