| home | meetings | events | miscellanea | contacts |
| 2011 |
PPG members: Nik Barton (NB), Michael Boughton-Fox (MB-F), Margaret Brown (MB), Brian Burrage (BB), Patricia Daniels (PD), John Doland (JD), David Harper (DH), Terri Pope (TP), Chris Stannard (CS), L.M. Stockman (LMS)
Diana Birley (DB) and Margaret Moffat (MM) were absent with apologies.
Surgery representatives: Dr Susan Gillard (SG), Jenny Moyes (JM)
Trish Hawitt Palmer (THP) was absent with apologies.
Invited speaker: Jacky Cozens (JC)
Chris Stannard joined the group.
The surgery representatives and invited speaker were introduced.
The minutes from the meeting of 24 November 2010 were approved.
An article about the Health Walks will appear in the February edition of the Bar Hill News. The group decided to submit monthly articles to the Bar Hill News detailing the work of the group, with separate copies to be made available at the surgery.
Action: DH will submit an article for inclusion in the March Bar Hill News by 15 February.
The patient leaflet is not yet ready. It was agreed that a new leaflet is urgently needed.
Action: JM will look into it. Deferred until the next meeting.
The travel vaccination form has been revised but is still confusing, because it appears that the patient must sign it before the he/she has met with the practice nurse and received full information about the various risks involved.
Also, not all of the charges are listed on the form. JM explained that an outside agency was responsible for some of the vaccinations.
JM explained the procedure:
Action: JM will further revise the form, perhaps introducing a two-part form where the charges are on the pre-appointment page and the patient's signature is on the post-appointment page. To be reviewed at the next meeting.
The first health walk took place on 6 January 2011, led by PD and Emilio Ceraudo. A story about it will appear in the February issue of the Bar Hill News. The next walk takes place on 3 February 2011 beginning at 10:30. It will start at the Health Centre and take the trail to Dry Drayton.
Action: PD will ask a representative from Natural England to give a 20-minute talk (with time for questions) in March, by which time three health walks will have been completed.
PALS representative Jacky Cozens gave a short presentation on the role of the group.
All NHS trusts have PALS. The service is open to everyone - patients, carers and medical professionals - and everyone is treated as an individual. Dentistry and optometry also fall within the remit of PALS. PALS fulfils a variety of roles:
Hospitals have PALS on-site and the Addenbrooke's PALS unit is very busy but they promise to call you back if you leave them a message. Cambridgeshire PALS can also handle calls about Addenbrooke's, if a patient can't get through to the hospital PALS.
PALS will listen to anonymous questions/complaints and give advice accordingly. It wants to hear about both good and bad experiences.
There was some discussion regarding the difficulties and fears which patients face when making a complaint about their health service provider, whether in their local surgery or at a hospital. In particular, patients fear they will be struck off the list of their local surgery or face some other discriminatory practices if they raise complaints. JC, SG and JM went to considerable lengths to reassure members of the group that although such feelings were understandable, they, as health care providers, wanted and needed to know about any problems patients are having. SG pointed out that it is difficult to get a patient removed from a list and this usually happens only as a last resort against patients who are violent or otherwise dangerous.
PALS will cease to exist, along with primary care trusts, in the reorganisation in 2013. PALS funding will be given to a new organisation called 'HealthWatch' which will exist at both local and national levels. However, JC was unsure how it would work in practice.
JC left a number of informational leaflets for the group members and the surgery. She was enthusiastically thanked by the group for her presentation.
CS was concerned over what appeared to be omissions in the influenza vaccination programme last autumn. In particular, some asthma patients seemed to have been missed out. JM explained that non-standard and incomplete computer labelling meant that some patients had been missed. Patient records are still being updated and computerised.
Action: Anyone who thinks they are at risk and should have received the vaccine are encouraged to visit the surgery.
CS pointed out that patients with multiple prescriptions often have to repeatedly visit the surgery to get them filled because the prescriptions run out at different times. This is inefficient, time-consuming and subject to error. JM explained the process of synchronisation where patients are prescribed 'odd portions' of their prescriptions in order to get everything in sync. This can only be done with tablets and not with other prescriptions such as creams and inhalers.
Action: Patients with multiple repeat prescriptions will receive letters advising them on the synchronisation process.
Some members have had difficulty in accessing the 'members only' portion of the web site.
Action: DH will look into the problem and advise the group via the mailing list on a solution.
MB-F suggested that the previous agendas and (approved) minutes should be in the public portion of the web site.
Action: LMS will redesign the web site to make this information accessible to all.
The waiting room has been redesigned but input for further redevelopment is welcome.
SG said that members of the surgery had been meeting with other practices this afternoon and that there were very few patient participation groups elsewhere in the area. She was pleased with the activity and enthusiasm with the PPG.
The meeting adjourned at 7:17 p.m.
The next meeting of the PPG will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 February 2011, in the Octagon. Tea and coffee will be served before the meeting, from 6:00 p.m.
Action: DH will provide name labels for the next meeting.
Copyright ©2011 by the maple surgery patient participation group
Last updated on 1 March 2011 by the Webmaster