Patient Participation Group Meeting
Monday 4 th March at 7pm
Attending: Mr N Navratil, Mr L Dunn, Mrs L Saunders, Mrs S Thompson,
Mr R Zolkiewicz, Anne Jones – Practice Nurse, Dr Evans –
GP/Partner
Apologies: Mr S Driver
Visitor - Tim Cocks from Active Plus
Active Plus is a ground-breaking initiative funded by the Big Lottery Silver Dreams fund, which trains injured veterans to provide safety information, group activities and support to older people that have become socially isolated and lonely.
The Injured veterans are from a variety of backgrounds including military intelligence, Special Forces and regular service roles. All veterans start as unemployed volunteers that suffer with physical injuries or Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder.
Many older people become lonely through unemployment, bereavement, illness, disability, family breakdowns or are carers. The lack of contact with others can lead to depression, anxieties and other medical issues and vulnerabilities.
The project runs one day a week for six weeks and involves sharing some of the veterans’ personal experiences and backgrounds with the group. This helps to break down confidence and motivational barriers people can face when living alone.
The aim is to make older people safer and the veterans provide training and advice in;

First Aid & CPR

Fire Safety

Personal safety

Computer awareness

Electrical safety

Crime prevention

Neuro Linguistic Programming

Alongside this, the project includes group and problem solving activities, promoting communications skills, teamwork and a sense of achievement.
The injured veterans prove to be highly effective trainers with their natural leadership and skills sets. Participants find them easy to relate to as people who have experienced similar life issues after leaving the services.
The empathy and credibility of the veterans in delivering essential personal skills is fundamental to the success of Active Plus. All of our older people that have participated so far have reported improved confidence and motivation and have made more friends.
Active Plus have delivered course in Newlyn and St.Ives and soon to deliver in
Probus, Camborne and Falmouth.
For more details please contact a member of the team on 01326 567174 or email;
Gary@activeplus.org.uk
or sally@activeplus.org.uk
Infection control
We had a meeting with an infection control nurse to help with compliance with CQC
(Care Quality Commission). We discussed what would be expected of us and some changes which we may have make. We can expect a visit from the CQC anytime after
1 st April 2013. We don’t know who they are, but it won’t be the infection control nurses.
We looked at an audit tool which will provide us with an organised way of dealing with infection control issues, the main issue for any clinical environment. This tool will be useful in constructing a 5 year plan of change/improvemtn in our standards.
We took the nurse around the different clinician’s rooms and the waiting area. We discussed the ways in which these rooms are used – i.e. the treatment rooms for minor operations and dressings etc and the GP rooms which are mainly used for diagnosing problems etc.
We understood that to clean rooms it is better to have things in enclosed cupboards or boxes with lids rather than open shelving. We particularly asked about posters and leaflets and were told that as long as they are not gathering dust then all is ok. We need to demonstrate that our use of information i.e. leaflets are regularly reviewed and are safe to use. A rack in the waiting room with a few leaflets is probably less of a
‘dust gatherer’ than a stack of them on our shelves. To this end we are going to have a
‘de-cluttering’ day which will give us all the chance to get rid of old books etc.
We also have to make sure our policies and protocols are up to date and everyone who works at Bodriggy Surgery are aware of where they are kept and that they have, at some point, read them.
(Information provided by Di Phaby, Practice Nurse)

Planning application for independent pharmacy at Bodriggy Surgery
The group were informed and shown the plans to build the new pharmacy (run by
Acorn Pharmacy – completely separate to the Bodriggy Health Centre business).
This will be an independent , 100 hour pharmacy. An extension to the surgery is required and the plan is to use garden space (in front of the waiting room window) and 1 of the disabled parking bays. The parking space used will be replaced. The pharmacy will have its own services, entrance and staff facilities so will be completely separate from the practice.
Having a pharmacy at Bodriggy Health Centre is extremely important to us. We truly believe that such a facility is an essential part of a busy, modern general practice.
Specifically we believe that in prescription terms, a trip to the GP should be a one stop service so patients leave the surgery with what they need to get better. Our aim is to provide a seamless service, where the pharmacy is integrated with the practice.
There are many advantages to patients, which include:

Provision of prescriptions in a way that is convenient and coordinated

A swift, speedy service that is always available

Open 100 hours per week over 7 days to include early mornings and evenings

The facility for home delivery and repeat prescription management service

Better communication between GPs and pharmacists, to swiftly resolve any queries about medication, and increase safety by reducing the risk of prescription error

Provision of pharmacist advice throughout the 100 hours of opening.

Patient choice
The group were concerned about parking bays being blocked otherwise thought it would provide better cover, quick dispensing and better communication. There was discussion about the effect on other chemists in area and the plans were shown and discussed.
NHS 111
The new NHS 111 service will be replacing NHS direct from 18 th
March 2013.
Patients can now dial 111 to access health care information (instead of 0845 46 47).
End of year PPG report
Approved by group.
Ideas from group
How to attract more members to PPG?
Advertise on TV and website for younger people who can join ‘virtual’ group. Add link on website for more information.
For patients who do not have access to the internet, it was suggested more regular newspaper articles about issues arising from the surgery.

Fundraising – should be more a role of ‘friends of Bodriggy’ group rather than a PPG.
They feel the group could be more welcoming – ie someone at the door to welcome as some members may feel it intimidating coming in.
The group wished to know:
Whether they fulfil the role that Bodriggy Surgery expected?
We are very grateful that patients have joined the Patient Participation Group whether they prefer to attend the meetings or not. The suggestions, comments and feedback we receive has been helpful and we would very much like the group to continue.
Now that the group has been established since July 2011, although some members have changed during this time, is now a good time for group members to nominate who they want to represent the group as Chair Person, Secretary etc? Perhaps you could consider holding a meeting for the PPG group members only to discuss this further. This may also enable members to voice their opinion about the surgery and local health services as some members may find it a bit awkward in front of the representatives from the practice. You can still have your meetings at the practice and we will arrange for members of staff to represent the surgery when invited to attend. It is important to have someone to take minutes for circulation, so if you would like a member of our staff to help with this until you appoint a secretary, then we would be happy to arrange this.
Patient participation groups vary across the country and you may find it useful to look at the National Association for Patient Participation website www.napp.org.uk
What numbers of patients turned up at other surgeries?
Praze Surgery – approx 8 members
Stennack Surgery (St Ives) – have 2 groups – a consultation group of about 30 members of which they have a smaller ‘working group’ of about 5 or 6 that meet up between group meetings. They have a virtual group of about 40 members.
Phoenix Surgery (Camborne) – 30 members
Marazion Surgery – 23 members
Mr Dunn queried the best contact email address for correspondence to the surgery.
Anything related to the Patient Participation Group please send to dominique.dell@bodriggy-hayle.cornwall.nhs.uk
. For any other queries or questions please email enquiries.bodriggy@cornwall.nhs.uk
.
Proposed date for next meeting - Wednesday 5 th June 7pm.
If you have any items for the agenda, please inform Dominique Dell, Secretary, on 01736 753136 or email dominique.dell@bodriggy-hayle.cornwall.nhs.uk