Patients Matter minutes - news Patient Survey Survey Action Plan
At Swallowfield Medical Practice we are always looking to improve the services we provide to patients and your viewpoints really do matter to us. To gain input as to how we can further develop healthcare and services and to acquire a ‘Patients Eye View’ we have formed a Patient Participation Group.
The Group consists of a GP, a practice manager and seven volunteer representatives from amongst our patients. We meet quarterly to discuss a variety of issues regarding Swallowfield Medical Practice and the services provided to its patients.
If you have a topic that you wish to raise through the PPG please feel free to either contact any member (see below), write to us care of Swallowfield Medical Practice or email us at ppg.smp@nhs.net.
We look forward to hearing any ideas and opinions you might have. Please contact Fran Leafe on 0118 9883134 or speak to any of our members below:
Members: Jane Goold Arborfield
Michael Pearson Beech Hill
Sandy Smith (chair) Shinfield
Roberta Stewart Swallowfield
Andrea Madigan Spencers Wood
David Boddington Swallowfield
Jim Dunn Arborfield
News
Panto Feedback –
All agreed the panto was a success. Feedback from the community has been very positive and awareness of the automatic door project has become greater. Letters of thanks have been sent to the Russell Players for their kindness in donating their time and effort. Thanks to all volunteer helpers and, of course, the committee for organising such a successful event
Fundraising Ideas
Other suggestions put forward include:
Ø Dance/Ball
Ø Carboot sale
Ø Sponsored fun run
Ø Open Garden
Ø Metal detecting
Further discussions to be held at the next meeting.
Pain relief on discharge from RBH
It has been reported that patients are being discharged from the RBH without adequate pain relief. Patients can complain to PALs. This issue will also be taken up by Dr Beacham with the Medicines Management Team.
GP Consortia
Wokingham GP practices have come together to form a consortium to develop and implement changes imposed by the Department of Health. Swallowfield Medical Practice is actively involved and believe this to be the best way forward for the NHS. Watch out for further information on GP Commissioning in our news articles in the Loddon Reach and Arborfield News.
Shinfield Dispensing
NHS regulations governing dispensing services mean that we are unable to dispense any medication to patients living in the Shinfield area. This will take effect from Monday 4th April. We will still provide paper prescriptions for our Shinfield patients for them to take to any chemist of their choice. A list of local chemists is available at the Swallowfield Surgery or on our website. This does not mean you have to change your GP. Swallowfield Medical Practice will still provide your medical care as always.
Present: Fran Leafe, Sandy Smith, Jim Dunn, Dave
Boddington, Jane Goold, Dr Beacham.
Treasurers Report
Current amount banked = £2508.82
A further £1500 has been promised by different sponsors. The total amount
'raised' so far is therefore £4008.82 - target is £5000
Fundraising events
It was decided to go ahead with a PPG/surgery team to run in the Swallowfield 10K on 4th September. Further details to be released nearer the time and sponsorship forms will be available at the surgery and from members of the PPG. Any sponsor money will be gratefully accepted!
PPG Consortium Meeting
Fran and Sandy attended a meeting of the consortium PPGs - the aim of which was to see how PPGs could work together with the GP consortium. The idea was to get wider public opinion and feedback on services and requirements. Each PPG would still carry on doing what they do on a local level too. We would probably need to set up a PPG reference group with a membership of 300+ - perhaps by email to make contacting them easier. Each PPG would survey a similar % of their practice population using a questionnaire compiled by the Consortium. A further meeting will be held in July to take this idea forward.
SMP Survey
Members of the PPG approved the survey which Swallowfield Medical Practice wish to use to gather information from its patients. The survey will take place in the practice in the autumn and results will be fed back to the PPG and published for the wider practice population.
New Members
It was agreed that we need a PPG member from the 20-35 year age group to ensure that all sections of the population were represented. This will be advertised in the Loddon Reach. Any potential applicants should speak to Fran on 0118 9883 134.
Date of next meeting: Monday 19 September 2011
PPG Meeting Summary September 2011
Present
Fran Leafe, Sandy Smith, Roberta Stewart, Dave Boddington, Jane Goold, Jess Leafe, Jim Dunn, Michael Pearson
Membership Changes
Dr Will Beacham has resigned from the PPG and will be replaced as GP liaison by Dr Helen Hegarty. Andrea Madigan has also resigned. The PPG would like to thank Andrea and Dr Beacham for their contributions. Jess Leafe has joined the PPG and represents the teenage group of patients.
Swallowfield
Automatic Doors Report
Fran thanked everyone for their support in the Swallowfield 10k run. The
team all completed the course despite the rain and raised over £600. The doors
were fitted on September 17th and feedback has been positive.
PPG Consortium Meeting 7 July
Development of the Wokingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was discussed together with the role to be played by PPGs and Patient Reference Groups.
Patient Reference Group
The practice is developing a Patient Reference Group (PRG) with the aim of surveying a wider patient base regarding services. Posters and leaflets have been designed and will be distributed/displayed at various locations. The PPG will remain the 'face of the public' and bring views/ideas to the practice as previously.
Car Service
The Shinfield car service is now well established and self financing. Demand for trips for medical reasons is increasing. All medical trips are free to holders of a bus pass.
Communication
Ideas for future articles for publication
· Feedback and photo of the automatic doors
· Advertise the PRG
· Citizens Advice Bureau
· The effect of the Consortium on future patient services
Date of Next meeting 12 December 2011
PPG Meeting Summary December 2011
Present
Fran Leafe, Sandy Smith, Roberta Stewart, Dave Boddington, Jane Goold, Dr Helen Hegarty, Jess Leafe
Change of GP Liaison
Dr Hegarty has taken over the role of PPG GP liaison from Dr Beacham.
Achievements over the last year
Raised funds for and
installed power assisted entrance doors at Swallowfield Surgery
Helped establish the Shinfield voluntary car service, 90% of whose trips are for
medical reasons
Provided information for patients via patients notice board and local magazines
(Reach etc.)
Became member of National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP)
PPG Membership and Terms of Office
It was agreed that officers should be elected in June to coincide with the end of the financial year.
PPG has vacancies for a young mother and/or a young father/male
Patient Reference Group PRG) and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
The Patient Reference Group now has 92 members, with some way to go to reach the target of 300. PRG members will be contacted by email or post and asked a short questionnaires regarding service provision both at a local level and, once the CCG is more established, at a district level.
The Practice has recently surveyed 450 patients who visited over a recent 3-4 week period. The results will be reviewed with both the PRG and the PPG and an action plan agreed to resolve issues. The results of the survey will be published on the Practice website.
Communication
News articles/notices for the following will be prepared and published in the near future:
· Changes to the physiotherapy service (now provided through the Warr Clinic), including feedback from patients
· Organisation of the district nursing service
· How to use Westcall and the Walk-in Centre plus use of local pharmacies for minor ailments
· Local exercise groups (help your body, help your mind etc)
·
Young persons leaflet
Date of Next meeting 12 March 2012
The PPG asked Dr Aamir Ansari, the new GP at Swallowfield to comment on his first few months with the Practice. Below is his response:-
Dear Patients of Swallowfield Medical Practice and the Community,
It has been a pleasure to have come to Swallowfield Medical Practice and to have been so very kindly accepted into the local community. It is certainly very different around here compared to north London where I have worked in recent years and it is a change that I and my family have happily welcomed and wish to continue.
I have to admit that I had never heard of Swallowfield and when I first tried to visit I drove past and proceeded to get rather lost. However I have not regretted finding it! The practice offers a host of fine facilities but I’m sure that you will all agree with me when I say that the main attractions are the staff themselves who are a delight to work with and the community that we serve – yes – all of you!
Many of you have asked if I have ‘taken over’ or ‘replaced’ Dr Smith. I don’t think that it is possible to replace someone who had made such a contribution to your lives but I will be here to try to pick up where he left off and to continue in the fine traditions of the Swallowfield Medical Practice in serving our community to the best of my ability.
I look forward to meeting you all.
The Role of the Community Matron
There are approximately 17.5 million people in Britain living with one or more long term condition and with this figure set to grow significantly over the next 20 years there is an increased need for preventative healthcare within the primary care or community setting.
With this in mind, the government has introduced the role of Community Matron. We are lucky enough to have a Community Matron based at Swallowfield. Sister Lizzie Barnes is employed by the PCT and has been working closely with our GPs for a year now. She is a highly qualified senior nurse and looks after up to 50 elderly patients within the Wokingham area, not just Swallowfield. These patients have one or more long term illnesses. She provides active care on a regular basis, visiting the patients in their home, providing both medical and social support. This enables many of her patients to remain at home when otherwise they would have been admitted to hospital or nursing home.
A typical day for Lizzie begins in the office at Swallowfield, telephoning patients arranging visits, organising her schedule and completing the necessary paperwork. During the course of the day she will then visit some of these patients and carry out medical assessments and reviews. She liaises by telephone and in person with the patients’ GPs and other healthcare professionals to ensure each patient is receiving the appropriate care and support. At the end of each day Lizzie returns to Swallowfield where she records all the information for each patient on the computer and completes yet more paperwork. As Community Matron, Lizzie plays an integral role in enabling patients of Swallowfield Medical Practice to remain in the primary care environment and patients who have been and are under her care value her contribution.
How the Practice works: The District Nursing Team
District Nurses work in the community and are employed by the PCT. We have an excellent community nursing team which is based at Swallowfield Medical Practice and this comprises a full time Community Nursing Sister, 4 part-time Community Staff Nurses and a part-time Community Healthcare Assistant.
Our District Nurses only visit patients of the practice who are housebound and have a nursing need. The district nurses are on duty from 8.30am to 4.30pm and can be contacted on 0118 9884806. Patients often ask for a visit at a specific time but unfortunately this is not possible as the workload and pattern varies each day depending upon who needs visiting, where the patients live and what nursing care they require.
During the evening and at weekends there is an Out of Hours District Nurse available for essential visits only. This service can be accessed via WestCall on 0118 9787811. The Out of Hours District Nurse covers a wider locality and this will very often involve nurses from other areas and practices.
Finally we have some money in the bank towards the automatic doors for the surgery at Swallowfield. Between the Practice itself, a Swallowfield Horticultural Society donation at their AGM, a collection at the local coffee morning and the Pantomime, plus various donations from individuals we have now raised just over £3,000. We would like to thank all those who have contributed so far.
We still have at least another £2,000 to find, so if anyone would like to join in our efforts with a donation, please write a cheque to Swallowfield Medical Practice PPG and send or take it to your local surgery. It is an effort for all of us and from all of us.
We do need another word about the generosity of the Russell Players who, by giving us their special fundraising evening, enabled us to raise £1500. And what an evening it was!. The cast was in magnificent form and so I have to say was the audience. Being there on a table of friends, everyone knowing some or all the cast and production team meant no holds barred between the floor and the stage. Not only ‘Its behind you’ rang out, but many other cries punctuated the evening leaving the audience as satisfied as the cast at the end of a brilliant and splendidly catered evening. The doctors proved surprisingly efficient waiting on the tables, maybe experience they gained as students?!.
So if you can join in the fundraising that would be really helpful and enable us to speed up this project for the benefit of so many patients.
Hello from everyone at Swallowfield Dispensary. We have been asked by the Patient Participation Group to tell you a bit about the work which we do here so that you, our patients, have a clearer understanding of how we operate.
At Swallowfield Medical Practice we have approximately 11,000 patients and we dispense to over 7,000 of these. We would really like to dispense to you all but unfortunately, due to government legislation, we are unable to dispense to patients who live within a mile of a chemist.
We employ 4 full time and 2 part time dispensers who dispense on average over 8000 items each month. This includes acute medication for patients who have seen a doctor in surgery, and repeat prescriptions for patients. The process involves not only the picking and dispensing of the product but also the labeling, checking, bagging and storing of each item too. We also have 3 young dispensary assistants who help us for a short while in the evenings with the stocking of the shelves and handing out medications to patients who collect from the surgery.
Requests for repeat medication can be made by phone between 10am to 12.30pm, and 1.30pm to 5.00pm each working day. Requests can also be made by email, fax or via our website www.swallowfieldmedicalpractice.co.uk.
With so many prescriptions to dispense each month we advise patients to give us at least 2 working days notice for repeat prescriptions. Some products have to be specially ordered and this can take longer than 48 hours. We occasionally have to wait for information from other colleagues too before we can complete all prescriptions requested and this can also cause a delay.
As you can imagine we are a very busy dispensary with Mondays being an especially busy day, as well as every morning. This is the reason our phones are only on for part of the day as this allows us to catch up with requests, place orders and have the occasional break! It would help us in the dispensary enormously if patients would allow extra time during busy periods eg Bank Holidays. The surgery is not open at weekends or on Public Holidays. By ordering your medication in good time it allows us some leeway with the dispensing time and also reduces time spent on the phone chasing prescription requests.
We try our utmost to dispense prescriptions within 2 working days but alas, this is not always possible. But we would like to thank all of our patients for their patience!