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| 2012 |
Executive Committee Members: Patricia Daniels (PD), John Doland (JD), David Harper (DH), Joyce Jarvis (JJ), Chris Stannard (CS), L.M. Stockman (LMS)
Emilio Ceraudo (EC) and Terri Pope (TP) were absent with apologies.
Surgery Representatives: Dr Gysbert Fourie (DrGF), Fiona McGlashan (FM), Jenny Moyes (JM)
Trish Hawitt Palmer (THP) was absent with apologies.
CS, as acting chairman, introduced DrGF and FM to the Committee.
The minutes from the meeting of 29 February 2012 were approved.
FM is spearheading the arrangements and promotion of the next Health Awareness Event which is entitled 'Worried about memory?' The title went through several changes before it met with general approval and LMS has designed the preliminary posters/leaflets. FM said that the speakers (Dr Sue Green, Dr Emma Tiffin, the Alzheimer's Society) have all been confirmed and that a number of organisations have agreed to provide information stalls. These organisations include
FM is still waiting to hear from Age UK and Help at Home.
FM also said that Tesco had donated a £20 voucher towards the cost of providing refreshments.
Action: FM will finalise arrangements for information stalls next week. Once all of the participants are known, LMS will design new posters and send them to FM and JM.
FM went on to say that Dr Green would probably focus on speciality care and Dr Tiffin on community care. CS asked if the topic of younger people suffering from dementia was going to be addressed and DrFG replied that all of the speakers would probably touch on this as dementia has no age limit.
CS asked the Committee if they though another meeting prior to the event was necessary. FM said that the speakers would be ready to go and it was generally agreed that another meeting would be unnecessary with any further arrangements made via email.
Action: Everyone who can will meet at the church at 6:00 p.m. to put out chairs, make refreshments, greet visitors and otherwise set up.
Action: Posters will be distributed locally (library, parish council notice board, Tesco pharmacy, etc.) and to nearly surgeries. PD will put out posters in local villages (JM will ring her when the posters are ready). The surgery will put up posters in reception and also hand out flyers in the weeks preceding the event.
Because the Health Awareness Event would occur the day following the next scheduled meeting, it was decided to cancel the April meeting. Because of schedule conflicts, the July meeting will occur on 18 July, the third Wednesday of the month.
Action: LMS will make a new meeting schedule poster for the surgery's reception area.
DrFG announced the appointment of a new GP from April. Dr Sripat Pai, originally from the north of England, will be holding clinics on a regular basis starting next week (first week of April). The surgery would like to offer more long-term positions but this is not possible during this time of change in the NHS.
From April, Dr Pai and Dr Tiffin will hold clinics on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday whilst the partners will be present on Wednesday and Friday.
The nurses are taking over more of the management of long-term health conditions.
DH asked how the early opening hours once a week were doing. JM said that they were very successful, particularly for those needing to get blood work done (like fasting blood tests). Tuesday morning is the usual early opening day but it depends on which staff are available. CS asked if it was likely that the surgery would offer later opening hours but JM said that was unlikely due to staffing pressures.
CS, referring to a recent incident in a nearby village, asked if Dr Tiffin was able to 'section' anyone under the Mental Health Act 1983. DrGF said no, that a psychiatrist usually had to do that, but that the patient's GP was normally involved.
The Patient Reference Group is getting organised. It will be run as a 'virtual group' where interactions take place online, either web-based or email-based.
The new surgery web site at http://www.maplesurgery.co.uk/ is up and running. The surgery is getting a new computer system in June and after that has been installed, it should be possible to offer online bookings for appointments. The new system will also allow patients to check themselves in when they arrive at the surgery. However, JM stressed that there will always be reception staff on hand to assist anyone who needs or requests it. The new computer system will be the same one used at our 'sister' surgery in Huntingdon (Acorn Surgery) as well as the surgeries in Over and Willingham.
JM said that the surgery closes for half a day, usually once a month, for training purposes. In fact, that very morning the reception staff had been visiting their colleagues at the Acorn Surgery to see the new computer system in action. These training days are held on different days of the week and different times of the day (morning or afternoon) in order that everyone who works at the surgery gets to take part. There are also occasional NHS-wide closures for clinical training sessions.
JD enquired about the Health Walks information that used to be posted on one of the bulletin boards in the surgery. FM said that it had been moved to a different position but that the information was all still there. JM reminded the group that the bulletin boards in the surgery had been completely redone recently.
JD, who also serves on the Bar Hill Parish Council, told the Committee that the Parish Council is currently putting together an emergency disaster plan (required by the local authority) and had asked the surgery for a list of vulnerable patients. He was under the impression that the surgery refused to do this but had offered no explanation. JM said that she had received the letter from the Parish Council but had not yet responded to it, so she was very interested to find out who from the surgery had given this negative answer. JM went on to say that the surgery could not possibly hand over that sort of information because of patient confidentiality concerns. Additionally, such a list would be changing constantly. Also, not everyone in Bar Hill uses the maple surgery so such a list would be incomplete. DH thought that it might be a good idea if someone from the surgery was present at the Parish Council meetings when this was discussed.
Action: JD will find out exactly what response, if any, the Parish Council received from the surgery. JM will prepare the formal response.
The question arose whether or not the surgery and/or the Group should have a stall at the village fête in July.
Action: JM will confer with surgery staff.
Action: CS will act as chairman for the Health Awareness Event. PD will act as chairman for the May and June meetings.
LMS discussed a recent article which demonstrated some simple techniques aimed at reducing the number of DNAs (patients who 'Did Not Attend' their appointment) at the surgery. The paper, 'Commitments, norms and custard creams - a social influence approach to reducing did not attends (DNAs)' by Steve J. Martin, Suraj Bassi, and Rupert Dunbar-Rees, appeared in the March issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, and was mentioned at the BBC.
Action: DH will email the link to the paper to the Committee. The paper was freely available to the public at http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/content/105/3/101.short but now requires a subscription.
The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
The next meeting of the Executive Committee of the PPG will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 30 May 2012, in the Octagon. Tea and coffee will be served before the meeting, from 6:00 p.m.
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