LOUGHTON HEALTH CENTRE
PATIENTS GROUP (PG)
Minutes of Meeting held at Loughton Health Centre on Wednesday 23rd July
2014 at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Dr H.U. Khan, Dr. P. Prashner (Chair), Pat Prichard (Secretary),
Janice Wheatley (Practice Manager), Elizabeth Prashner, Ann Harrison, Carol
Barrell, Elna Green, Helen Leonard, Heather Murray, Sheema Sherman, Ken
Hearn, John Lindsey, Gary Crawford.
ABSENT:
Apologies were received from David Linnell, Angela Clarke and
Helen Reynolds.
1. Dr Khan reported that the new electronic prescribing system was now
working quite well and most Practices were using it. It is run by NHS
Net. Contacting the Practice by e:mail is not an option yet. Skype has
been set up in the Library although not in use as yet. As from October it
will be possible for patients to view their own records electronically.
The Traps Hill Surgery is closing down (the lease has run out). Loughton
Health Centre would like to acquire their 6.000 patients. Pat Prichard
went with the Partners to Chelmsford to be interviewed and make a bid.
Dr Alan Ding gave an excellent informative ten minute presentation and
then the others were interviewed. If the bid was successful the three
Doctors currently working at the Traps Hill Surgery would work at LHC.
This would necessitate changes being made at LHC.
Dr Khan also said that patients could now register with more than one
Practice. This would help people working in town as it was very difficult
these days for patients to get time off work to get home to see their own
GP. Helen Leonard commented that she has registered with a second
Practice near her work, and it was just as difficult to get an appointment
as it was at LHC.
2. Helen Leonard commented that she found a problem with online
booking of appointments. The six Partners appear to have limited
appointment slots although there are always appointments with the
junior Doctors. This is due to the fact that the Partners have had to
reduce their number of surgery appointments in order to mentor their
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junior doctors on a one-to-one basis which is a requirement of the
Deanery. Janice Wheatley said that there are always plenty of
appointments available with the Registrars/Juniors and they would
always consult a Partner for advice if necessary. Ann Harrison asked
about the difference between a Registrar and GP. The minimum
requirement to become a GP required five years training after being
qualified as a Doctor. It was suggested that the Partners should open up
more appointments which were available for booking on line.
3. Carol Barrell asked if LHC didn’t win the bid for the Traps Hill Surgery
whether the Surgery would consider providing appointments later in the
evening or at week-ends. Dr Khan said that this would have to be the
future. However, the knock-on effect of longer opening hours, including
at week-ends would be the cost of extra nurses, admin staff and HCAs.
The present Contract required opening hours between 8.30am and
6.30pm.
4. Helen Leonard asked whether the reception staff go on regular training
courses. Re the ongoing problem of the phones sometimes taking 20
minutes to be answered Pat Prichard suggested that answering the
phones should be a priority. Ken Hearn commented that his daughterin-law who is a Doctor’s Receptionist in ? Roydon are told to answer the
phones straight away “as you can’t know what problem is at the end of
the phone, but you can see the patients queuing at the reception desk
and you can ask them politely if they would mind waiting while they
answer the phone”. LHC have twice the national average of elderly
patients which causes them problems with both booking on line and
difficulty getting to the Surgery to make an appointment when they
can’t get through on the phone.
5. Sheema Sherman asked if the electronic messaging in reception could
be changed and brought up to date. The website has been cleaned out
since the last PG Meeting. Ann Harrison commented that the
Newsletter on display in the waiting room was out of date. She
wondered if the patients actually ever read them.
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Ken Hearn said re item 7 of the last Minutes suggesting flyers would be
helpful explaining what happens at the PG meetings and inviting new
patients along - the flyers are to be put on hold for the time being.
6. Sheema Sherman reiterated that she didn’t think there were enough
senior Doctors/Partners offering appointments and they seem to be
stressed and overstretched. She said that she had an appointment
which lasted 27 minutes and there were two Trainees in the room. She
thought there were too many interruptions during her consultation and
her GP had too many things on his mind.
7. Janice Wheatley said that no one was interested in applying to work
with the CCG with the new NHS Patient Group.
8. It was unanimously decided that our own PG Group survey would not be
completed this year as it was now optional and there had been a poor
response to it last year.
Date of next meeting:
Wednesday 22nd October at 7.30pm