The Castle Medical Centre
PATIENT REFERENCE GROUP
Minutes of the Full PRG Meeting on 19 March 2013
Chair – Andy Matthews
1.
Apologies were received from Thuy Gibb, Jean Yea, Val Milburn and Jane Cunningham
Present were Val Mobberley, Carol Baker, Maggie MacParland, Judith Nichols, Rosemary Shiel, John
Shiel, Ian Smith, Nathan Gould, Barbara Sheppard, Gabby Harris, Lesley Aldridge, Andy Matthews,
Jim Price, Pat Slessenger, Keith Rockett, Paddie Cessford, Peter Jones, Tim Holt, Chris Elgar, and
David Rapley.
2. Andy briefly reminded members of the terms of reference and ground rules for the PRG.
3. There were no matters arising from the minutes of the last full meeting of the PRG on 23 January.
4. Discussion on whether or not the notes of the interim meeting of the PRG on 25 February should be
published and the matters arising was postponed in the Secretary’s absence.
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The outcomes of the Action Plan for 2011-2012 (circulated 24 February) were approved after some
further discussion of the availability of doctors and the distribution of appointments through the
week and the hospital discharge process. Gabby advised that doctors rotas were constantly under
review; Andy commented that this was an open issue for the 2012/13 Action Plan. Tim Holt
commented that the hospital discharge process was not a practice issue and that any improvement
would be driven at the CCG level.
The 2012-2013 Action Plan (circulated with the agenda for this meeting) was approved after some
further discussion on a number of issues. The PRG consensus on the waiting room music/radio
issue, partly driven by members with hearing impairments, seems to be that neither should be
provided but Gabby and David Rapley said that this was not an option due to overhearing issues,
though several PRG members suggested that there might be other solutions. The PRG continued
to express reservations about Friday afternoon cover and that a better understanding of the
underlying issues might help. In response to a question from Judith about the number of patient
contact hours, David Rapley briefly explained the improvement in the doctor/patient ratio which
had taken place over recent years. Lesley said there were about 900 patient appointments per
week and that at any time those visible for on-line booking were the same as those available for
telephone booking but that emergencies could be accommodated, usually after a telephone
consultation with a doctor. Judith suggested that the whole subject of appointments should be
thoroughly examined at a future meeting.
There was a brief discussion on the inclusion of profiles of patient group members in the Action
Plan, it being a requirement to include some. It was resolved to include those of the Chairman, the
Vice-Chairman and the Secretary, together with a list of the other members of the PRG.
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6.
The matter of waiting room music preferences was discussed under item 5.
7.
David Rapley invited PRG attendance at the Compassion in Healthcare conference to be held at
Scarman House, Warwick University on 25 April 2013 and agreed to fund one member’s attendance.
8.
The question of telephone system management reports was discussed briefly and the PRG agreed
to ask only for reports that seemed to have an obvious value. The initial feeling was that Time to
Answer, the Number of Dropped Calls and the hourly/daily/weekly Call Numbers profiles might
prove useful. Jim also mentioned calls which were forwarded to an extension but not subsequently
answered; this is can often be a specific cause of caller annoyance (there is no evidence of this at
CMC at present!).
9.
Andy distributed copies of the CCG Integrated Plan and asked members to take it away and study it as it
would inform many of our future debates
10. Due to time constraints, discussion on the following items brought forward from 23 January, were
again deferred: Andy’s report on SW Patient Group and CCG, Surgery Redesign Plans, Patient
Transport Options and Expanding the Patient Groups.
Andy made brief comments regarding Healthwatch and what the new local organisation will cover.
The PRG had not made a contribution to the practice Newsletter; Gabby mentioned that details of
the new telephone manning times would be included and that the ‘soft-launch of the ‘111’ nonemergency number for medical problems had happened that day. Patients phoning the surgery
outside 8:00 am to 6:30 pm were transferred to the 111 service. Gabby also advised that the
practice computer system was to be updated on April 18 th.
11.
Chris offered the facilities of Kenilworth Rugby Club for future interim meetings of the PRG which
might enable them to be planned further in advance. Andy will look at this possibility and also of
alternating meetings between Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The practice expressed a preference
for main meetings to be held at the surgery.
12. Other matters relevant to the meeting together with a number of attachments, can also be found
in Andy’s email “Patient Reference Group” sent on Wed 20/03/2013 at 15:37
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