Patient Participation Group Meeting

18th January 2024

Present for Statham Grove Surgery (SGS)

Dylan Reynolds – Practice Manager (DR)
Dr Emma West GP Partner (EW)

PPG Members Present

Sallie
Jean
Rachel
Petrie
Anne
Hilary
Tony

Updates following previous meeting

Disabled access doors

Dylan is currently getting quotes, work should start within the next month and be completed by 31st March 2024. Dylan gives a quick recap on PPG funds make available to be spent as directed by the PPG.

Patient Access App

Removed from website.

Following feedback at the last meeting, Patient Access app was removed as it heavily advertised local private health services.

New Rapid Health System

Dr West explains a pilot of a new online patient consultation system, the aim is not to push everyone online or have a total triage system, Statham Grove Surgery want patients to be able contact the surgery and ask for appointment vis telephone and in person. However, we would like to provide a better system to guide patients to the correct appointment within the correct timeframe, we would like to move away of the morning rush of a huge queue of patients phoning at 8am for non-urgent appointments and requests. Rapid health screens medical requests and categorises them in order of urgency, these are screened by a GP and appointments are made within appropriate timeframes, if we are happy with this process the next stage will be for the system to email appointment options for patients to self-book. This will be overseen by a GP, this is a pilot and all feedback on the system is most welcome.

Medicines Waste Campaign

Will focus in reducing packaging waste and asthma inhalers. Some materials will be promoted. More information will be forthcoming.

PCN Update - Dr Emma West

Dr West discusses PCN wide services that are being rolled out including, community groups for loneliness and isolation support, educational events for child vaccination and general health including a Health and Wellbeing Fair at Hackney Town Hall on 25th January.

PPG Member Agenda points

Patient pathways - communicating with the surgery, making sure pathways are communicated to patients effectively:

App, Website, Online consult, phone, email, in person; which is the correct pathway

NHS App and access to the surgery

A discussion on the NHS App, a member asks what are the usage stats for it? Dylan will look into this as an action from meeting.

Discussion on how to best use the app, how to access medical records and test results, there is a feeling that there is not enough available information on how to register and access medical records on NHS App, it is suggested that there could be better guidance on the Statham Grove for this. There is also a discussion on more digital help onsite, could we have a computer terminal in the waiting room with a tutor on certain days, it is felt this is something well worth looking into, it would also be important to make sure these services are available in different languages.

A PPG member requests that the self-referral information is made more obvious on the website.

There is a discussion on calling the surgery at 8am, feedback is this is the best way to get an on the day appointment, it is phone on the day or wait 2-3 weeks, Statham Grove are trying to move away from this system, to allow for more appointments to be available for the same week, then 2 and 3 weeks in advance, we want patients to be able to phone for urgent on the day appointments but to also make access easier for non-urgent appointments, there are many calls that come in a 8am which are non-urgent, it would be easier for the patient and surgery to deal with them at a less busy period during the day- Admin queries, repeat prescriptions, access to records vis NHS app, referral questions can all be submitted online or can be dealt with at less busy times of the day than 8am.

Next meeting date and topic for discussion

Booked provisionally for 18th April 2024

Actions

Uptake and usage stats for NHS app to be obtained.
Look into possibility of onsite digital tuition.
How to guides (including video) on website for the NHS App
A member of the PPG to feedback on areas of improvement on the website, to describe the patient experience.