1 Madinah Road
Sandringham Practice 9 th May 2015
Present: Lynn Talbot, Oliver Nwachukwu, Teresa Mayer,
Tinatin Westwood, Maggie Cooke, Carmen Telemacque, Marcia Graver, Gloria
Graver, Rebecca Whitelaw
1. The meeting began with introductions. The patients felt that they had been happy with the care they had received from the partners, but felt that reception/general organisation was problematic at times. Marcia was disappointed that Dr. Mdingi had left and felt that it would have been nice if he had carried on at least part time, but it was explained that it was his decision to leave. They did not like having locums.
2. Lynn Talbot, Director of McLaren Perry thanked the patients for their attendance, and explained the background to the practice being looked after by McLaren Perry on a temporary basis on behalf of NHS England. McLaren Perry had the contract until the end of November 2015, but it would very likely roll over until March 2016, and possibly even longer.
3. Teresa explained the changes in opening hours, which now include offering a GP surgery session on Thursday afternoons, in addition to a full reception service. This was already happening. We would also be offering a Saturday morning surgery starting, hopefully, from 16 th May 2015.
4. There was now a Salaried GP in post, Dr. Ted Waller, and he started on 20 th April
2015. There are two female GPs who are keen to do some regular sessions for us as well, which would remove the need to use so many locum doctors.
5. Dr. Waller can fit and remove contraceptive implants, and this service has already started. Dr. Waller can also give steroid injections (for joint problems). One of the female GPs can fit coils so we are hoping to be able to offer this service once she starts.
Tinatin asked if on-line booking would be available
– Oliver explained this is imminent. Lynn explained that the McLaren Perry website was not working at the moment but it is being worked on.
6. We are planning to have two sessions per week for Minor Ailments, provided by a local pharmacist, who is also able to prescribe. Patients would have the choice to book, and we would put up a list in the waiting room of the conditions he could see/treat. There was a concern that this would take work away from the practice nurse, but reassurance was given that it would, in fact, free up her time for the other work she does.
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7. There was a discussion about how we could take the PPG forward. A notice advertising patient forums for Hackney was passed around as an example of how patients could be involved. We discussed having a section on the noticeboard, with minutes of meetings, so that other patients could see what was happening. All those present consented to their names being displayed.
There was a discussion about communication, and it was decided that group e-mails would be a good idea amongst the PPG. Text messages advertising meetings could be sent to patients. There was some dissatisfaction that text reminders of appointments did not give the accurate appointment time
– Oliver would get this changed.
Carmen volunteered to be the Chair person for the PPG and Tinatin would be the notetaker for the next meeting. There is a meeting room upstairs which could be used. It was decided to hold meetings every two months, evenings would probably be better for most people.
8. Any other business – Lynn was hoping to buy the practice a blood pressure machine to be placed in the waiting room. The patients felt this was a good idea.
There was some concern expressed about the future of the practice, especially if it is taken over by a private concern. Teresa explained about the different contracts that
NHS England awarded to GPs and private companies, and that a private company should not be worse at providing the NHS services that traditional GP services provide and in fact, they are usually more closely scrutinised.
It was felt that the receptionists needed some customer care training
– the practice would investigate providing some training for them.
Maggie wanted to ask for some statistics in future meetings to show how the practice is achieving extra appointments etc.
9. Date of next meeting. Tuesday 7 th July 2015. 6.30pm – 8pm
Company Registration No. 4103810 McLaren Perry Limited VAT Registration No. 798 4218 75