You can now get the contraceptive pill from a local pharmacy with no GP appointment needed. Speak to your local pharmacist, whether you’re looking to start the pill or already taking it. It’s free, confidential, and no appointment needed – just walk in.
Find your nearest Pharmacy at: nhs.uk/nhs-services/pharmacies
Attendees: Dr Brown, Louise Armstrong, Michael N, Jackie S
Apologies – Patient A
Introductions: Dr Brown introduced himself as one of the GP Partners of Horden Group Practice. Introductions made from all present and new member Jackie was welcomed to the group.
Updates since last meeting:
Dr Brown told members that there have been some changes in staffing since the last meeting. Since the last meeting we hired receptionist Hannah who has sadly left us, but we have now employed a new receptionist, Caitlyn. We have had the retirement of Diane who served the practice for over 40 years. Dr Brown explained the new management structure and how things would work now that Diane has gone. He explained that we have 3 GP registrars who will be leaving us this year, and we will be getting 3 new GP registrars. Dr Koganti has sadly handed her notice in, and we are currently interviewing for a new part time GP. Jackie asked what a registrar was and Dr Brown explained that a GP registrar is a qualified doctor who is undertaking their training to become a General Practitioner (GP).
Vaccinations (Reviewed from previous meeting in February)
Dr Brown explained that we ran a successful Saturday covid and flu clinic and we vaccinated over 400 patients. He explained that uptake is continuing to decline around all vaccinations including childhood immunisations.
Secondary care waiting lists (Reviewed from previous meeting in February)
Dr Brown discussed problems with waiting times for patients being seen in secondary care. He pointed out difficulties with patients who are waiting a long time to be seen by specialists in hospitals meaning they are frequently attending the surgery with little that can be done. Waiting times for assessments for ADHD/Autism are especially long and children are waiting up to 4 years to be seen meaning parents are presenting at the surgery asking for help and little can be done in primary care. Dr Brown explained problems in which private companies are being used for these patients under a right to choose but that the process is not deemed sufficient for diagnosis therefore follow up is difficult and NHS providers have decided not to prescribe medications to these patients.
Complaints
Dr Brown spoke to members about the possibility of a change in our complaint’s procedures. Currently all complaints are sent an acknowledgement letter followed by the practice investigating the complaint fully. Dr Brown proposes that complaints that do not meet certain criteria are sent a letter to explain that their complaint does not meet the threshold and no further action would be taken. This would include details of what to do should they still feel they wish to pursue the complaint. PPG members agreed that this would be the most time efficient way of dealing with complaints.
Car Parking
Dr Brown mentioned that there are going to be some changes to parking facilities at Peterlee site. He explained that as we must pass through castle dene car park to access the surgery car park, that we are liable to a fine should we stay in the car park more than 3 hours. Previously all staff would add their registration to a keypad and all would be exempt. Now the car park owners are proposing we have a set number of cars allowed. This will cause problems firstly due to the car park not being big enough for all staff anyway and if staff use up all the space, no patient spaces would be available. Dr Brown proposed that the car park be made staff only excluding 2 disabled bays. PPG members agreed.
The next meeting date will be agreed shortly, and we will send this out via text to those with mobile numbers or letters for those who don’t. Please let us know if there is anyone who expresses interest in attending future groups.
Attendees: Dr Brown, Louise Armstrong, Patient Michael N, Patient Elsie H, Patient A, Patient B, Patient C, Gemma Thompson (Social prescriber)
Introductions: Dr Brown introduced himself as one of the GP partners of Horden Group Practice. Dr Brown introduced Gemma Thompson as our new Social Prescriber/Care Coordinator.
Updates since last meeting:
Dr Brown told members that there have been some changes in staffing since the last meeting. We have recently employed a new health care assistant Sophie and long-standing staff member Nurse Sheila Ferris recently retired. We have also had changes to registrars, Dr Biondi has recently moved on and we now have a new registrar Dr Alex Tunwagun. Dr Jide continues with us until August and Dr Felix until April (Extended to October)
We also spoke about a new service which has recently being trialled within the PCN. DWP worker Michaela has been appointed and will work with patients around benefits, getting back into work etc.
Vaccinations
Dr Brown explained that we ran a successful Saturday covid and flu clinic and we vaccinated over 400 patients. He explained that uptake is continuing to decline around all vaccinations including childhood immunisations.
Secondary care waiting lists
Dr Brown discussed problems with waiting times for patients being seen in secondary care. He pointed out difficulties with patients who are waiting a long time to be seen by specialists in hospitals meaning they are frequently attending the surgery with little that can be done. Waiting times for assessments for ADHD/Autism are especially long and children are waiting up to 4 years to be seen meaning parents are presenting at the surgery asking for help and little can be done in primary care. Dr Brown explained problems in which private companies are being used for these patients under a right to choose but that the process is not deemed sufficient for diagnosis therefore follow up is difficult and NHS providers have decided not to prescribe medications to these patients.
Dr Brown explained that patients are frequently attending for a 10 min GP appointment with lists of problems meaning clinics can run late. He also explained problems with online bookable appointments which are not routinely screened and are being booked inappropriately.
Social prescriber/Care coordinator
Gemma introduced herself and explained her role. Gemma has been working with lots of patients around housing, social isolation, benefits etc. Gemma explained that the coffee mornings are taking place regularly and are available to all not just our patients. PPG members explained that maybe some patients may not know about this and discussed ways of extending the advertising may be through posters, having it on the surgery TVs etc. Louise will look into this (We promote this via our Facebook page and in surgery via posters – We will add this onto our TV screens.)
The next meeting date will be agreed shortly, and we will send this out via text to those with mobile numbers or letters for those who don’t. Please let us know if there is anyone who expresses interest in attending future groups.
We are aware of the upcoming changes to the availability of Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) to a very limited number of patients from 23rd June 2025.
At present, we are awaiting further guidance and arrangements from the North East and North Cumbria ICB.
Please be aware that the criteria for eligibility remains very limited.
The practice will contact you directly if you are eligible.
We kindly ask that you do not book an appointment to request Mounjaro, as we are unable and not allowed to offer it outside of the strict criteria in place.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Minutes of PPG meeting Tuesday 1st October 2024
Attendees: Dr Brown, Louise Armstrong and patients LH, Richard D, Margaret S, Michael N.
Apologies: AS
Introductions: Dr Brown introduced himself as one of the GP partners of Horden Group Practice. Introductions from all attendees.
Updates since last meeting:
Dr Brown told members that there has been little change in admin staffing since the last meeting. The only change is that we have employed a part time receptionist Hannah who will be working one day a week initially.
Dr Brown updated that there has been a change in registrars (trainee GPs) and that Dr Prabhuswamy and Dr Uwadia have moved on and we now have 2 new registrars, Dr Biondi and Dr Jide along with Dr Felix who will be with us until early next year.
Continuity of care
Dr Brown explained to members that the focus of this meeting would be surrounding the promotion of continuity of care for patients. He explained the new GP contract has recommended that GPs decrease the number of patients per session and the time they see a patient to 15 mins per patient contact. He explained that this is not feasible at present without impacting patient care and asked for ideas of how we can ensure patients continue to get a high level of care. Ideas were that GPs work longer days, but Dr Brown pointed out that this would go against what the BMA are recommending avoiding GP burnout. Dr Brown suggested that patients may have a named GP and discussed the idea of having teams of clinicians so that patients ideally get to see the same person more regularly. This was received as a good idea and patients felt that they preferred to see the same GP if they had an ongoing problem but didn’t mind seeing anyone if it was an acute problem. Dr Brown explained this would be a work in progress and welcomed PPG members to bring any ideas into the next meeting.
Vaccinations
Dr Brown explained that the vaccination programme for covid winter boosters and flu vaccinations was beginning this week and that we had booked a Saturday clinic to try and vaccinate as many patients as we could during this clinic so that it wouldn’t impact the weekly running of the Practice. He explained that uptake is continuing to decline around all vaccinations including childhood immunisations. Louise explained that the Practice have also been delivering the RSV vaccinations to eligible patients. For more information please speak to Reception.
CQC rating
The practice is currently rated as “GOOD,” by the care quality commission. The CQC are satisfied with the way the practice is running and performing and therefore decided to defer further inspection.
The next meeting date will be agreed shortly, and we will send this out via text to those with mobile numbers or letters for those who don’t. Please let us know if there is anyone who expresses interest in attending future groups.
Where possible we do request that samples are handed in on a morning, however we ask that all samples are handed in by no later than 3pm each day. This is to ensure they make the last collection to be taken to the Hospital.
Thank you.
March – Thursday 20th from 12noon.
April – Thursday 3rd from 12.30pm.
May – Thursday 22nd from 12noon.
June – Thursday 26th from 12.30pm.
July – Thursday 24th from 12.30pm.
September – Thursday 25th from 12noon.
October – Thursday 23rd from 12.30pm.
From Monday 9th September 2024, the way death certificates are issued is changing. All patient deaths have to be reported to and medical history reviewed by the Medical Examiner before the GP can issue a medical certificate listing cause of death. This may cause a delay for which we apologise.
Attended by: Dr Brown, Louise Armstrong, EH, RD, PJ.
Introductions: Dr Brown introduced himself and explained that Louise as the new Deputy Practice Manager would now be assisting in meetings due to Christine retirement.
Updates since last meeting:
Dr Brown told members that he has recently became a GP Trainer meaning that we now have 3 registrars in the practice. Dr Hashem and Dr Uwa have now moved to other practices, but Dr Uwadia will be staying with us until August. New registrars are Dr Prabhuswamy who will be with us for 3-6 months and Dr Felix who will be with us until February next year.
Dr Jamieson has recently left the practice to work closer to home and Dr Koganti will be returning as salaried GP. This is in addition to Dr Abu who has remained at the practice taking up post as a salaried GP following completion of his training last year.
Our pre-registration pharmacist Jas has remained with the practice as a qualified pharmacist, and we have a new pre-registration pharmacist Nabiha.
Covid/Flu vaccinations:
RD asked if there was any talk about when the next covid booster would be. Dr Brown explained that he thinks covid booster will probably remain just like flu vaccinations and be done yearly but that there is not presently a firm plan. We have however been continuing to give boosters throughout the winter, offering Saturday morning clinics which initially helped uptake but the numbers of people wanting vaccines is dropping. Louise mentioned that there has also been an effect on the uptake of other vaccinations such as shingles due to a lot of misinformation in the media regarding vaccinations. Dr Brown also added that this is also affecting uptake of childhood immunisation and added that having an influx of immigrants registering with the practice is also impacting as vaccination schedules from other countries don’t always match up with our schedule.
Post pandemic working.
Dr Brown explained that we are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic and that although we are totally back to pre-pandemic way of working waiting times at hospitals etc are still very long. He explained that a lot of surgeries have continued to work with mostly telephone consultations but that we are fully open and seeing patients mostly face to face. He explained that due to the long waiting lists for hospital treatments we are often seeing patients coming back time and time again with the same problems. Unfortunately, we feel this is something that will get worse before it gets better due to current situation with strikes etc. We are taking steps to improve access and have increased appointment numbers, especially for urgent on the day problems and the use of eConsult’s etc.
CQC rating
The practice is currently rated as “GOOD,” by the care quality commission. The CQC are satisfied with the way the practice is running and performing and therefore decided to defer further inspection. Due to significant changes in management, we were anticipating a visit but as of, yet this has not happened.
Any other business
RD asked if there had been a problem with medication shortages as he had read something about this. Dr Brown explained that there are numerous problems with medication shortages, and this is putting pressure on the practice as we often need to source alternative medications for patients. Dr Brown explained that there has been a national shortage of B12 injections meaning we have had to adopt a different way of treating patients meaning they have 2 loading dose injections and then take oral supplements.
We discussed how we may be able to increase the group numbers, especially focusing on the younger population. EH said that she has experience of running a nighttime PPG group and she found younger patients did attend.
Actions:
Dr Brown and Louise to discuss how we try and increase PPG numbers and how we can reach out to the younger population.
The next meeting date will be agreed shortly, and we will send this out via text to those with mobile numbers or letters for those who don’t. Please let us know if there is anyone who expresses interest in attending future groups.
