PPG Minutes 1 July 2019

• Present: Mr B Sadler (Chair), Mrs T Mason (Practice Manager), Mr R Casboult, Mrs J Richardson, Mr M Wright, Mrs M Wright ,Mrs K Dolby, Mr T Reacher ,Mrs J Reacher,Mrs R Roulstone, Mr R Rose, Mrs J Payne, Ms D Hansen (Engagement Lead South West Lincs CCG), Dr I Wheatley (Partner- part meeting only).
• Apologies: Ms K Petrova

Minutes of Last Meeting

These were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Patient Appointments/Recruitment Update

Ms Hansen introduced herself as Engagement Lead for South West Lincs Clinical Commissioning Group. She was attending the meeting largely to observe but was primarily interested in the views of the Group as to what was working well or not so well

Mrs Mason updated the Group with the good news that a further GP (Dr Penny Miller) had been recruited. She will work 3 days per week and commence employment in September. The Practice was now fully staffed with its complement of Nurse Practitioners and Paramedics. A vacancy will shortly arise in the dispensary with a staff member leaving in July.

Mrs Mason indicated that the Partners were considering discontinuing the Open Access Monday Morning Clinic. As many as 170 patients were now attending and this was placing an enormous strain on current resources with the attendant risk that a serious condition might be missed. The Group was unanimous that such consideration was unwelcome and it was confident that such a change would not be welcomed by the wider patient community. It was felt that whilst waits for a routine appointment continued around 3-4 weeks the Clinic offered the only cast iron opportunity to see a GP within a reasonable time frame. Some members felt that additional Open Access Clinics should be introduced. Given the strength of feeling , Mrs Mason agreed to discuss with Partners with a view to arranging a separate meeting with the Group solely to discuss this issue. Further Meeting to discuss Open Access Clinics arranged for Monday 8 July at 6.30pm.

Transfer to new computer system

Members had rather mixed views on the changeover. Whilst those that had registered on the new system could access appointments and order medication without difficulty, it was felt that communication surrounding the change could have been handled much better. Those registered on the old Emis system were not automatically informed of the change by email, the only indication being a general note on the Practice web site .It was therefore possible that many users would only become aware of the change when attempting to book an appointment or order medication which they would be unable to do. It was felt surprising that those patients registered on the old system could not automatically be transferred and that they had to come into the Practice to re register.

It was also reported that an on line appointment link on the website still led to you to the old Emis system. Mrs Mason felt that this had been remedied but agreed to recheck. It was established that there were two possible links from the web site to the new system for booking appointments. One still took you to the old Emis system but this has now been corrected. It was suggested that if future transfers are undertaken within Lakeside Practices ,consideration is given to involving a patient representative during the planning and implementation process.

Healthy Conversations 2019

Ms Hansen updated the Group on the purpose and timings associated with this consultation process. Meetings had been held in Stamford and Spalding in June and will continue over the summer feeding in to eventual decisions on the future of services. Dr Wheatley now joined the meeting.

It was a common view among the Group that the focus was very often towards central, east and north Lincolnshire particularly in relation to United Lincolnshire Hospitals (ULH) whereas Bourne patients looked towards Peterborough and Stamford for their hospital services. There was concern that that the fragile nature of the finances at ULH might lead to pressure to increase referrals to their hospitals as opposed to Peterborough or Stamford whose hospitals were the only ones served by regular public transport from Bourne.

Mr Sadler asked for an update on discussions regarding the formation of local Primary Care Networks. Dr Wheatley responded that the Practice wished to align with the other Lakeside practice in Stamford but this was not currently supported by the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who were more persuaded by an alliance involving the two Bourne practices. This was still subject to further discussion.

Meeting attented

Mr Sadler informed the Group that he was standing down as the Chair of the local PPG Cluster Group.

He had also recently attended a local South Lincolnshire Patient Council Meeting which had an informative presentation on Integrated Community Care. He also explained the forthcoming merger of Lincolnshire CCGs.

Any other business

Mr Rose raised the issue of the hedge size on the right as you drove out of the Car Park .He felt this obscured the view of drivers and was unsafe. Mrs Mason agreed to investigate.

Date of the next meeting

Monday September 16 6.15 pm at the Practice