The Cottage Surgery
www.thecottagesurgery.co.uk
Patient Reference Group [PRG]
Minutes of the meeting on Tuesday, 2.12 14 at 6.00pm at the surgery
1.
Present: Ann Irving (deputising for the chairman), Rod Hudson (Treasurer), Dr. Steve Clay (GP), Claire Ayres,
Anne Gray, Rochelle Hubbard; also Marsha Blisset and Maria Jansen attending for the first time and
Margaret Taylor (Secretary).
Apologies were received from Les Pole (Chair) and David Harris (Assistant Practice Manager), and from
Gwenfred Shrives (new volunteer).
2.
Minutes of the Meeting on 16.9.14 had been circulated and were approved.
3.
Annual Accounts: Rod Hudson presented the accounts for the year September 2013 to September 2014,
which are attached to the minutes with appropriate bank statements. There has been virtually no financial
activity during that period since the approved expenditure on the software for the spirometer and the information
screen has been delayed. Both payments are now due. The accounts were approved.
Ann offered to ask a local retired accountant inspect the accounts.
4.
[He has since agreed]
Election of officers: The PPG affirmed the following officers; Chairman - Les Pole, Secretary - Margaret
Taylor, Treasurer - Rod Hudson.
5.
Matters arising not otherwise on the agenda:
a) Information screen: The screen has now been purchased and is due to be installed on Friday 5.12.14.
b) Defibrilator for Woodhouse: Ann Irving reported that she had obtained information about the costs of
keeping this in the redundant telephone box and that the Parish Council is exploring how to take this forward.
There remains a possibility that the defibrillator at present in Woodhouse Eaves post office could be placed in
Woodhouse when the post office closes; if not consideration will be given to the purchase of another
defibrillator. The matter is left for the time-being.
c) Chairs for the waiting room: There was some concern that the provision of washable chairs which will be
easy for use by people with limited mobility should be addressed before any visit by the Care Quality
Commission. Maria Jansen offered to try to source suitable chairs, perhaps redundant from a day centre.
d) Visit of local MP: Following letters to the two local MPs advocating the more general use of the ‘Doctor
First’ scheme initiated by Dr. Clay, Stephen Dorrell, MP had agreed to visit. The first date was cancelled by Mr.
Dorrell but a new date has been arranged for January 2015. Dr. Clay informed the Group that about 80
practices around the country have adopted the scheme and there is growing interest. A promising
conversation with a government employee might lead to even greater development. Further information about
the scheme can be found at www.productive.practice.com
5.
Annual report: Margaret Taylor presented a brief report of activity during the year September 2013 to
September 2014. A copy is attached to the minutes.
6.
Meetings attended:
a) PPG Network: Ann Irving gave a brief summary of the network’s purpose and of the subjects covered and
invited other PPG members to attend if they wished along with herself and or Margaret Taylor. Claire Ayes and
Anne Gray indicated their interest. [Dates of the next few meetings are Jan 15 th, Apr 16th, and June 18th]
b) NHS Five Year Plan and WLCCG: Margaret Taylor reported that she had attended a number of
consultations and received many papers about the planning for the future of Primary Care under the Better Care
Together scheme. The group commented on the difficulties caused by the complexity of the system and of the
planning for, and implementation of, the necessary changes. A brief report is attached to the minutes.
c) New Start New You Campaign: Margaret reported on the campaign to be promoted in January by WLCCG
and Healthwatch Leicestershire. The Healthwatch bus will be in a number of venues around the area between
11th and 14th January with qualified people available to do minor health checks such as blood pressure, to talk
with people about matters affecting their health such as smoking, excess weight, alcohol consumption, and to
provide a variety of informative leaflets. They asked for volunteers from PPGs prepared to give some time on
the bus to talk with people who came. Rochelle Hubbard and Claire Ayres indicated their interest. It would be
possible for the publicity for this to include also publicity for our planned event round weight control. Brief
reports on these matters are attached to the minutes. [The two venues and times relevant to us are now
confirmed as Wednesday, Jan 14th at Asda, Thurmaston and Thursday, Jan 15th at Loughborough Market both
10.00am to 4.00pm]
7.
Event for people concerned with weight control: Margaret Taylor reported that this has been postponed
until January after the New Start New You campaign and the publicity associated with this. She and Rochelle
plan to meet in the next few days to plan details. Ann asked that she be informed of the date as soon as
possible in order to be able to book a venue.
8.
News Items: Attention was drawn to the following issues raised in the media:
a) Publication of ratings for surgeries and for surgeons. Dr. Clay explained that rating of surgeries was a
device for enabling the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to decide on the priority given to their inspections;
details of these ratings could be found on the CQC website. The group was of the opinion that ratings for
surgeons based on the number of deaths was grossly misleading as surgeons dealing with the more critical
conditions were likely to have more deaths although they would be the better surgeons.
b) Local Area Co-ordination of Care for vulnerable people: The group considered that this initiative is of
interest to the PPG and could influence our future actions. Maria shared her concern that there was currently
some difficulty in making the appropriate contacts if we were aware of someone needing support. This was
echoed by others. Ann agreed to seek some clarification about the ‘First Contact ‘ scheme from Debbie
Preston at County Hall. [Ann has now made contact and will circulate information. The co-ordinator has
offered to come to our next meeting to inform our discussion.]
9.
Patients’ experiences to note: Three patients’ experiences were reported to the meeting.
a) A 70 year-old suffering from MS had been discharged from Leicester Royal Infirmary after treatment for
sepsis in her leg at 10.00pm and taken to a rehabilitation centre in Hinckley in which there was no medical care
available over the weekend. NHS did arrange for her partner to be taken each day by taxi to visit her. The
PPG was concerned that this was both poor care of the patient and wasteful of NHS resources.
b) Dr. Clay had a patient coughing blood whom he attempted to refer to a consultant for further diagnosis and
treatment on the two week referral system only to be blocked by an unqualified administrator because the
patient had had no recent chest X-ray. The PPG was concerned that the experienced GP’s judgement as to
the urgent need for diagnosis and possible treatment of a patient should be ignored in this way by a clerk
adhering to some insensitive and inflexibly administered rules.
c) A much happier experience was reported of a patient diagnosed with possible rectal cancer who was
referred, seen by the specialist and began treatment with no delays, so finding considerable reassurance.
We were concerned that GPs cannot over-ride the decisions of unqualified administrative assistants in cases
they deem as urgent and that there are unacceptable barriers to necessary communication and action.
The PPG was keen that these experiences should be reported to WLCCG in order that necessary changes and
improvements might be made in the first two cases and that people should be encouraged by the positive
experience. [In later conversation at WLCCG it was confirmed that experiences reflecting general concerns
would be followed up by WLCCG but that individual experiences could only be followed up if the patients
concerned gave their permission for personal details to be divulged.]
10.
Other Business: There was no further business for this meeting.
11.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 3.3.14 at 6.00pm in the surgery.
Margaret Taylor 5.12.14
PPG Meeting 2.12.14 Additional Notes
PPG Network attendance: Claire Ayres (candr.ayres@btinternet.com, Anne Gray (gray_ae@hotmail.com), offered
to accompany Margaret Taylor (PPG Secretary) (m.taylor.33@btinternet.com) and/or
Ann Irving (former PPG Secretary) (annirving@btinternet.com)
New Start New You: Volunteers - for Thurmaston, Jan 14th or Loughborough Jan 15th:
Claire Ayres (candr.ayres@btinternet.com
Rochelle Hubbard (Rochelle@eatsmilelive.com)
Margaret Taylor (m.taylor.33@btinternet.com)
Cottage Surgery, Woodhouse Eaves Patient Participation Group
Members expressed interest in wider participation as follows:
PPG Network attendance: Claire Ayres (candr.ayres@btinternet.com, Anne Gray (gray_ae@hotmail.com), offered
to accompany Margaret Taylor (PPG Secretary) (m.taylor.33@btinternet.com) and/or
Ann Irving (former PPG Secretary) (annirving@btinternet.com)
New Start New You Volunteers - for Thurmaston, Jan 14th or Loughborough Jan 15th:
Claire Ayres (candr.ayres@btinternet.com
Rochelle Hubbard (Rochelle@eatsmilelive.com)
Margaret Taylor (m.taylor.33@btinternet.com)
Times and specific involvement to be confirmed.