Courtside Patient Participation Group
PPG Committee Minutes of meeting August 17th 2015
Present : Mr M Garett [Chair & Acting Secretary], Mrs C Garett, Mrs G Willis, Mr D Powell,
Mrs M Westmacott, Mr & Mrs Munden, Mr R Garner, Mr L Atkins, Ms A Lewis.
Apologies: Mr M Woodward, Mrs B Bird, Mrs J Biard, Dr V Smith, Dr C Paxton.
Approval of Minutes of last meeting : Approved by David Powell, seconded by Margot
Westmacott.
Matters arising from last minutes : Gerry Willis pointed out that she was at the last
meeting but left off of the attendance list.
Matters relating to PPG Issues : MG reported that he was negotiating with South Glos
Council and South Glos CCG representatives regarding a Dementia presentation sometime
in October and with a follow up presentation a couple of months later.
MG raised the issue of a consultation which South Glos CCG is currently circulating
regarding Urgent Care Services in South Gloucestershire. The consultation is asking for
views on providing more urgent care closer to home. The Proposal involves GP practices in
South Gloucestershire to provide assessment and treatment of minor injuries. Minor Injuries
services in GP practices is expected to be more convenient for local people and cost
effective for the NHS rather than the traditional MIU. At present this has not been fully
discussed among GP's at Courtside Surgery.
MG reported that he had been involved in a Repeat Prescription module at Courtside
Surgery. It was an exercise to see if there are better ways in which the surgery could
improve the way in which repeat prescriptions are currently being dealt with. There are at
least 1500 repeat prescriptions being dealt with in a week at the surgery..
One Care Consortium has presented an invitation to Courtside Surgery PPG for a
representative to join their Patient Reference Group. The Surgery is a member of the One
Care Consortium which is a collaboration between members of GP practices across Bristol,
North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. The Consortium is funded by the Prime
Minister's Challenge Fund.
MG raised the subject of a pilot project [Improving Access to Psychological Therapies] which
is to be trialled in one part of South Gloucestershire. South Glos CCG wishes to address
some issues with the current IAPT service, particularly the Client Experience and Recovery
Rates. There are gaps in NHS provision and it can be very difficult to access the voice of the
patient who has experienced mental health services.
Courtside issues : There were none to report at this meeting
A.O.B : Margot W raised the issue of available car parking at Courtside Surgery during peak
times in the surgery. It was recognized that little could be done to reduce the problem.
Demand for appointments was rising which meant more and more patients would be using
the car park in the future. It was pointed out that other surgeries in the area had less patient
car parking facilities.
MG had attended a PPG Forum where a discussion about how best the PPG could
communicate with their members and patients. There were various options which included
face to face interactions such as at flu clinics, newsletters and asking GP's to hand
information where possible and appropriate. Facebook was one possible way of reaching
patients, we do have a Facebook page [Courtside Surgery PPG] which has just 4 "likes" !
AL is to include a small article regarding the Facebook page in the next Surgery newsletter
along with a mention of the next presentation which is hopefully to be on Dementia.
It may be worth mentioning here that a surgery in Cambridge has "feedback from patients is
outstanding evidenced by their 800 strong PPG" !
The meeting came to a close at 7.45pm
The date of the next meeting is Monday 19th October 2015