PPG Minutes 2nd March 2020

• Present: Roberta Roulstone (chair), Timothy & Jane Reacher, Mike & Marjorie Wright, Judith Richardson, Robert Rose, Jeannie Payne, Kath Dolby, Lynne Beveridge , Tracey Mason, Dr Wheatley
• Apologies: Katya Petrova

1.    Roberta informed the group that Barry Sadler had resigned from the position of Chair of the PPG and thanks were expressed his energy and commitment.

2.    Appointment of PPG officers

Timothy and Jane Reacher announced that they had decided to stand down from the group, having been members of the PPG since its inception and they were thanked for their time.

Roberta Roulstone is happy to take on the role of chairperson – agreed wholeheartedly by the group.

Lynne Beveridge offered to act as vice chair – seconded by Kath Dolby.

Judith Richardson agreed to take on interim secretary – seconded by Mike Wright.

The group voiced concern at having no younger members of the patient population on the PPG and suggested that a new notice is put up in the waiting room asking for new members, plus advertising on Facebook, flyers on reception and a message on the waiting room screen.

3.    PCN update

A new PCN pharmacist started working at the practice today; her role is divided between the two Stamford practices and the Hereward practice.

Dr Cole will be asked to attend the next meeting to give an update on PCN developments.

4.    Personnel update

Fran Price, HCA, leaves the practice on Friday this week.

Alison Day, nurse practitioner, finishes here on May 8th.

Advertisements are already underway for a further two nurse practitioners.

Our salaried GP, Dr Miller, has reduced to working 4 sessions (two days) a week and Dr Wheatley has reduced by one session a week.  This drop in sessions will be replaced by increased nurse practitioner sessions and this should enable an increase in the overall number of appointments available as the nurse practitioners will be able to see non-urgent cases and have pre-bookable appointments.

5.    Practice update

The practice is not managing to keep up with demand for appointments, which is why it had been decided to employ two nurse practitioners instead of just replacing one.  The group praised reception and telephone staff for listening to patients and liaising with them to ensure they receive the care needed.  Members of the group reported good experiences with reception staff.

The group felt it possible that patients don’t appreciate how much work a GP has to get through in an average day and it was suggested that a piece of work “A day in the life of your doctor” could go some way to improve perceptions.  Perhaps involve the local papers?

Open access Monday: following the practice discontinuing this service, very few patients have walked in expecting to be seen on a Monday.  Obviously there are now a lot more phone calls for reception to deal with but these are more manageable than the huge number of walk-in patients.  Although the old system worked well it had become unpredictable and unmanageable.  There has been very little negativity expressed locally by patients but there has been a huge amount of positivity from the medical team who work on a Monday morning.

6.    PPG survey

The recent survey proved very good, there was mostly positive feedback and it was an improvement on the last survey.

Thanks to everyone who was involved in collecting the feedback and to Barry Sadler for collating it all.

7.    Any Other Business

Mr Rose asked if the hedges to the right of the car park exit could be reduced in height to aid vision when driving out of the car park.

Next meeting – 11th May 2020 6.30pm at the Hereward Practice