GOSFORTH VALLEY MEDICAL PRACTICE
Gorsey Brigg, Dronfield Woodhouse, Dronfield, S18 8UE
Tel: 01246 419040; Fax: 01246 581888; Email: admin.gosforthvalley@nhs.net
Dr Richard Bull; Dr Rebecca Belfitt; Dr Vikas Gupta
Meeting Notes
Meeting Name: Patient Participation Group
Date:
16/06/2015
Start time: 19:30
Finish time: 20:50
Chaired by: Stuart Tilley
Staff Attendees: Dr Richard Bull
Item
1
Non-attendees: Dr Rebecca Belfitt
Dr Vikas Gupta
Notes
Action
by
Friends & Family Test – results so far
Q1. How likely are you to recommend Gosforth Valley Medical Practice to friends and family if they needed
similar treatment?
Very Likely
Likely
Neither / Nor
Unlikely
Very Unlikely
Don’t Know
Jan 15
38
2
0
1
5
0
Feb 15
59
5
1
1
1
0
Mar 15
27
4
0
1
2
0
Apr 15
31
6
0
0
2
0
May 15
24
3
1
3
2
0
Total
179
20
2
6
12
0
%
82
9
1
3
5
0
Q2. Thank you for answering our survey question. Finally, if you could choose one thing for us to improve, what
would it be?
The only subject area to receive multiple responses was poor appointment availability. We had a short
discussion about the reasons for the recent deterioration in appointment availability and identified a number
of causes:
 Decrease in the number of GP trainees at the practice. This is reflected nationally but is particularly
bad in the Chesterfield area due to our location at the extreme northern end of the East Midland s
region for GP training. The Chesterfield training scheme is expecting to receive only 14 new trainnes
this year out of a possible 30 places. There are no signs that this will improve at present as doctors are
choosing to specialise in hospitals rather than as GPs.
 Additional time invested in patient safety issues. GPs have become more cautious in relation to
patient safety issues over recent years and this has added a significant amount of extra work with no
additional funding.
 Increase in the number of patients living with chronic & multiple conditions. This requires a significant
amount of additional work and often results in patients requiring appointments of increased length
and with increased frequency.
 Additional initiatives within general practice to reduce unplanned hospital admissions. Whilst this has
been funded in part, the removal of funding in other areas has meant that practices have been unable
to resource this additional proactive work load without having a detrimental effect on routine
appointment availability.
 Initiatives to transfer work from secondary care (hospitals) to primary care (GPs).
Whilst routine appointment availability has been significantly affected by these changes, the practice always
prioritises urgent demand. Where a clinician establishes a clinical need to provide urgent care to one of our
patients, this will be actioned in the most appropriate timescales, including the same day if necessary.
We agreed to change the wording of the 2nd to question to “Thank you for answering our survey question.
Finally, can you provide a reason for your response?”
[Type text]
2
Complaints Analysis 2014-15
The following information is taken from the annual practice review of complaints. The period reviewed is 1st
April 2014 to 31st March 2015.
Complaint
ref
1
2
3
4
Formal?
Method
Category
Acknowledged
Replied
Ombudsman
Upheld
Notes
No
Yes
Yes
No
phone
Letter
Letter
phone
Clinical admin
Clinical
Administration
Clinical
n/a
3 days
0 days
n/a
2 days
16 days
5 days
-
n/a
no
no
-
partial
no
no
-
Still in progress
5
Yes
email
0 days
25 days
no
no
6
Yes
Letter
Clinical &
Reception
Clinical
4 days
19 days
no
partial
During the year 2014-15, 6 complaints were received, 4 of which were formal (written).
All 4 formal complaints were sent an acknowledgement within 4 days. This is an improvement on last year
when only 2 out of 7 received an acknowledgement. The time taken to conclude the complaint fully varied
between 2 days & 25 days. This was appropriate, taking into account the work required to resolve each of the
complaints. One complaint remains outstanding. This is currently an informal complaint, but due to the nature
of the complaint, the practice is dealing with it as if it were formal.
Complaints against clinicians relating to administration
Complaint #1: The GP Registrar misunderstood the patient’s request, thinking they required a signed letter,
when in actual fact they only required a print out of their last consultation. This misunderstanding was
corrected by the practice manager to the patient’s satisfaction. Also, that the Registrar recommended a
referral, that was subsequently found to be inappropriate. This was picked up as part of the normal daily
process to review potential referrals and is part of the training process for GP registrars. We are happy that this
process is robust.
Complaints against clinicians relating to care given.
Complaint #2: The complainant alleged the GP had not taken into account the mental health needs of the
patient when deciding whether a return to work was appropriate and that the doctor had not fully consulted
the previous consultation notes before making the phone call. The investigation found no evidence to suggest
that the mental health needs of the patient had been ignored. The case was highlighted and discussed in the
clinical team meeting on 4/11/15.
Complaint #4: The patient has made verbal comments that she is not happy with the time it has taken for her
diagnosis. Whilst this has never been received as a formal complaint, the practice is treating it as such. The
incident has been discussed as part of a significant event and doctors have completed an e-learning module
(Early Diagnosis of Cancer) as a learning point from this. This complaint is still in progress.
Complaint #5: The patient’s mother was concerned about the attitude of the receptionist, the advice given by
the nurse & the refusal to prescribe antibiotics by the doctor. The investigation found that the nurse had given
appropriate advice and there was no evidence to suggest that the prescribing of antibiotics was appropriate.
Further information was sought from the parent regarding the attitude of the reception team & although there
was no specific evidence of inappropriate or unprofessional behaviour, the subject was discussed with the
team during a training session on 21/01/15 (handling of urgent requests for GP appointments).
Complaint #6: It is claimed by the patient that she arrived late for an appointment due to poor weather
conditions & the GP refused to see her. Following an investigation, we were unable to establish the true facts
and an apology was issued to the patient. As a learning point, all staff need to ensure clear concise
communication so misunderstandings are less likely to occur.
Complaints against the practice relating to management or administration.
Complaint #3: This complaint is regarding the treatment of cosmetic procedures (removal of wart) not being
available on the NHS. The investigation found that the practice had applied the guidelines correctly and that
such a procedure could not be provided on the NHS.
[Type text]
3
Gosforth Valley Medical Practice – Post August 2015
 Dr Richard Bull – retiring Tuesday 4th August 2015
The group thanked Dr Bull for his contribution at the practice and wished him all the best for his
retirement. Dr Bull confirmed that he was not planning to maintain any employment within the NHS
as he would like to commit all of his time to his retirement plans. Following a question about his
involvement in the business, Dr Bull confirmed that he would no longer have any involvement in the
business of running the practice, but that he does remain a business partner in the ownership of the
building. This is completely separate and will have no impact on the practice.
 GP recruitment
The practice has been trying to recruit a replacement GP for some time. Unfortunately, there are
currently more vacancies than there are GPs and the process is taking a little longer than we would
have liked. We are interviewing this week (w/c 15th June) and hope to have filled the vacancy very
soon. We plan to recruit a salaried GP. This will mean the new GP will be employed by the remaining
partners (Dr Belfitt & Dr Gupta). This is quite normal as it would be unusual for a new GP to enter
directly as a business partner.
 Geographical Communities
Some members of the group had attended a recent public event regarding integrated working with
other health & social care organisations. It is envisaged that this will be coordinated within defined
geographical communities. For us, this will be Dronfield, Eckington & Killamarsh. This is still at an early
stage. The current plans are that we will be presenting a number of options based on the feedback
received from the public & employees at a number of public consultation meetings due to be held
during the autumn of this year. It may be possible to debate this in more detail at our next meeting.
 Closer working relationships
In an unrelated matter, the partners have been considering the longer term plans for the practice,
given the pressures currently being experienced by general practice as a whole and in particular by
smaller practices such as us. Practices have an increasing amount of administrative workload that is
unrelated to individual direct patient care such as attending meetings, writing & reviewing policies,
non-patient record keeping & general administration. We feel that by sharing this workload with
another practice, this will help to free up valuable time to invest in direct patient care. It will also
provide an opportunity to “test the water” in terms of working more closely with another practice.
After careful consideration, the partners have agreed to have this closer working relationship with the
partners at Moss Valley Medical Practice in Eckington. Moss Valley was chosen as the partners feel
that in many ways it has a similar ethos to our own. This is largely an administrative change and there
is no change to any aspect of direct patient care as a result of these closer working relationships.
4
Any other business
a)
Are there any plans to audit the number of frequent attenders amongst the practice population (unknown
source quoted from elsewhere in the UK)?
No, we are not aware of any such plans at the moment.
b) Can the new GP attend the next PPG meeting?
We will try to arrange this.
Next meeting:
Date: Tues 20/10/2015
Agenda items:
Time: 19:30
Venue: Gosforth Valley Medical Practice