Patient participation enhanced service - Major Oak Medical ... · Web viewMajor Oak Medical Practice 2014/15 Patient Participation R eport Practice Name: Major Oak Medical Practice

Major Oak Medical Practice2014/15 Patient Participation Report

Practice Name: Major Oak Medical Practice

Practice Code: C84113

Signed on behalf of practice: Mrs Jacquie Mikhail (Practice Manager) Date: 26th March 2015

Signed on behalf of PPG: Mrs Christine Ayre (PPG Chair) Date: 26th March 2015

Major Oak Medical Practice 2014-15 Page 1

1. Prerequisite of Enhanced Service – Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG)

Does the Practice have a PPG? Yes

The Major Oak Patient Participation Group (PPG) was set up in 2011 and had its first meeting on September 2011. The Group was set up to represent the views and engage with patients of the Major Oak Medical Practice and allow them representation. The Group usually meets every 6 weeks. The meetings are attended by the members of the group, a Practice Manager and a Medical Secretary. The minutes of the meetings are taken by the Secretary of the group and circulated after each meeting. At the next meeting the minutes are considered and passed as a true record after discussion. Minutes are available from the practice web-site also hard copies are available in the reception area at the practice.

Currently we have seven members of the group who attend face to face meetings 0n a regular basis. We also have a group of patients who are in email contact with the practice and form a “virtual group”. We have 19 members registered in the virtual group.

Method of engagement with PPG:

The practice engages with the PPG group members through different communication channels; Face to face, Email and Telephone. We have regular meeting every six weeks and we do meet more frequently when needed.

Number of members of PPG:

Currently there are 7 members who attend face to face meetings and 19 members on the virtual group list.


Activities of the Group

The PPG AGM was held on 23rd July 2014. An annual report was prepared by the group members highlighting all activities and achievements of the group since the last annual meeting. The Chair of the PPG -Chrissie Ayre- has been re-elected for a further term. Dennis Tattersall has been re-elected as Vice Chair; Celia Tomlinson was elected as Treasurer of the group; Celia Hemstock was elected to be the Secretary of the group.During the AGM the Chair gave a quick recollection of the main activities during the previous year. These include the following:

TV Screen in the reception has been up and working since September 2013, this has received very positive feedback from patients.

Flu Clinics/Provision of refreshments – extremely well received by patients. Diabetes Specialist Nurse Talk (held at the practice) - very valuable and well attended. Warm, Well and Wise Day (held in the Church Rooms) – Various speakers attended, proved to be very

popular. Patient Survey – The PPG played an active part in collecting patients’ opinions for the practice survey. Festive Drop In - Arranged and run by the PPG over the course of a week. A great success. Appointment of New PPG Members: Four new members of the PPG were appointed in March 2014. All of

whom are very valued and an asset to the group. Cancer Talk – A Cancer Talk was held at the practice in early July 2014. An Oncologist from the Park

Hospital and a Specialist Cancer Nurse attended to present a talk on the signs and symptoms of cancer and a “question and answer” session was held. This was extremely popular. Thirty patients attended the talk. It is hoped to hold another talk at some point in the near future covering treatment/management of cancer etc.


Annual account Summary

Since the AGM, the group has been actively discussing ways to develop the practice and organise events for the patients:In September & October 2014: Flu clinic tea and coffee mornings and raising funds for one of the main priorities (patients’ self-check-in screen).In December 2014; Patients’ Event at Abbey Road community Centre in Edwinstowe “Keep warm event”In December 2014: Festive drop-in fund raising event

There are two members of the group – Celia Flinton and Liz Benson- who represent the practice on the Newark and Sherwood Stakeholder Reference Group (SRG). Celia is the main representative of the group in the CRG and Liz is the stand in member in case of Celia’s absence. The (SRG) is a Sub Committee of the N & S Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body (GB). It is made up of representatives from Patient Representative Groups (PRG) and Patient Participation Groups (PPG) in Newark and Sherwood. It is also made up of representatives from independent groups with interests in health and the well-being of the Newark & Sherwood area population.The role of the SRG is to feed into and assist the CCG but also challenge the CCG on behalf of service users about issues that are brought to their attention from the groups they represent.

The PPG members are actively involved in highlighting information about the group and their activities in different ways; They regularly prepare an article to be published in the Local Parish Magazine. Below is the latest article in February 2015 Magazine edition:


The Patients' Participation Group News:Staff:• To broaden our patient-service provision the Practice is in the process of adding new G.Ps. to its team• Welcome to two new members of the administrative staff.• Simone (reception supervisor) is to be trained for the new role of Carer's Champion. The aim of this is to co-ordinate, support and facilitates the exchange of information and experience between Carer's.• Sarah continues to be the Triage Nurse. This triage system is designed to accommodate the needs of patients seeking urgent appointments. After 8.30 am, patients can contact Reception if they require an urgent appointment. It is a matter of choice if a patient divulges their symptoms to a receptionist but brief symptoms would allow Sarah to more accurately prioritise calls. Requests will be passed to Sarah and it is she who, as a qualified and experienced nurse, will prioritise cases and not the Receptionist. Patients will be contacted later in the morning to be told if they have gained a “Same-day” or “48 Hours” appointment.Events:• Accomplished:◦ “Health Watch” at Abbey Road Centre,◦ Christmas Raffle and mince pies.• Planned:◦ Talks on Prostate Cancer / Incontinence / Nutrition.Issues :• Waiting times:◦ Appointments overrun if a doctor is dealing with a difficult or sensitive case. Please be understanding.


Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG:

% Male FemalePractice 3197 3174PPG 8 18

Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG:

% <16 17-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 > 75Practice 985 532 681 713 1009 877 890 684PPG 0 0 0 2 4 8 8 4

Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PRG:

% White Mixed/ multiple ethnic groupsBritish Irish Gypsy or Irish

travellerOther white

White &black Caribbean

White &black African

White &Asian

Other mixed

Practice 80.1% 0.3% 0% 3.9% 0.2% 0% 0% 0.1%PPG 100% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

% Asian/Asian British Black/African/Caribbean/Black British OtherIndian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese Other

AsianAfrican Caribbean Other

BlackArab Any

otherPractice 0.3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0.2% 0% 0% 0%PPG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Describe steps taken to ensure that the PPG is representative of the practice population in terms of gender, age and ethnic background and other members of the practice population:


Membership is open to all registered patients from all walks of life. Since the group was first formed in 2011, publicity to become a member of the group has been promoted to ensure the group is representative of all patients registered with the practice. We have the following in place to encourage patients to join the group which is an on-going process: advertising in the practice in the form of leaflets, Practice newsletters, Practice web site and the patient call-in screen; information about the group and how to join is part of the new patients’ registration pack; direct invitations (especially when dealing with direct feedback and suggestions) and promoting the group through organising different activities. Additionally, information about the group and how to join is part of the new patients’ registration pack;We are well-represented in the age groups (35 to over 75) and under-represented in the younger age groups (below age 34). One of the suggestions by current group members is to reach the underrepresented age by trying to reach the local mother and toddlers group to encourage joining. Also other suggestions are to hold one of the meetings during an evening to widen the opportunity for working-age group to participate in meetings. These suggestions are still under discussions and will be areas to consider during the coming year.We also have added an invitation to join the PPG group as a footer to letters send to 16 years old patients for Summary Care Record.

Are there any specific characteristics of your practice population which means that other groups should be included in the PPG?


e.g. a large student population, significant number of jobseekers, large numbers of nursing homes, or a LGBT community?

The practice offers services to four nursing/residential homes with around 100 patients (1.6 % of total registered patients). There are approximately around 1.2% carers. As a result of discussions now copies of the practice newsletter with information about the PPG is now distributed to all nursing homes. Feedback from Nursing and residential homes is welcomed and considered.

Recruiting additional patients to the group continues to be challenging but we have been able to attract an additional three members to the virtual group this year.

The group is planning to organise a prostate cancer talk within the next couple of months. Attendees will be encouraged to join the virtual group and/or to give regular feedback.

2. Review of patient feedback

Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year:


The practice receives feedback from patients through different forms as outlined below:NHS ChoicesLettersFeedback/suggestions formsFFT formsAny direct feedback reported to PPG members themselvesAny informal feedback mentioned to clinicians or any of the practice staff

How frequently were these reviewed with the PRG?

Patients’ feedback is a regular item on the PPG agenda at every meeting. Currently the meetings are held every six weeks. For feedback that needs discussions prior to the planned meeting, we communicate by emails.

3. Action plan priority areas and implementation

During the year (2014-15) the PPG members were engaged in discussing various areas with a view to


improving services and responding to patients’ feedback and concerns. Also they were engaged in supporting the practice to improve services. Through patients’ feedback/ complaints /discussions, the group identified three main areas which the practice need to concentrate on; Availability of permanent GPs; Improving waiting time while waiting to see a clinician and finding solution to the time patients wait at the front desk to register their arrival.

Priority area 1

Description of priority area:

Through patients’ feedback and last year’s patient survey, the practice recognised the difficulty of relying on locum GPs to support the practice. This area was the main challenge for the practice.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

The practice started a recruitment campaign advertising in the British Medical Association Journal (BMA); advertising in five Vocational Training Schemes (VTS) for newly trained GPs; advertising with the Local Medical Committee for Nottinghamshire (LMC). Also the practice sought help from Recruitment agencies like Head Hunters and Prospect Health.Discussions were constant with the PPG to assure them that the practice was keen to appoint new doctors and maintain continuity of care. The PPG group were understanding and appreciated that this is a national problem which affects many practices.While the recruitment campaign was on-going, the practice negotiated and signed long term locum agreements with GPs to guarantee patient/doctor continuity for the benefits of all: patients, doctors and the practice.


Result of actions and impact on patients and carers:

The recruitment campaign was successful and the practice secured contracts with three new Doctors to Start from April 2015.

How were these actions publicised?

Discussions are all documented in the PPG meeting minutes which can be accessed through the practice web-site and hard copies are available in the waiting area. Announcement of the new members who joined the practice will be among the news in the Practice’ Spring Newsletter; the Campus CCG newsletter; Practice Web-site and at the Practice Calling-in Screen.

It is worth noting that the PPG members were informed of any progress of the recruitment campaign in between the meetings through email correspondence.

Priority area 2Description of priority area:

Improving waiting time while seeing clinicians is another priority area that the practice is facing and very keen to find solutions to improve the situation.



Running monthly audits to assess the situation and length of waiting times together with reasons plus the monitoring of any improvements.

Communication with all clinicians to raise awareness of the issues.

Introduction of catch-up slots for clinicians in every session.

Messages and notices were updated to inform patients that one 10 minutes appointment is to deal with one issue only.

The practice recognises that certain categories of patients may need longer appointments and must be offered. To address this issue the practice trained one of the staff (on February 2015) to be a carer’s Champion who will be the main point of contact for carers and able to help by offering them longer appointments as needed.


This is an on-going process, to alleviate negative experience, patients, on their arrival, are informed by Reception staff of any possible delays in seeing a clinician. Patients are also given an estimated delay time. Patients may decide to wait; go and come back later or to reschedule their appointments. A prominent notice is


also on display to inform patients which clinician is running late.When dealing with patients who present more than one issue, clinicians are encouraged to use their clinical judgement and advise patients to book double appointments.

Patients’ with learning disabilities and certain chronic diseases are offered longer appointments.

Information about the practice Carers’ Champion and how this may help carers are on the upcoming Practice Spring Newsletter and also will be in the next issue of the Edwinstowe Parish Magazine.


These actions and discussions are documented in the PPG meeting minutes, Practice newsletter and on the patients’ calling-in screen at the practice.

When inviting patients for their annual chronic disease review, a clear indication about the length of appointment to book is advised in the invitation letter.


Priority area 3Description of priority area:

Finding a solution to the reduction of waiting time for patients at the Reception desk. During the group meetings, this issue was considered. A possible cause was that other patients frequently enquired about medication or sought other information from the practice staff. Reception staff also raised this issue with the manager.


After discussion this situation with the PPG members, it was suggested that both patients and practice would benefit from investing in patients’ self-check-in service. The option for self-registration should impact favourably upon waiting time and free receptionists to respond to other queries.

The Practice Manger considered different companies and contacted the IT Business relationships to enquire about different options and prices.

An estimate of the cost was circulated and discussed with the PPG members where a decision was taken by the group that this will be the fund-raising project the PPG will be supporting this year for the benefit of patients and the practice.

Members put efforts in promoting the idea to patients during the flu clinics’ coffee morning. Funds were raised at these and other events which will go towards the purchase of the screen.



Due to some technical issues with the suggested model by NHIS, the practice is still waiting for an installation. The practice chased the issue again on 5th March 2015 and a new model is just under negotiation and an anticipated date for installation will be within the next few weeks. PPG members are updated regularly of the progress.

When having the self-check-in service installed, we anticipate great benefits in reducing patients’ unnecessary waiting times and removing the administration pressure from the front reception area allowing staff to deal with direct patient care and patient emergencies, when needed.


Discussions are documented in the PPG minutes which are published on the practice web-site also hard copies are available from the practice waiting area.


Progress on previous years

If you have participated in this scheme for more than one year, outline progress made on issues raised in the previous year(s):


Priority improvement area

Proposed action Responsible person Progress

Saturday openingsOne Saturday every 4-6 weeks initially. Then demand will be assessed.

Practice Manager with Clinicians(Completed)

The practice negotiated Saturday opening with the Area Team and was successfully agreed to open one Saturday per month as part of the Extended Hours Service.

Waiting time for booking routine non-urgent appointments

Increase the number of weekly pre-bookable appointments

Increase GP available slots

Practice Manager(Completed)

We increased the number of routine appointments and online appointments. Latest feedback showed that patients are more satisfied with the availability of appointments.

Waiting time

Clinicians will be reminded to keep running in time.Patients with more than one condition to be offered 20 minutes appointment at time of booking.Patients will be informed with any delay in time and be given choices of rebooking.

Practice Manager/Reception Supervisor(on-going)

We still working hard in this area and it is still one of our main priorities this year.

To improve patient awareness of online services

The practice will publish details of the SystmOnline service via newsletter, posters, note with repeat prescriptions and TV screen message. The practice will produce a leaflet given to all patients registering for the service. A copy of the leaflet will be added to the practice website for easy download.

Practice Manager/Medical secretary(Completed)

An awareness campaign was in place during last year to inform patients about on-line services. As a result we have more patients registered for booking appointments and request repeat prescriptions on-line. Recently we added the option to access summary record to the on-line services.

4. PPG Sign OffReport signed off by PPG: Date of sign off:

How has the practice engaged with the PPG:

How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population?

The Practice monitors its diverse population and tries different ways to engage them.

Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources?

Yes, as described above, there are many ways that patients can communicate with the Practice their feedback; letters; FFT cards; in person; over the phone; NHS choices website; direct contact with PPG members, etc…

Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan?

Yes.

How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan?

By successfully appointing new doctors we feel that patients’ services and choices are improved. Also we noticed that more patients are using on-line services. We anticipate further improvement to services when the new self-check-in system is in place.


Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work?

The Practice is very grateful to all the PPG members for all their dedication and support to both the practice and patients.We Would like also thank patients who take time sharing their feedback with the practice.

Please submit completed report to the Area Team via email no later than 31 March 2015 to:

Derbyshire practices: [email protected]

Nottinghamshire practices: [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

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Documents

Patient participation enhanced service - Major Oak Medical ... · Web viewMajor Oak Medical Practice 2014/15 Patient Participation R eport Practice Name: Major Oak Medical Practice