Debenham Group Practice
PATIENT NEWSLETTER - February 2013
Dear Patient
There are significant changes occurring in the NHS this year which you may have read
about in the media. Primary Care Trusts and the Strategic Health Authorities will no
longer exist from April 2013 and new organisations called Clinical Commissioning
Groups will take over and “go live” from April 2013. They have been running in
“shadow form” for over a year now.
The Clinical Commissioning groups are predominantly comprised of GP’s who will have
control over the NHS budget for their area and make important decisions about which
services they wish to commission from providers and monitor existing contracts with the
local hospitals and health care providers. The government’s idea behind this major
reorganisation is that GP’s should have a better idea of what their patients want from
health care and how it can be delivered.
How does this impact on our practice?
At this stage it is difficult to assess but as new organisations the Commissioning Groups
will be feeling their way and seeking opinions from patients and practices about what
services we would like within Suffolk. Inevitably there will be tight budget monitoring
and the expectation from practices is that income will decline over the next 4/5 years so
we will need to ensure we run the practice as efficiently as possible.
Care Quality Commission registration
I am sure you are aware of the publicity surrounding the Care Quality Commission which
was set up by the government to monitor standards across dentists, hospital trusts and
now primary care. All practices have to register their services with the CQC by April of
this year otherwise they can no longer practice. Our practice did this in October of this
year. The “go live” date for registration is April and the CQC will inspect all practices
every 2 years, giving 24 hours notice of the inspection. The areas they will be looking at
are;
1. Involvement and information – respecting and involving people who use services
2. Personalised care, treatment and support – care and welfare of people who use our
services
3. Safeguarding and safety – safeguarding people who use services from abuse,
cleanliness and infection control, and safety and suitability of equipment
4. Suitability of staffing – requirements relating to workers
5. Quality and management – assessing and monitoring the quality of service
provision, complaints and records
An important part of the inspections will include talking to patients about the service they
receive from the practice and how we communicate with our patients.
Patient Participation Group and Patient Survey
There are two ways we use to canvas the opinions of our patients, one is the patient
survey, which we do yearly and is now due to be conducted again, and the other is via the
Patient Participation Group. This group welcomes input from patients from the practice
and is actively recruiting for new members. We need the group to be representative
across all age groups and at the moment we would particularly like younger members to
join. We appreciate this is not easy with busy lives and time constraints. The meetings
are held every two months here at the practice and last approximately 1.5 hours. Your
views are important and suggestions are welcome.
If you are interested in joining, please contact the Chairman, Graham Noble by email on
genoblefamily@btinternet.com or myself on l.hutchings@nhs.net (telephone 01728
862920)
NHS 111 Service
During this month, a new NHS 111 Service will be in operation. This service will be
accessed when you ring our out of hours service after the surgery has closed at 6.30 pm
The 111 service is a free phone number and gives patients advice on which medical
service they should access.
If you have any comments you wish to make on the practice, I am happy to take calls on
the telephone number above or on my email address
Lesley Hutchings
Practice Business Manager