Waterside Practice
Patient Participation Group
Report
March 2012
PPG Report March 2012
Page 1 of 9
1
Introduction
As part of a government-led initiative to encourage better dialogue between
GP practices and patients, Waterside Practice formed a Patient Participation
Group (PPG) which met for the first time on the 30 November 2011.
This report outlines the work that has already been done to assemble the
PPG, the outcomes from the three meetings that have been held so far and
the results of the initial practice survey. It also sets out the action plan that
was agreed with the PPG following the presentation of the survey results.
This report is intended to be read by all patients, PPG members and members
of the PCT so the work done with the PPG and the outcomes (or ongoing
issues) are clearly stated and transparent. However, some of the more
specific information (such as patient population profiles) will be included only
as appendices for those who are interested in the detail. Details of Practice
opening hours and appointments times can be found in Appendix D. The
report is published on the practice website, with a link from the home page.
Bound copies are available in both practice waiting rooms, and it is referred to
on the electronic patient information screen in the Ilfracombe waiting area. It
has also been distributed personally to all members of the PPG, and
circulated to all members of the practice team.
2
Background and Establishment of the PPG
In order to get a balanced view of patient opinions and suggestions, it is
important to make sure any PPG is representative of the whole practice
population (eg. contains members of different ages, sexes etc.). Detailed
information of the analysis of the patient population can be found in Appendix
A and, and details of what we did try to ensure that the PPG was
representative of the practice population can be found in Appendix B.
17 patients have so far signed up to join the PPG. The demographics of this
group are:
Sex:
7 male and 10 female
Age groups:
45-54
4
55-64
5
65-74
4
75+
4
Ethnicity:
White British 17
We accept that we need to try to get younger patients to join the group and
this is an ongoing challenge for us. One of the PPG members is currently
working with colleagues at Ilfracombe College to see whether any students
from Year 12 would be interested in joining as it would contribute to their CVs
in the future, and another member is trying to recruit younger parents through
MyStart.
PPG Report March 2012
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3
The First Meeting
All 17 members who responded to the initial invitation were then invited to
attend the inaugural PPG meeting on the 30 November 2011. This was held
in the Education Suite at the practice and 12 of the 17 invited were able to
attend. Two members have elected to only be involved by email, receiving
minutes and papers from meetings and being able to comment as
appropriate. Waterside Practice was represented by Dr Martin Mather, Helen
Tanner (Practice Manager) and Aimee-Leigh Collett (Administration).
The practice approached John Green to chair the PPG whilst it was
establishing itself. As well as being one of our patients, John has previous
experience of leading groups and meetings from both his career and his time
as a councillor.
At the first meeting, the group discussed the purpose of a PPG, how
membership might be developed and the constitution of the group and its
objectives. Helen Tanner also gave the group an overview of the Waterside
Practice in terms of patients, staff and premises.
4
Patient Survey
At the first meeting, the PPG also discussed what the priorities might be for a
patient survey. It was felt that as the group was new, and they had not yet
had an opportunity to draw together specific priorities, they wanted the
practice to undertake a general survey of its patients. The practice proposed
using a standard survey that had been used in general practice before known
as the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ). This covers a
range of topics, including telephone access, appointments and quality of care.
The group agreed that this was appropriate and felt confident that a suitable
action plan could be developed from the results. Future surveys would then
focus more on specific areas of the practice service to patients.
5
Subsequent Meetings
Two further meetings of the PPG have since been held – one in January and
one at the end of February. At the February meeting, the practice presented
the results of the survey to the group and together agreed an action plan in
response to the issues raised in that survey as prioritised by the group. A
summary of the results of the survey can be found at Appendix C.
After discussion of the survey results with the PPG group, the following action
plan was agreed with the practice:
a)
Appointments:
Significant feedback, particularly via the comments, was made about the
problems caused by the current appointment system, and in particular the
difficulties with the “8.30 telephone lottery”. The practice was asked to review
the system, giving due consideration to:
PPG Report March 2012
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b)
Trying to avoid being told to “call back”
Telephone triage
Greater ability to book appointment ahead of time, particularly the 2-4 day
period
Promotion of online systems for making appointments to reduce the
number of calls at 8.30
Extending the online system to allow on-the-day appointment to be
booked
Education of patients in how to get the best out of the appointments
system
Continuity of care – if patients have to see different doctors, how to ensure
that medical records “tell the story” so that patients do not feel they have
to start again
Communications
Investigate ways of enhancing patient communications, possibly through
alternate means such as social networking, local free publications, more
promotion of the website etc.
c)
Non-Attenders
Related to the problems with appointment availability, the PPG group asked
the practice to do a more detailed investigation into patients who do not attend
(DNAs), perhaps through follow-up by telephone of a certain percentage
asking them why they did not attend. Then to feed this back to the group for
further discussions.
Lastly, the PPG felt that more information might be required on certain issues,
such as why Saturday opening was seen as important by so many. This
might be done with a small, very targeted survey, or may be a consideration
for the next survey commissioned by the PPG.
7
Conclusion
The Waterside PPG is intended to be a long-term innovation that will
encourage a better connection between patients and the practice. In essence
it should be a forum where ideas can be freely heard, discussed and if
appropriate acted upon. It is intended that over time, the group will move
towards meeting quarterly, with extraordinary meetings being called if
required. Anyone who is a patient at the practice is more than welcome to
attend and we would be delighted to see you at one of the future meetings.
For an invitation form, please ask on reception or sign up via our website
www.watersidepractice.co.uk
Helen Tanner
Practice Manager
PPG Report March 2012
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Appendix A – PRACTICE DEMOGRAPHICS
This chart shows the number of patients in each 10 year age band at
Waterside Practice – the practice currently has a total of 9958 patients.
Waterside Practice Population by Age
1000
800
600
Female
400
Male
200
0
0-4
0515
1625
2635
3645
4655
5665
6675
7685
86+
Age Bands
The total population is almost exactly half female and half male – 50.43% of
the total are female and 49.57% are male.
Waterside Practice Patient Ethnicity
White British
Irish/European
Mixed
Asian
Black
Refused/Not stated
Not Known
The practice has a record of the ethnicity of 3954 of its patients. Of these, the
very great majority (3844) are White British. Of the remaining 110, 49 are
Asian, 28 are of Mixed Ethnicity, 17 are European/Irish, 2 are Black African
and 14 refused to state their ethnicity. If this picture is representative of the
whole practice list, it can be assumed therefore that 97.22% of the practice
population are White British and the remaining 2.28% are of other ethnic
origins.
PPG Report March 2012
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Appendix B – RECRUITING MEMBERS TO THE PPG
Recognising that recruiting members to out new PPG was always going to be
a difficult task, these are the methods that we used to try to and get as
representative group as possible.
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Information about the new PPG on the website, with a link from the Home
Page. Patients could sign up using an online form.
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Sign-up leaflets available at Reception in both the main surgery in
Ilfracombe and the branch surgery in Combe Martin.
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Posters in both waiting rooms, and also on the media screen in the
Ilfracombe waiting room.
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Personal letter to the Chair of Ilfracombe Town Council asking for close
working and ideally a representative from the Town Council who is also a
patient.
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Recruitment posters sent to a range of local institutions to ask them to
display them. These included Ilfracombe Library, Transform, The Lantern,
various Parish Councils, MyStart Children’s Centre.
PPG Report March 2012
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Appendix C – SUMMARY OF PATIENT SURVEY RESULTS
Receptionists and Appointments
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98% said that they found receptionists at the practice helpful
77% said that it is easy to get through on the phone
78% said that it is easy to speak to a doctor or nurse on the phone
80% said that if they need to speak to a GP urgently they can normally get
seen on the same day.
83% said that it is important to them to be able to book appointments ahead of
time in the practice and 50% said that it is easy to book ahead in the practice.
27% said that they normally book appointments at the practice in person, and
93% do so by phone. When asked how they prefer to book appointments,
27% said in person, 87% said by phone and 35% said that they prefer to book
their appointments online.
Patients were then asked a series of questions about seeing a particular
doctor as opposed to any doctor. When wanting to see a particular doctor
35% said that they usually get seen the same day or next day, and 39% said
that they normally get seen within 2 to 4 days. When wanting to see any
doctor 81% said that they usually get seen on the same day or next day, and
17% said that they usually get seen within 2 to 4 days.
Overall, 35% rated the time it takes to be seen by a particular doctor as
excellent or very good, and 64% rated the time it usually takes to be seen by
any doctor as excellent or very good.
In the final questions in this section, patients were asked how long they had to
wait for their consultation to start and how they rated the length of the wait.
19% said that it took less than 5 minutes, 41% said it took between 5 and 10
minutes, 27% said it took between 11 and 20 minutes and 12% said it took
more than 20 minutes. Overall the length of wait was rated as excellent or
very good by 34% of patients.
Opening Hours
91% said that the practice is currently open at times that are convenient to
them. Those who said that the opening hours are not convenient to them were
then asked what opening hours would make it easier for patients to see or
speak to someone. 23% said before 8am, 15% said at lunchtime, 85% said
after 6.30pm, 69% said Saturday and 15% Sunday.
Seeing Preferred Doctor
81% said that there is a particular GP who they usually prefer to speak to. Of
these, 43% said that they always or almost always get to speak to that GP,
and 35% said that they get to speak to that GP a lot of the time.
PPG Report March 2012
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Ratings of GP
Patients were asked a series of questions about the last GP that they saw:
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93% rated the GP as very good or good at giving them enough time
94% rated the GP as very good or good at listening
90% rated the GP as very good or good at explaining tests and treatments
82% rated the GP as very good or good at involving them in decisions
about their care
90% rated the GP as very good or good at treating them with care and
concern
Patients were then asked whether they had confidence and trust in the GP
they last saw or spoke to. 81% said that they definitely had confidence and
trust in the GP and 16% said that they had some confidence and trust in the
GP.
Ratings of Last Nurse Seen
Patients were asked a series of questions about the last nurse that they saw:
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99% rated the nurse as very good or good at giving them enough time
98% rated the nurse as very good or good at listening
96% rated the nurse as very good or good at explaining tests and
treatments
97% rated the nurse as very good or good at involving them in decisions
about their care
99% rated the nurse as very good or good at treating them with care and
concern
Patients were then asked whether they had confidence and trust in the nurse
they last saw or spoke to. 91% said that they definitely had confidence and
trust in the nurse 9% said that they had some confidence and trust.
Quality of Care Received
Respondents were asked to think about the care that they get from their
doctors and nurses, and were then asked how they feel their practice helped
them:
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91% said that they felt that the practice helped them to understand their
health problems very well
86% said the practice helps them to cope with heath problems very well
85% said the practice helps them to keep themselves healthy very well
Overall Ratings of Practice
Overall 79% said that they would describe their experience as excellent or
very good and 75% said that they would definitely recommend their GP
surgery to someone who has just moved to their local area.
In total there were 124 respondents.
PPG Report March 2012
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Appendix D – Practice Opening Hours and Appointment Times
a)
Opening Hours
Ilfracombe:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
08.30 – 18.00
08.30 – 18.00
08.30 – 18.00
08.30 – 18.00
08.30 – 18.00
Combe Martin:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
b)
08.30 – 12.30 and 14.00 – 18.00
08.30 – 12.30 and 14.00 – 18.00
08.30 – 12.30
08.30 – 12.30 and 14.00 – 18.00
08.30 – 12.30 and 14.00 – 18.00
Appointment Times
Surgery Times:
Ilfracombe
8.30 am - 11.30 am
3.00 pm - 5.30 pm Monday to Friday
Surgery Times:
Combe Martin
8.30 am – 11.30 am Monday to Friday
3.00 pm – 5.30 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thurs and Friday
Please note that each doctor has a different pattern to his or her surgery times
and patients’ will be advised of their Doctor’s availability when you contact us
to make an appointment.
The practice also offers appointments during extended surgery hours on
various days through the week. This may be either 7.20 to 7.50 am or 6.30 to
7.20 pm. We try to offer this service at Combe Martin as well as Ilfracombe
where possible.
c)
To Make an Appointment
On Weekdays telephone or visit the surgery during opening hours. The
Receptionist will offer the patient the next available appointment. We aim to
offer patients an appointment within 48 hours if they so wish, but we do offer
some appointments that can be booked up to two weeks in advance for
patients who need to plan their visits to the surgery. If the problem is
medically urgent, we will always see the patient that same day.
Patients may also use our on-line service to book routine appointments with
their GP.
When Combe Martin Branch Surgery is closed, the telephone is diverted to
Ilfracombe during practice opening hours.
PPG Report March 2012
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