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User Group
The user group exists to work with the practice to continually improve the service on offer. The group at present comprises 10 patients with a particular interest in improving Audley Mills Surgery. Most of the members have been patients of the surgery for many years, so they've seen the service develop hugely from the early days. We would like the group to be more representative of younger people so do consider whether this might be for you.
AUDLEY MILLS USER GROUP MEETING
Minutes of Meeting 5th October 2011
1. Welcome & Minutes of last meeting
B. Dawbarn (BD) welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.
2. Minutes of last meeting
These were agreed as correct
3. Action arising
- Patients checking in at the main surgery
S Doherty (SD) said that since the last meeting, the doctors had agreed to put the system into practice in the main surgery. He said that by and large, it worked very well although initially he had received three complaints from patients who felt that queuing up to check in was very stressful if they were waiting to be called. He said however, he had received no recent complaints and hoped that as patients became familiar with the procedure, there would be few problems. He said that the benefits had proved to be quite substantial, particularly as it enabled the receptionists to make sure patients are in the correct building and also to inform them if the doctor was running late. BD said he was pleased to note this change as this matter had been high on the list of patient requests in recent surveys.
SD said that the new patient questionnaire now contained questions about carers, but he had not yet amended the website.
Action: S Doherty to arrange this.
SD said that Brian Dawbarn, Val Bramley and Mrs Smith had all visited the surgery to hand out questionnaires to patients. He went through a few of the results of this. He then went on to explain that later in the meeting he would be discussing Patient Reference Groups and e-mail questionnaires.
SD said that he had tested the phone system when there were queues and as far as he could tell, there didn't seem to be a situation where patients were placed in two queues -- one to get into the system and then one to speak to reception. However, he did agree that particularly around 8 AM the heavy demand could cause some frustrations to patients.
- Appointments on SystmOnline
SD said that there were a large number of appointments available for patients to book ahead or on the day. BD asked how many appointments on average were used by patients each day. SD said that between 15 and 20 would be an average. BD said he was surprised that this figure was so low and all of the Group thought that more effort should be made to advertise the service. It was suggested that the JAYEX boards in both waiting rooms should carry a message, as well as a message on the website and perhaps possibly asking the receptionists to give out slips of paper explaining the system to all patients.
Action: SD to arrange this.
SD confirmed that this had been done
4. Comments/suggestions from Group members
- There was a discussion about the procedure with repeat prescription requests if there is a query. SD explained that usually a note would be left on the request, but accepted that this did mean that the patient was not aware of any problem until they came to collect their prescription. The Group felt that it would be better patient service if wherever possible the patient was notified in advance of any problem. SD said that he thought the reason that this had not been done in the past is because it was very time and labour-intensive.
Action: SD to raise this with the doctors to ask their opinion.
- There was a question about patient complaints and how they were dealt with and what records were kept. SD explained the procedure. He was asked if the future meetings, subject to the doctor's approval, the summary of the complaints could be brought to the meeting for discussion.
Action :SD said he would discuss this with the doctors.
- It was mentioned that one member of the group had seen a patient in a mobility scooter having difficulty negotiating the access to the waiting area in the Education Centre. SD said that he felt it was unlikely that many buildings could cope with this. He said that the Education Centre had been converted in accordance with all the usual NHS guidelines. He was asked to keep an eye on the situation and to speak to the receptionists to let him know if they noticed any further problems.
- There was a question about the new outpatient procedure at Southend Hospital and whether the Surgery was aware of the problems with patients trying to book in. Doctor Wright said he hadn't heard of any complaints.
5. Update
SD said that this was one of the quietest times of the year and it showed because there were appointments available quite easily. He said that the system of having 850 minimum per week had seemed to ease the fluctuations.
- PCT/Consortia/Clinical Commissioning Groups/other PPGs
SD said the PCT was going through a time of great change as up to 50% of the staff were being made redundant, either voluntarily or enforced. Apart from the sympathy that everybody felt for this, the direct effect was that it was very difficult to find who to speak to the PCT and who was responsible for what.
The Enterprise Consortia was now to be known as the Rayleigh and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group. He said that this group was still working together well and starting talks also with the Castle Point Group in order to be of sufficient size to be authorised under the new NHS bill. He said that BD had attended some of the meetings and was in the process of setting up a meeting with the patient representatives of all practices.
SD said that the only recent change had been that new Registrars had joined to replace those who had left.
SD said that the annual flu campaign was just starting and it was planned to vaccinate up to 4800 patients.
SD said that the deadline for this had been moved back, but shortly no doubt the Practice would have to register and do all of the paperwork involved.
6. Patient Reference Groups and e-mail questionnaires
SD said that the PCT had sent out an Enhanced Service which asked Practices to consult with patient groups. This is not intended to replace the patient user groups, but to run alongside them. He said that Doctor Kerry had spent some time on this and had devised an online questionnaire that could be sent to groups of patients. It was hoped that this would be done by means of e-mails and the Surgery was at the present time collecting e-mail addresses. Over time, it could get quite complicated as the groups would have to be organised into different categories, possibly by age or by condition.
A question was asked about how patients not having an e-mail address would be contacted and it was agreed that they should be done, but in the first instance it was important to get the system up and running.
The draft questionnaire was shown to the Group and was agreed.
7. Blue Badge Scheme
Dr Taylor had asked for this item to be put on the agenda as he wanted the patients’ views about the possible abuse of this scheme. He said that it wasn't easy for a GP to decide how far a patient could walk and Dr Wright agreed, saying that it put the GP in a very difficult situation. However, some members of the group said that it was very important scheme and of great use to the patients. They agreed that some people have abused it and the only possible solution would be for an independent assessment, but apart from that possibility it was not easy to decide what action to could be taken about this.
8. AOB
BD said that whilst it wasn't necessary to hold meetings more than twice a year, he thought that any action from the meetings should be reported back sooner and suggested that a report should be sent to the Group not more than 3 months after each meeting.
Action : SD to do this
Date of next meeting : Wednesday 28th March 2012
6.30pm Audley Mills Education Centre
Minutes of Meeting 23rd March 2011
1. Welcome & Minutes of last meeting
B. Dawbarn welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. He particularly welcomed Mrs Val Bramley who had newly joined the Group and also welcomed Doctor Wright and Doctor Arikawe who were joining for this session.
S. Doherty said that he had received a message from Beverley Rolfe to say that unfortunately she would be unable to attend any future meetings as the timing did not suit her domestic arrangements. He said that he had thanked her for participating and said that she could contact him any time with any concerns.
2. Minutes of last meeting
These were agreed as correct
3. Action arising
- Patients checking in at the main surgery
S Doherty said that the doctors had discussed the suggestion, but were of the opinion that there was just not sufficient space for a queue of patients waiting to check in as the reception area in the main surgery is always very busy. It is used for making appointments and collecting prescriptions as well as other queries, whereas the area in the Education Centre is only for checking in. It was felt that this was unfortunate, but understandable and it was suggested that the idea should be revisited at sometime in the future.
S Doherty said that the subject of carers had been discussed and he agreed that not a lot of time was being spent on collecting the data. However, this is because it was very time consuming and often patients were not willing to be labelled as carers. It was suggested that the question about whether they were carers could be put on the new patient form which is completed by each new patient when they join the Practice and it was also suggested that information should be put on the website.
Action: S Doherty to arrange this.
4. Questionnaire results
B Dawbarn explained that he had devised a questionnaire to be given to patients and had enlisted the help of Mrs Smith and Mrs Bramley. They had approached patients in both waiting rooms and the results had been collated. The issues raised were discussed and these included favourable comments about the premises and the doctors and some unfavourable comments regarding the phone system and the attitude of receptionists. B Dawbarn thanked Mrs Bramley for collating the information for the Group.
It was agreed that the questionnaire should be amended slightly and then left for patients to complete if they wished and any completed forms to be given to B Dawbarn. It was also agreed that if any member of the User Group wanted to spend a short time giving out the forms, this would be welcome. If anyone wishes to do this, they should contact S Doherty beforehand.
Action : S Doherty to amend the form and to arrange for them to be left out in the waiting areas.
5. Update
SD said that the Surgery was operating quite well at the moment despite this being the busiest time of the year for appointments. He said that making sure that there are at least 850 appointments available each week seemed to satisfy the demand, although there were always fluctuations and, with the book on day system, always people having to wait on the phone first thing in the morning. This led to a discussion about promoting the SystmOnline online appointment system for those patients able to have access to a computer.
Action : SD to check the phone system to make sure that patients are not being held in 2 queues -- one to get through and then one to speak to reception.
Action : SD to look at how many available appointments are shown on SystmOnline on various different days and times.
SD said that a new newsletter was in the process of being prepared. He said that he would be grateful for any suggestions for items to be included. BD reminded SD that on the last occasion he had asked if the newsletter could be circulated to members of the user group.
Action: SD to arrange this.
SD said that there were no significant changes planned to the premises for the time being. He said that the decision to change the room on the second floor of the Education Centre had been postponed, possibly permanently. It was felt that there was sufficient need for this room for meetings and that it would not be as effective to convert it to consulting rooms.
SD said that there had been no major changes to the doctors in the last six months. Several long serving members of staff had retired recently.
SD said that the usual annual flu campaign had gone very well and as a result of the publicity surrounding swine flu, all of the vaccines had been used. He said that the swine flu panic had caused quite a few problems, but overall, this campaign had gone well.
BD said that he had been given some literature regarding this to read by SD and he said that it was important that members of the Group realised how much bureaucracy was involved in running General Practice these days. He said that the new guidelines ran to several hundred pages and there were many categories that had to be satisfied on an annual return. The Practice would have to sign up to this register after October 2011.
6. The Health & Social Care Bill
SD said that no doubt many of the members would be aware of this legislation which was currently being debated in Parliament. He said that unless it was changed, from April 2013 each GP Practice would be involved in purchasing all health services for its patients and would have to work in conjunction with other Practices in local consortia. He gave out a list of the practices that are currently working together in the Enterprise Consortium.
He said that Patient User Groups would be very important in developing new services and responding to requests for feedback concerning the quality of the services provided.
He said that the current position was that the Enterprise Consortium was just looking at starting to shadow a budget and prepare plans for the future.
7. Enhanced Services – new criteria regarding Patient Groups
SD said that there had been new Enhanced Services published for the following year and these emphasised the importance of consultations with patient user groups.
8. Diabetes Clinics
Dr Wright gave a short presentation about the provision of diabetes services by the Practice and how the provision of diabetic clinics was a large part of the healthcare provision. He also answered various questions on the subject and was congratulated on the excellent service to the patients.
Action : SD to find out if a general diabetes advice leaflet is available for RAVS.
Date of next meeting : Wednesday 5th October 2011
6.30pm Audley Mills Education Centre
Minutes of Meeting 29th September 2010
1. Welcome & Minutes of last meeting
B. Dawbarn welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.
2. Minutes of last meeting
These were agreed as correct
3. Action arising
Steve Doherty said that this item had been raised because of concerns that certain doctors were running late and this is inconveniencing patients. He had at BD's request asked the receptionists to keep a note of patients who had asked at reception if doctors were running late. He said that on average there were between two and 10 of these each week and these usually related to the same doctor. He said however that this had been discussed on several occasions with the group and, to be frank, it was unlikely that the doctor would change. One member of the group said that in some ways this was to be applauded as the doctor spent as much time as she felt necessary.
The discussion continued about whether the patients should check in at the main surgery as well as in the education centre. It was generally felt that provided the queue didn't become too long in the main surgery, this would be worth trying as it would give a chance for the receptionists to advise patients if the doctor was running particularly late, so that at least they would be aware at that time. It would also provide the facility to pass on messages etc and will also inform the doctor how many patients were waiting in the waiting room.
Action: Steve Doherty to mention this to the doctors
4. Update
Workload and appointments. SD said that there were no great problems with appointments at the present time. He said that the doctors had decided to fix a minimum of 850 appointments per week, although usually there were more than that offered. However, having the minimum figure meant that at times of great demand or bank holidays etc. the backlog did not build up.
There was some discussion about the system online bookings and also whether e-mails could be used better in future.
Newsletter : A draft copy of the newsletter was given to the group with a request to advise within a few days if they have any comments or additions to make.
Surgery premises : SD said that the conversion of the education centre had worked very well, but despite the additional six consulting rooms, the surgery needed more. He said that the partners were looking at converting one of the meeting rooms in the education centre in to two consulting rooms and a small waiting area. He said that the only problem with this is that patients would still have to check in on the first floor, as that would be the reception area, and they would then have to come up to the second floor to wait there.
Staff and Doctor changes : SD said that an additional trainee doctor had been taken on, which made a total of 4 registrars. He was also pleased to say that Dr T Wright had recently become a partner at the practice.
Flu and swine flu : SD said that the flu campaign had just started and it was slightly complicated because the government had decided to include a strain of swine flu this year, which some of the patients had reservations about.
Summary Care Records : SD said that the practice’s position had not changed in respect of this, in that the Partners were reluctant to agree to the patients’ details being held centrally. However, they would review this as things progressed.
5. The White Paper
SD had prepared a short presentation about this. He said that if the legislation went ahead as planned, the GPs would have to work together in a consortium with other local GPs. The existing enterprise PBC group would possibly form the basis of this consortium, but it was not possible to say what the implications would be for the patients until further details were received following the consultation exercise.
6. Carers
Mrs Smith & B Dawbarn had attended a conference about this on behalf of the user group. Mrs Smith wanted to know how the practice recorded carers and in particular she was concerned about child carers i.e. children who are caring for others. SD said that the practice can take note of carers when it is brought to their attention and that the doctors were aware of the recommendation to record this information. However, he said that to date there were not many on the carers register and it is perhaps an area that needs more attention.
There was a suggestion of working closely with RAVS to help with carers. It was also suggested that up to 10% of the patients were either carers or being cared for.
7. Comments/Suggestions from members.
There was a suggestion that the User Group could be of more assistance to the Practice as a whole, although there was no firm suggestion regarding in exactly what area. Possibly the Group could look into the standard of cleanliness in the Surgery. Also, it was suggested that they could carry out any patient research that was wanted by the Practice by interviewing patients in the waiting room. The result of any such survey could then be presented to the Partners at a practice meeting by a member of the group. SD said that he would discuss this with the Partners.
Date of next meeting : Wednesday 23rd March 2011
6.30pm Audley Mills Education Centre
Minutes of Meeting 17th March 2010
1. Welcome & Minutes of last meeting
B. Dawbarn welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.
Steve Doherty said that he had received apologies from Lisa Penfold. He had also had a letter from Mr and Mrs Kersey to say that they no longer wished to be members of the group. He said that he had written to them thanking them for their previous participation and saying that they could attend at any time that they wished in the future.
2. Minutes of last meeting
These were agreed as correct
3. Action arising
Brochure on the webpage. There was some discussion about how practical it was to include the practice brochure on the Audley Mills webpage. It was agreed that the webpage probably already contained all of the information in the brochure anyway.
Online phlebotomy booking: it was confirmed that this was now operational and the phlebotomist could be booked by clicking on the name of the phlebotomist to see what sessions were available.
4. Update
Workload and appointments. SD said that there had been a huge increase in the demand recently and the Surgery was struggling to cope with this. However, he was confident that within the next couple of weeks the demand would ease and also an additional GP would be returning from leave, which would ease the situation. He said that the patient list size was the same, more or less, but that the demand still seem to be increasing.
He said that the main problem was still the telephone lines and that this had recently been confirmed by the patient survey. He said that provided the partners agreed, two further lines would be set up, but as was mentioned, this would only be of use if there were sufficient appointments.
He said that also the PCT had increased the bureaucracy of general practice by a significant amount within the last few months. Apart from the 30 or so Enhanced Services that needed returns, sometimes on a monthly basis, there were regular visits by various people from the PCT to audit and check the Surgery. It was accepted by the doctors that whilst some of this was necessary, it was also felt that some of it was too overenthusiastic.
Newsletter : A new newsletter had been given outpatients and left in the waiting room.
Learning Disability Enhanced Service: Dr Kerry gave a short presentation of this as an example of how complicated some Enhanced Services were and whilst worthwhile, they took up a great deal of staff and clinical time.
Surgery premises : SD said that the Education Centre was working well and the partners have now spent a considerable sum on decorating and fitting out the main Surgery. The public toilets in particular had been renovated and there were now baby changing facilities.
Practice Based Commissioning : SD said that there had been a change in the way that practices were being organised for practice based commissioning and the larger groups now be enlarged with additional practices. He was hopeful that this would result in a more effective service.
Flu and swine flu : SD said that the swine flu vaccination campaign had caused quite a number of problems, but once the vaccination programme had started, demand had dropped off considerably. He said that about 900 vaccines had been given. He said that the usual annual flu campaign had been very successful again this year.
Summary Care Records : There was a discussion about the letters which had been sent out to all patients regarding this and the opinions of the doctors about the advisability of opting in or opting out. It was agreed that they should be left to the individual patient to decide.
Choices website : SD said that this service now showed comments that patients were able to post about the Surgery, whether complimentary are not. He put up the website on the PC so that the group could discuss them.
5 . Future direction of Group. There was some discussion about the future direction of the group, as it was felt that it certainly needed a younger members and the existing group said that they would see if they could recommend anybody.
6. Comments/Suggestions from members.
BD asked if a note could be taken of every time a patient queries at reception whether a doctor is running late. He said that it would be useful to see what numbers were involved.
Action : SD to organise this .
There was also a suggestion that on the system online booking service, if possible a note should be added to explain to patients that if a doctor is not shown, this means that they are unavailable, which could be because they are already fully booked or they could just be absent on leave or doing another kind of clinic..
It was pointed out that a notice to say that the Education Centre was closed was confusing patients as some didn't appreciate this just meant for an hour or two. SD said he would look into the wording of this.
Research
Dr Kerry said that the practice had signed up to become a research practice, as he felt that this would be of benefit to the patients.
The date of the next meeting was agreed on 29 September 2010.
Minutes of Meeting 16th September 2009
* Welcome & Minutes of last meeting
B. Dawbarn welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.
* Education Programme
S. Doherty said that patients had been advised of the fact that they could book ahead and did not just have to book on the day by way of messages on the Surgery’s web page as well as additional information in the new practice brochure. There was some discussion about the brochure and it was agreed that Dr. Kerry would see if it was possible to add the brochure itself to the surgery website.
* Time BODs filled
The time when the last BOD appointment had gone was discussed. The data collected showed that this varied from one extreme of 8.20am to 11.30am or even later. It was agreed that it was very difficult to anticipate the demand and to balance what could be offered between appointments that could be booked ahead and ones that should be available on the day.
Dr. Kerry said that the extended hours had resulted in an additional 60 appointments a week and more appointments had also been offered as a result in changes to the GPs availability (see later).
* Telephone Advice & Consultations
SD said that the receptionists were still available to take messages to be passed to the doctors for them to phone back patients at the end of their surgeries. AK said that the recent Swine Flu workload had necessitated changes to the appointments in order that the doctors could speak to patients on the phone. This had been arranged by blocking out appointment slots and it was something the surgery might consider in the future.
* Rudeness & Receptionists
It seemed there had been no recent complaints about this.
* Running Late
SD explained that it was still difficult to advise patients if a particular doctor was running late, but it had been interesting that in the Education Centre where patients booked in, it was easy for a receptionist to advise at that time if a doctor was running late. It was agreed that consideration should be given to asking patients to check-in at the main surgery, although there were still reservations that because of the queues to pick up prescriptions and for general queries, it might not be workable.
* Toilets
SD confirmed that a member of staff was inspecting these on a regular basis.
* Signage in new building
This seemed to be satisfactory. SD said that there were still a few more signs to be fitted.
* Phlebotomy Service
The surgery was now operating its own phlebotomy service with two Phlebotomists and this had proved to be very satisfactory indeed. There was a question about whether the service could be booked online and SD said that he would look into this.
There was also a question about whether the patients being written to, to attend the clinics were being advised of the correct to telephone to make an appointment for their bloods to be taken.
* Public Educational Meetings
AK reported on the meeting that he had recently organised.
2. UPDATE
* Education Centre
AK and SD advised that so far this was working very well indeed and the patients seemed to be very pleased with it. Six doctors were based there as well as one nurse and there were even plans to have regular physiotherapy from Southend Hospital.
* Staff & Doctor Changes
SD said that Dr. L. Saville had just started twelve months maternity leave and that a new salaried GP had joined the practice on a full-time basis – Dr. Arikawe. He also said that Dr. R. Genthe was starting a six months sabbatical shortly.
* Practice Based Commissioning
At B. Dawbarn's request, SD summarised Practice Based Commissioning and how it affected the practice and its patients. He explained that initially the surgery had been working on its own and then had been grouped with a further four practices and now it would appear that other practices were to be added to the group. He said it was difficult to say that any of the patient benefits had yet accrued, but there certainly had been some gains through working with other practices.
* Flu / Swine Flu
SD said that the normal annual Flu campaign was due to start shortly, but this year it would be more complicated as it would appear that the Swine Flu vaccine would also be offered at the same time. There was some discussion about this.
3. LOCAL ENHANCED SERVICE
The PCT had offered a Local Enhanced Service for patient participation groups and there was some discussion about whether the group wanted to comply with the terms of this as it involved meeting four times a year, displaying the minutes for all patients to see and setting up a separate notice board in the waiting room. It would also be necessary to issue two practice news letters and to review the practice leaflet with the user group. Finally, there would need to be a nominated representative of the group who could attend PCT and other meetings.
The group were quite positive about this and felt that it should be relatively easy for the conditions to be satisfied. Mrs. S. Smith agreed to be the nominated representative and she would also discuss with the PCT expenses if she was required to attend meetings at the PCT.
4. COMMENTS FROM GROUP MEMBERS
There was a general discussion about the surgery and its service, but no specific problems or complaints.
5. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 7.00PM - 17TH MARCH 2010
(Although there will be an interim meeting in approximately three months time – further details to be announced).
Minutes of Meeting 4th February 2009
- Tour of new building – the group was shown round Audley Mills Medical Education Centre – almost complete but unfurnished!
- Compared with previous years there is little overall change.
- Satisfaction with phoning through to surgery has deteriorated further – despite having extra people answering phones in the mornings.
- Satisfaction with hours of access has improved – reflecting satisfaction at the Extended Opening Hours now provided.
The results were discussed further as follows.
Brian picked up on the poor satisfaction with telephone access and asked if even more lines and personnel could be made available during the busy morning periods. Alan wondered if this problem was in part due to ‘panic buying’ of a limited commodity and simply dealing with this by increasing phone access would only mean that the available appointments were booked even sooner, which might lead even more people to attend the surgery in person at 7am to book appointments. Increasing access needs to go hand in hand with a further education programme encouraging patients that they do not need to book appointments early in the morning if they can book for an appointment 1-2 weeks in advance.
Sydney made the observation that the current rush to book appointments in the early morning was biased towards ambulant patients who can physically attend surgery at 7am to book their appointment which was unfair to the less mobile.
We will look at the time at which all the book on day appointments get fully booked (i.e. have they all gone by 9am?) to see if this supports the ‘panic-buying’ hypothesis.
Brian noted that overall satisfaction with quality of care remains high – in the comments section, 41 individuals took the time to praise the quality of care while 7 made negative comments regarding the care they had experienced.
Barbara highlighted the problem with being put on hold for a specific call option – if that phone is not manned then the patient has to hang up and phone again in order to select a different option. She had had difficulty obtaining telephone advice – on one occasion a patient with an allergic reaction had not been advised to ring 999 if they deteriorated. On another occasion Pauline had been told that to speak to a Dr the receptionist ‘had to set-up a task…he might phone you back’ – this is a receptionist training issue and we need a more consistent approach to our delivery of telephone advice, whether from receptionist, doctor or nurse.
Lisa spoke about having a system of telephone consultations which could be booked into (rather than the on-call Dr dealing with them all as ‘tasks’) we will again look into this way of working.
Brian pointed out that in the comments section there were 13 comments regarding rudeness of receptionists. While all acknowledge that they do a difficult job and dealing with the public is not always easy, we accept that this level of complaint is higher than we would like it to be.
Patients waiting times for consultations – it was again agreed that a wait of up to 30 minutes is sometimes to be expected but if a Dr is running more than 30 minutes late it would be helpful to put a sign up warning the patients that ‘Dr X is running late – please call at reception’.
Brian also picked up on a few comments regarding cleanliness of the toilets. We will consider identifying a member of staff to undertake regular toilet checks throughout the day but recognise that it only takes one inconsiderate user for toilets to be left in an unhygienic state and we will still rely on patients reporting problems when they occur.
- Other Suggestions from the Group
It was agreed that the current waiting time for phlebotomy was unacceptably long (often well over a week) – we hope to re-provide phlebotomy in house now that we have extra space and are negotiating this service with the hospital trust.
Choose and Book was discussed – the view was that the booking side is helpful, but for the majority of people the choice element adds further unnecessary confusion. Our ‘choice’ (as doctors and users) would be that Southend Hospital provides comprehensive high quality care across all specialties.
Practice Based Commissioning – are there any plans to provide new services through this commissioning route? Eye procedures were mentioned as was audiology services as possible areas of interest to the user group.
- Audley Mills Medical Education Centre – awaiting furniture, imminent opening, negotiations with acute trust and other providers regarding other service provision from this facility. The conference room is available to hire to other community groups. There were concerns about potential confusion for patients knowing where their appointment would be held. Good clear signs are necessary. The user group would like to be involved in advising and approving the signage and access for the new building.
- SystmOnline – a new way to order repeat prescriptions, book appointments, or ask email questions of the practice. Patients need a login and password to access this service. It was agreed that it would be worthwhile asking patients for a simple confirmatory ID before we issue the login and password, to prevent breaches of confidentiality. The service will be advertised by posters, leaflets, the website etc. The hope is that the service use will grow gradually as more patients register for it. There are some small staff-training issues before we ‘go-live’ with this service – patients can register when the system is advertised on the website frontpage (soon!)
- Public Education Meetings – the conference room will be used to hold public education meetings and debates on topics of wide interest. The first meeting on ‘Statins and Statistics’ is booked for April. It was suggested that Diabetes would be a good topic for a future meeting.
- Next Meeting – It was agreed we would meet 6-monthly rather than annually, meetings without a member of the practice staff had been tried but were frustrating and not considered worthwhile.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING – WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 th at 7pm
Actions arising:
- A further education programme encouraging patients that they do not need to rush to book appointments early in the morning if they can book for an appointment 1-2 weeks in advance
- Analyse time of day that book-on-day appointments get filled – this acts as a measure of our success in discouraging ‘panic buying’ as well as demonstrating easier access to book appointments if it becomes later in the day
- Telephone advice and Telephone consultations – we need to look at this and provide a more consistent service – perhaps using booked telephone consultations with doctors
- Rudeness and Receptionists – we will again endeavour to address this through our regular staff training
- Notify patients if a Dr is running more than 30minutes late
- Identify a member of staff to become a ‘toilet monitor’
- Continue to press for in-house phlebotomy service
- Involve the user group in the signage for the new building
- Go live with SystmOne and advertise it appropriately
- Proceed with public educational meetings
DATE OF NEXT MEETING – WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 th at 7pm
PUBLIC FORUM -27th FEBRUARY 2008
Rayleigh Cricket Club
MINUTES
Present : Dr. Kerry, Steve Doherty, Brian Dawbarn, Sydney Smith, Barbara Dunmore, George Dunmore, Sylvia & Brian Kersey plus 7 other patients
BD introduced himself, Dr Kerry and Steve Doherty and explained that this meeting was arranged so that the patients of Audley Mills Surgery could have a chance to comment on the results of the GPAQ (General Practice Assessment Questionnaire) which had been completed by nearly 500 patients over a two month period.
AK then gave a presentation, starting with the comment that the overall results were good and covered the following points :
Improvements
- Phoning through to Practice
- Satisfaction with receptionists
- Overall satisfaction with Practice
Not as good
- Satisfaction with opening hours
- Satisfaction with waiting times at Practice
- Doctor quality points (listening, putting at ease, time spent, patience, caring)
Positive comments
- The standards are very high
- Doctors are always concerned and understanding
- Comprehensive range of services available
- Service shows continual improvement
- You can be seen on the same day you ring (6 comments praising appointment system)
- The diabetic clinic care is excellent
- My doctor is superb ( 16 comments praising individual doctors)
- You have the best doctors in the service (14 comments praising all doctors)
Negative comments
- Some doctors are better than others (10 comments)
- Just the booking of appointments (22 comments)
- Would like longer hours (17 comments)
- Receptionist’s manner (12 comments)
- Waiting times
- Would be good if blood tests could be done on the spot
- Telephone access
- The Practice should not charge for forms to be signed
There then followed a question and answer session where the following points were raised;
- Problems with booking appointments at the Rayleigh Clinic for blood tests as well as the problem of arranging visits. It was commented that the service was very good once the appointment was made, but there was often a delay before being seen.
- A patient had experienced difficulty making an appointment with a nurse for ear syringing, despite being able to give a week’s notice.
- How would the Surgery cope with a large increase in demand if, for example there was an epidemic. AK said that the GPs could be flexible, possibly with open surgeries, if necessary.
- A patient commented on the excellent service given by NHS Direct.
- Several patients were concerned about access to records. SD said that at the moment, no Outside Agency could see their records, and if any information was requested, it would only be given with the patient’s consent. However, he shared the concern about future shared information.
- A patient said that the GPs deserved to have time off
- Receptionists were not a particular problem
- It was accepted that there could be longer waiting times if patients wanted to see a particular doctor
- There was a request for a well-man clinic
- The issue of notifying patients in the Waiting Room if a doctor is running late was discussed. SD said that it was not practical to update patients for each doctor on a regular basis. It was then suggested that a message be put up asking patients to report to reception if a doctor was running late and he agreed to try this.
- There was a discussion about patients not turning up for appointments. AK said that there was now a text number to help patients advise of cancellations.
- The question of telephone access to GPs was discussed. AK said that obviously GPs could not take calls during surgery, but they did return calls if messages were left.
- One patient felt that it should be made clear when they were seeing a Registrar
- It was felt that patients often didn’t take in everything during a consultation. AK agreed and said that GPs tried to bear this in mind.
AK then continued with a further presentation on GPs’ thoughts about the current political atmosphere and, on a more positive note, announced that it is likely that within the next few months, the Practice may be able to lease an adjacent building which would enable the doctors to provide new services as well as improve the current facilities.
BD closed the meeting with thanks to all who had attended.
These minutes can be downloaded as a PDF here...
AMUG Minutes of Meeting - 27th February 2008
A specially recorded MP3 of the presentation is HERE
Which runs with this PowerPoint
Brian Dawbarn chairs the group and can be contacted here:
brian@bandsdawbarn.worldonline.co.uk
Food for thought:
Last year we offered over 50,000 doctor appointments (that’s not counting practice nurses, HCAs etc.) This is 10% more than the previous year. The doctors also conducted nearly 2000 home visits, 40% up on 2004/5.
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