Local Patient Participation Report
St John’s Medical Centre, Grantham
March 2013
Firstly, we would like to start by thanking all of our patients who contributed towards the Patient
Representative Group over the last year. We would also like to invite any patients who are not
members to join up and have your say about the service we offer over the years to come.
We discuss issues and concerns via email. To join please enquire on our website or at the practice.
Our main source of membership came from posters and leaflets within the practice, made available
in waiting rooms, at reception and in clinical rooms. Our practice website has a link to the Patient
Participation Group. www.stjohnsmedical.co.uk
Our current PRG consists of patients with a range of ages, ethnicity and medical needs. Please see
our demographics link on the website. We currently have 83 members of our email Patient
Representative Group.
Patient Participation Group Age and
Gender
Female
+
85
-8
4
75
-7
4
65
-6
4
55
-5
4
45
-4
4
35
-3
4
25
-2
4
6
r1
nd
e
U
17
No. of People
Male
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
In 2012 we had had complaints and concerns from patients re access to appointments and waiting
times for appointments. As a practice we looked into the reasons why these occurred and felt it
maybe due to how quickly our practice size was increasing. We therefore applied to the NHS
Lincolnshire asking to close our practice list but had the application rejected.
We, therefore, discussed the concerns re access to appointments, waiting times and list closure with
the Patient Representative Group.
Therefore, on 15/08/12 the PRG were emailed the following.
Good Afternoon
We would firstly like to thank you all for your contribution to the participation group last year,
your input was greatly appreciated. We would also like to welcome new members to the group.
We have now successfully changed our telephone number to a local number as a result of
comments made from this group.
In order to continue the group's good work, we would like to ask whether there are any other
changes you feel would be beneficial to patients registered at St John's Medical Centre.
We have recently had some input from patients regarding frustrations with waiting times for a
routine appointments. We have applied to the Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust to stop accepting
new patients and we were wondering what the patient participation group's views were on this.
We would welcome your views with regards to waiting times, closing our list and any other
changes you feel we could make.
We look forward to hearing from you.
We had a variety of responses but it was apparent that this was an issue for members of our group.
Group members wanted less waiting times for both nurse and doctors appointments.
As you can see there were a variety of responses, however, it became apparent that access to
appointments was an issue to our PRG members.
On 18th October 2012 the following email was sent
Thank you for your replies to our email of 15 August 2012. It is apparent from your responses that
you feel passionate about the importance of access to appointments. Many members aired their
views as to the closure of our patient list, some for and some against.
We are going to carry out a survey of the practice population so can we can assess opinion on a
larger scale. Do you think it would be a good idea to include in the survey topics related to
appointment access and list closure? Can you suggest any other priority areas we could also
include.
Thank you once again for all your useful comments, your input is very much appreciated.
If you have any family or friends, who are registered here, who would like to join our Group then
please ask them to enquire at reception.
It was agreed to survey the practice population with regard access to appointments. We issued 400
surveys and received 320 responses. Our population size at 01/04/12 was 13266 giving us a 2.41%
response rate. We used GPAQ surveys who are a recognised body in providing surveys for General
Practice. They provide the questions and analysis and we added these to our practice survey.
The results were as follows:
How easy do you find it to make an appointment
to see a doctor?
180
160
No. of People
140
120
Urgent
100
Non-urgent
80
Doctor of Choice
60
40
20
0
Very Easy
Easy
Difficult
Very
Difficult
How easy do you find it to make appointments
with other healthcare professionals? (i.e. nurses,
healthcare assistants, phlebotomists)
200
No.of People
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Very Easy
Easy
Difficult
Very Difficult
How do you rate the length of time it took to make
an appointment with the doctor/nurse of your
choice?
200
180
160
No. of People
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Excellent
Good
Poor
Very Poor
If 'Poor' or 'Very Poor', do you feel this has
affected the care you received?
30
No. of People
25
20
15
10
5
0
Yes
No
How should we resolve this problem?
18
16
No. of People
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Close the
practice list to
new patients
Employ
additional
doctors
Employ
Employ
additional nurse additional nurses
practitioners
The survey results were fedback to our PRG on email on 31st January 2013
Following on from your concerns last year with regard to access to appointments, we have carried
out a patient survey. We managed to survey in the region of 400 patients. Attached is the
outcome of this survey, we would be most grateful if you could peruse the survey findings and let
us have your comments. As you can see, the majority of patients found it easy or very easy to
make an appointment at the practice but we strive to continually improve our service to our
patients. We would be interested in your opinion with regard to any subsequent changes you feel
should be implemented following on from this survey.
Reviewing the survey results the majority of patients found it easy or very easy to make an
appointment at the practice but we strive to continually improve our service to all of our patients.
These results were fed back to our patient representative group and discussed at a practice meeting
with all doctors present.
The priorities were decided that access to appointments needed improvement especially on Monday
and Friday and more ‘on the day’ bookable appointments were made available. We also discussed
contacting the PCT again re the closure of our list and informing them of the survey outcome. We
also discussed the use of a Locum doctor to ease some pressure and the return of a GP off long term
sickness.
Action Plan




Monday and Friday rearrangement of rota to provide easier access to appointments
The PCT were contacted mid February with regards closure of our list. They have been
provided with the survey outcome.
Return of Dr Hutchinson
Employment of locum doctor
The action plan was discussed and agreed by group members on email.
Opening hours of the practice
Consulting times by appointment only
Extended hours are in bold
Morning
Afternoon/Evening
Monday
08.55-10.40
15.30-17.40
Tuesday
080.55-10.40
15.30-17.40
18.30-20.00
Wednesday
08.55-10.40
15.30-17.40
Thursday
08.55-10.40
15.30-17.40
Friday
08.55-10.40
15.30-17.40
Saturday
09.00-11.30
Access to services in core hours can be booked by telephone or in person at the surgery. Repeat
prescriptions can be requested by email