Notes of The Smithy Surgery PPG Meeting
28th May 2015 5.30pm @The Smithy Surgery
Attendees: Mai Spencer, Mary Fitton, Pat Castle, Sharon France, Kay Phillips
Apologies: Barrie Adams, Jan Wright, Sharon Battersby, Pat Ralls, Jeff Barlow, Mary Jessop
This was an informal meeting as we had so few attending and a speaker at the beginning of the
meeting. Selected business was dealt with later in the meeting.
Katie Merrick: British Lung Foundation
Katie gave a very informative talk on the work of BLF and left leaflets for a display
Action: Mai to let Mary J have these for a display on the Campaign noticeboard
The BLF was established 30 years ago by Prof. Malcolm Green, a consultant at Brompton Hospital. He is
still involved with the organisation and does research on air pollution.
One in five people in the UK are affected by lung conditions. There are 250 lung conditions.
The UK has the highest mortality rate in the world from mesothelioma. Data shows that lung conditions
are increasing in the NW of the UK.
The BLF offer support to people with lung conditions through:
 A helpline, based in Liverpool. This is staffed by specialist advisors and respiratory nurses.
Advice covers subjects as diverse as benefits, housing, use of oxygen, work related problems,
symptoms of lung disease
 Information booklets and leaflets. These are medically reviewed every two years and conform to
NICE (National Institute for Health & Care Excellence) guidelines.They are free to order on the
BLF website.
 Research. Currently this is focused on 5 priority areas – COPD, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis,
Cancer, Mesothelioma, Respiratory disease in Children and Young People
 Web Community. Currently there are 11,500 people signed up to a web community through
which they can contact others to share experiences and advice. BLF can conduct polls through
this community and also offers a “Pen Pal” scheme, matching people with rarer conditions for
mutual help and communication
 Breathe Easy Group Network. These are local groups set up to help people with lung diseases by,
for example, offering meetings, social activities, exercise classes, singing groups. Many of the
Breathe Easy Groups have health care professionals supporting the group or visiting to give
talks. June 15th 2015 is Breathe Easy Week. Many Breathe Easy Groups are involved with local
Clinical Commissioning Groups.
 Splinter Group Support. 65% of Breathe Easy members have COPD. Splinter groups have evolved
for other diseases e.g. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis groups.
 Awareness campaigns. BLF has promoted campaigns against smoking in cars with children
present, debranding cigarette packets, putting pictures of lung disease on cigarette packets and
air pollution
 Supporting Self Awareness Courses such as CCG self management courses and pulmonary
rehabilitation courses.
The BLF is planning a new Breathe Easy Group in Glossop and there is a planning meeting on 1 st July.
The CCG has identified 10-15 patients to go along to this.
Katie will contact David Collins about this event.
There is an event at St. George’s Hospital London in June “The Respiratory Health of the Nation”.
Scientists have captured data on the “respiratory landscape” of the UK over the last 3 years. This
data will be used to prioritise respiratory problems and lobby gopvernment
Promotion of Self Awareness and Self Help Group in Health
Arising from Katie’s talk, there was discussion about whether it would be useful for the PPG to construct
a list of self help groups in Tameside. It might also be useful for the PPG to be aware of national “health
weeks/days” and use the the PPG noticeboards for displays around these topics.
Action: Mai to contact Healthwatch about a list of Tameside self help group
Mai to contact Public Health about promotional literature for national campaigns
Newsletter
Barrie and Mary F meeting next week.
Action: Sharon will persuade a receptionist to be interviewed
Coffee and Cake Morning
Mai, Simon, Marys J&F, Sharon and Pat are providing cakes
Mary & Mary 9.30 – 10.30
Pat & Mai
10.30 – 11.30
Mary has made a poster. Mary F will make a leaflet about the work of the PPG etc.
Charity box for Glossop Volunteers
Action: Sharon to provide a table
Mary F to buy cups and cold tea etc.
Speakers
June - Healthy Living Project
Action: Sharon to confirm
September – Age UK
November – British Heart Foundation
Glossop Volunteers is Derbyshire based and funded and so cannot offer all its services to Tameside
residents, although Tameside residents can become volunteers.
Action: Mary F to bring leaflets and information for display
Medical Records
Kay has talked to Dr. Hannan about how he has now got 26% of his patients accessing their own records
online. One of the ways he has done this is through having an interactive website. He also encourages
people in consultations to take up online access to their records.
Action: Kay will ask Simon and Heather whether they would like him to talk to them and to the staff.
As agreed last meeting, Mary F has asked Ingrid Brindle from Dr. Hannan’s practice to attend a PPG
meeting in June or July to talk about access to the patient record from a patient perspective.
Action: Mary F to chase date with Ingrid
NAPP Log in
Mary F has tried the username and log in provided by the surgery and it does work. Mai will also try.
New Patient Information
Jan suggested reviewing new patient information. He and Maryx2 are meeting next week. The surgery is
happy with the Practice Information leaflet as it stands and are not keen for any alteration. They are,
however, open to suggestion and happy for the PPG to include a PPG leaflet in the New Patient pack
Feedback from The Smithy
Intercare: A large bag of items has been collected for Intercare and will be sent off next week.
This represented about 1/3 of what had been handed in by patients as quite a large proportion of items
were not suitable and had had to be taken to the chemist
It had taken a while to sort through and to take the name labels off packages going to Intercare.
Sharon noted that it might be better if the surgery sorted the items on a regular weekly basis
Action: The surgery will continue with the project over the next few months
Staffing: Gemma is now on 9 months maternity leave. Margaret has been trained up to take over most
of Gemma’s jobs, especially coding.
Server Down: This week has been very stressful as the server holding all administrative files and patient
letters and electronic dictation had crashed over the weekend during its back up phase. The back up
had been corrupted so data had been very difficult to retrieve. Administratively, staff have had to use
paper systems. The server was repaired this morning and the data successfully retrieved. Staff will have
a backlog of data to enter onto the system from the paper system they have been using during the
week.
CCG Funding for GP Practices
From savings made last year the CCG is providing non recurrent funding for practice improvements at
an amount per patient for each practice. The practice needs to tell the CCG their plans for this money
by 5th June and await approval.
Sharon is in the process of costing a list of equipment: RAT machine for anticoagulation testing; 24hr BP
machine; new pharmacy fridge; adult and baby oximeters. The funding may pay in part for the
refurbishment of the back reception office. The surgery is also hoping to use the money to fund
additional Nurse Practitioner or GP time to improve patient access to appointments and clinical advice.
This will be in conjunction with Kay dropping some of her sessions at the surgery. Diane’s nursing hours
will also be increased.
Next Meeting
Mai is away.
Action: Mary to ask Karen, as vice chair, if she will chair the meeting
Next Meeting Thursday June 25th 5.30pm@Smithy Surgery