Victoria Mill Medical Practice
Patient Participation Group Report February 2014
Practice and Patient Group Profile
Victoria Mill Medical Practice serves a patient population of almost 2,500 patients and collectively, our
clinicians offer over 1100 appointments per month. The Practice has a new Patient Group which has got
off to a slow start. However we are attempting to “re energise” the group and are actively recruiting new
members to contribute regularly.
The aims of the Practice are to provide the highest possible health care to our patients in a Primary Care
GP led setting which is appropriate to the needs of the practice population.
As a Practice we have a commitment to provide our patients with effective and efficient health care
services in a senstive, caring and confidential manner. Our care delivery systems make the best use of
available financial and human resources.
We are located in a deprived area of North Manchester which is currently being demolished to make way
for future redevelopment as part of the Manchester wide Regeneration Project.
Our practice is located within the Health Centre at Victoria Mill. All clinical services are located on the
ground floor. It is fully accessible to patients with mobility problems and disabilities. We have toilet and
baby changing facilities for patients use within the health centre.
Our clinical rooms consist of two consulting rooms and one treatment room. We have a shared waiting
area for patients within the community health centre.
Victoria Mill Medical Practice is currently managed by the Practice Manager and the GP Partners from
Whitley Road Medical Centre:
Dr Kenneth Vickers - MBChB DRCOG JCPTGP DipCH
Dr Denis Colligan - MBChB
Dr Rachel Gordon - MBChB
Dr Arun Mohindra - MBChB DRCOG DGM MRCGP
Sue Smithson – Practice Manager
The clinical team who are currently providing healthcare at Victoria Mill Medical Practice consist of
salaried GPs and a Practice Nurse. We have an Office Manager who manages the day to day running of
the practice. We have three members of the Reception/Administration team.
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Our staff are:
Dr Amanda Myerscough
Dr Chris Ferguson
Dr Rebecca Hollingworth
Practice Nurse Elaine McGee
Office Manager: Julie Savage
Reception team:
Deborah Aldred
Annette Grainger
Heather Khatib-Shahidi
We utilise our space within the Centre well and offer a range of services to patients. As well as the GMS
contracted services, we provide a range of other services including: ECG's which are reported on
immediately for diagnosis via our remote service, free health checks for those aged between 48 - 74
years, baby clinics, and travel immunisations clinics. As a shared building the health centre also provides
services to the community including: diagnostic scans, counselling, child health clinics.
We are currently looking to restructure our Patient Group and are looking for a Chair, regular structured
meetings and agenda setting and terms of reference every quarter. We hope to have a cohort of patients
who will attend our meeting regularly. The meetings will include a presentation from either Practice
clinicians or experts from other organisations and we will look to include such subjects as alcohol and
drug misuse, support for carers, summary care record, public health issues such as smoking cessation,
weight management and obesity, and support back into work for our patients.
The following information illustrates our patient population’s age / ethnicity / gender profile and offers a
comparison against which our Patient Group can be measured.
Practice population profile
Age Profile
16% 0 - 9
11% 10 – 19
17% 20 – 29
18% 30 – 39
15% 40 – 49
12% 50 – 59
7%
60 – 69
3%
70 – 79
1%
80 +
Ethnicity Profile
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White British Group
66%
White Irish Group
1%
Asian or Asian British
3%
Black or Black British
16%
Chinese or other ethnic group 14%
Gender Profile
55% Male
45% Female
It is difficult to make an accurate assessment of the age, ethnicity and gender of our Patient Group profile
in comparison with our overall patient population at the moment. There are a number of reasons for this.
Most patients who are currently signed up offer their views via email, letter or the telephone. The group
is also open to any and all of our patients which means that membership fluctuates. Therefore, a group
profile taken at a particular point in time is likely to be very different from a profile taken at another time.
With regard to ethnicity, the Practice has only been collecting this data from new patients for the past
few years. Patients, who have been with us prior to this, very often have no ethnicity data recorded.
Patients may also decline to submit the information. Again, this makes any statistical comparison
unreliable at best.
It’s also very clear that our Patient Group is under represented in some areas, particularly with regard to
our younger patients. In an effort to improve this, the Practice intends to take action.
Local Practice Survey
We have published our local surveys as well as the National GP MORI Surveys on our website over recent
years. In 2013 and 2014 we published a local survey targeting our appointment system and access as this
had been highlighted by our patients as the greatest area of concern. Initially we undertook an internal
survey which highlighted that patients were interested in being able to more easily book appointments
and as a result of this information, and an audit undertaken by The Primary Care Foundation, we
reviewed our appointment system. Subsequently we have re audited patient views on the new system
and intend to share this with the Patient Participation Group.
The results have been discussed with the GP partners and staff. As well as the appointment system we
have implemented a number of other areas which patients have highlighted to us:
You said…
There are sometimes problems with telephone access
We did…
Improved access to booking via our website
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Progress so far…
Publicity campaign for online booking and prescription requesting
You said…
We sometimes have to wait too long for a routine appointment
We did…
Reviewed our demand, capacity and appointments system.
Staggered release of some routine appointments.
Increased provision of routine telephone consultations with clinician.
Progress so far…
Review of capacity and demand on-going
In addition to “general” comments and views about the Practice, the surveys also gave patients the
opportunity to comment on the performance of individual GPs and nurses. These comments have
contributed to the clinician’s performance appraisal.
The results of the survey and our action plan are on our website www.victoriamillmedicalpractice.co.uk
Paper copies are also available in each of our sites. Progress against the plan will be discussed at
upcoming Patient Group meetings and in meetings with GP partners and staff.
Access to services
The Practice is open from 8.30am until 6.00pm Monday to Friday every week with the exception of Bank
Holidays. Patients who need an urgent appointment will be seen or spoken to by a clinician on the same
day. Routine appointments can be booked up to 6 weeks in advance. We also carry out telephone advice
calls and home visits.
In view of the need to consistently provide a clinically excellent service, matched against the expectations
of our patients as highlighted in the survey, we continue to review our access arrangements.
In addition, the Practice clinicians run a number of specialist clinics which make access to such services
easier for our patients. These include diabetes and asthma clinics.
Summary
The Practice has recently reviewed its formal patient participation and recognises it’s value. We are
concerned that it needs to be re-evaluated and re-formed which we intend to do during the coming 12
months to reflect the changes to our ability to offer increased internet access to the Practice.
A copy of this report has been sent toAll of our GP partners and staff
All members of the Patient Group
It is also available to the Care Quality Commission should they wish to see it.Sue Smithson, Practice
Business Manager, GP Partners Whitley Road Medical Centre
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