Almshouse Surgery & Sandal Castle Medical Centre
PRG Meeting Minutes
Wednesday 16th April 2014
Present: Carol Beedham, Samantha Crone, Dr. Smith, William Reynolds, Deni Matuk, Janis
Crowther, Susan Wood, Kathryn White, George Blower, Graham Beynon-Fisher, Robert Ince.
Apologies: Dr. Power, Henry Crowther, Ruth Gallagher, Angie Whelan, Jodie Nicholson
Welcome
Carol welcomed everyone and read the apologies.
Previous minutes were discussed. All members were happy with them. Following on from
the previous minutes; the dementia training that Ruth offered has been arranged for June.
Carol has also tried contacting the Expert Patient Programme but they have not been back
in touch. Carol will keep trying to get in touch.
*AP* Carol to contact the EPP representative again
The issue of the telephones was raised. A member raised a concern that the message giving
the options to press is too quiet and suggested we re-record or turn up the volume. Carol
explained that the phones are in review regularly at the moment so Sam will look at the
options for volume.
*AP* Sam to check volume on the voice messages
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The CQC have changed the way that they review general practices. They will now have 5 key
questions that they ask. These are;
 Are they safe?
This will include checking whether practices and clinics are clean and safe, including
whether medicines are managed properly. It will also include checking whether people are
supported by practice staff, particularly those who are in need of safeguarding, and whether
practices learn from safety incidents, such as prescribing errors or missed diagnoses
 Are they effective?
This will include checking that:
−Patients are given the right diagnosis and treatment.
−The care of patients with long term conditions is managed well.
−Patients are referred properly to specialist services.
−Patients and those who care for them are involved in decisions about their care.
 Are they caring?
This will include checking that patients are treated with compassion, dignity and respect
 Are they responsive?
This will include checking whether a GP practice assesses and responds to the needs of the
local population, including in relation to access to appointments. It will also include checking
how the practice responds to feedback from people, for example through having an
effective Patient Participation Group. It will also include how medical records are stored and
shared with the patient and other services
 Are they well-led?
This will include checking that a GP practice supports its staff, provides training and
supervision to make sure they are able to do a good job, and has good quality governance. It
also includes looking at how well the practice works with other health and adult social care
services in the area.
They will also check how GP practices work to prevent poor health and to promote healthy
living. They will be using a new panel which will include clinical input and experienced
patients.
The CQC have said they will have seen all practices by 2016 so we will be expecting a visit.
Ruth, Graham and Bob have offered to speak to the CQC if they get in touch. Susan has now
also offered.
Suggestions
There were no suggestions at Sandal.
The suggestions from Almshouse are things that have already been discussed.
- Request for toys/books to keep children entertained
- Thank you for car park attendant
- Quiet room for discussing results and general privacy.
There are signs up offering a private room if patients ask at reception. We could also offer
printing of the results.
*AP* Sam to enquire about printing results and offering this option to patients
- Outstanding suggestions
Seating – Carol has requested a quote for seating at Sandal. It will be a chair with arms to
assist patients getting up. There is a high delivery charge so Carol is looking at increasing the
order to try and negotiate with them. There are already 2 chairs at Almshouse similar but
they need the arms replacing.
*AP* Carol to ask handy man to fix chairs
Light pull – the light pull in the disabled bathroom has been extended
Door Handles – The doors and handles are now in the cleaning schedule.
Patient Survey Action Plan
At the last meeting it was agreed that the group would focus on the comments from the
survey results and not the other results as the figures showed the surgery was doing well
but comments showed the areas for improvement.
Appts – The surgery now offers telephone consultations for patients to have better access
to medical advice.
Opening Times – The surgery is open on Saturday and this has been advertised further on
the website and in surgery.
Automated Phone – The results showed that majority of patients agreed it was easy to
contact the surgery but as agreed earlier the surgery will look at the message volume on the
Sandal phones.
SystmOnline – It was suggested that it should be available to everyone. This service is
available to everyone and you simply need ID and to ask at reception for your details to be
able to login.
Communication – Patients felt that some letters were not necessary. The practice now uses
telephone consultations as well as this; reception staff will be ringing the patients back with
more issues before they send a letter.
Access – The surgery appreciates it is difficult for wheelchair and pram users to get through
the internal doors at both surgeries. Carol explained that if a long term refurbishment plan
comes into place they will look at automatic doors.
Patients with Memory Problems – Ruth is doing some dementia training for the reception
staff in June to help them assist patients with memory problems. We also now offer SMS
after booking and the day before an appointment so that patients have a reminder.
Doctors that have specialist areas – We have a short paragraph from each doctor that is on
the website and in the practice booklet that explains their special interests however we
encourage patients to see every doctor as they are all competent in each field so there are
no specialist doctors. We have clinics to review patients with long term conditions but a GP
can see a patient with any problem and will refer the patient on to a specialist if they feel
necessary.
Surveys are no good – The survey offers a space for writing a short paragraph and also there
is the suggestions box for any feedback from patients.
Music too loud – The staff in reception have been reminded to keep the music low.
Car Park – The surgery appreciates it will always be a problem and they have provided an
attendant to try and assist. Sam will also provide signs letting patients know there are low
cost car parks around. Sandal disabled spaces have been re-marked.
*AP* Sam to display signs about the local car parks.
New Patient Participation Enhanced Service
The funding has significantly reduced this year for practices holding a PPG but the surgery is
continuing to partake.
There is no longer a requirement for a patient survey but the practice still needs to get
feedback and put together an action plan and publicise the results.
The new purpose of the PPG is to shape services and increase patient engagement by;
- Reviewing the GP patient survey
- Reviewing themes of complaints and suggestions
- Looking at Healthwatch groups
- Practice champions and peer support reviews
- CQC report reviews
- Discussing other reports and local survey tests and
- Friends and Family Tests
This means that our group will need to look at the themes that are occurring in complaints
which have not previously been done. The practice will then need to feedback the progress
as we do now for suggestions. The group also needs to look at more recruitment to try and
shape the group to becoming a true representation of the practice population.
*AP* Carol to send out copies of the enhanced service
Grove Meeting attended by Susan
The feedback from Susan was that the meeting was very similar in members and the themes
discussed. Their practice survey was discussed and the car park was a common issue there
as it is at Almshouse. Grove don’t have a suggestion box. They have a visitor from Mid Yorks
who explained the appointments and the recent problems there have been. Susan felt this
would be useful for our PRG group. She also felt it would be useful to attend a different
practice PRG group a bit further afield as they may work differently to ours.
*AP* Carol to arrange for Susan to attend a different meeting.
*AP* Carol to enquire about the lady from Mid Yorks attending our PRG meeting.
Dementia Design Checklist
Sam has worked through the checklist that Ruth provided and we tick most of the relevant
boxes at both surgeries. Areas where we fall down are either things that are not able to be
changed such as natural lighting in certain areas or the layout of areas within the surgery.
The other issues that can be changed can be included in any refurbishment plans such as
ensuring the floors are the same colour and ensuring signs are different colours to the walls
and the location of them.
Practice Update
There is a new FY2 – Dr Schofield. She will be with us for 3 months.
One of our reception staff has retired.
AOB
New Patients – The group agreed that the new members who have expressed interest
should be invited to a meeting.
PPG Week – The 2nd June is PPG awareness week and this year’s theme is quality in general
practice. There are numerous ways of raising awareness and the practice already does most
of these to advertise the PPG but it was decided that both surgeries will hold an open
morning or afternoon. All members would be notified of the best day and as many
volunteers as possible would be required. The surgery will also create leaflets and posters
for PPG awareness.
Taps – The taps in the ladies toilet at Almshouse are spraying out too fast.
DNA’s – A member enquired about the level of DNA’s and Sam explained that they are
staying the same but the surgery is doing as much as possible to make it accessible to both
book and cancel an appointment as well as reminding a patient about an appointment.
*AP* Sam to create leaflets and posters about PPG and also arrange the best days for open
days
*AP* Carol to ask plumber to look at the taps in the ladies toilet.
Next Meeting
The next meetings agreed were;
Wednesday 28th May, 2pm @ Almshouse Surgery
Wednesday 30th July, 2pm @ Almshouse Surgery