Author: Horden Group

Minutes of PPG meeting Tuesday 1^st 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.

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.

Attended by: Dr Sahoo, Christine Cain, Louise Armstrong, EH, RD, PJ, LH.

Introductions: Dr Sahoo introduced Louise as new Deputy Practice Manager and explained that Christine would be retiring at the end of the year after 36 years working for the practice. We welcomed new PPG member RD.

Updates from last meeting: EH asked if anything had happened regarding a board being displayed in waiting room to show how the practice is responding to patient suggestions from the group.  Christine explained that this had not yet been done but would look into it. Dr Sahoo pointed out that space is sparce in waiting rooms due to amount of posters etc. Louse suggested that a better idea may be to put this on our Facebook page following the PPG meetings. EH mentioned coffee mornings and volunteered to help with these.  Dr Sahoo pointed out that there is a coffee morning either monthly or fortnightly at Blackhall and that these had been very well attended and that there were talks to extend these to the Peterlee area.

Staffing updates: Dr Sahoo explained there have been some staffing changes recently although staffing is mainly stable. There will be changes due to Christine’s retirement and Louise taking over as Deputy Manager.  The practice now has 3 GP trainers and also 3 GP registrars (GPs in training).  He explained that by being a training practice it brings new GPs into the area and by training within the practice it is hoped that they may wish to stay working in the area as a GP as Easington area has difficulty recruiting GPs due to most living cities and not wishing to travel.  He explained there had been some staff shortage recently due to sickness and covid but that this seemed to be settling and hopefully that will take the pressure off as we move into winter pressures.

Covid/Flu vaccinations:  It was discussed that the practice has been delivering covid and flu vaccinations and that we have been running Saturday clinics as it is impossible to do them all in practice hours without effecting patient care. PJ mentioned that he had been for his vaccines and congratulated the practice on running a very smooth vaccination programme and he felt it ran like clockwork due to the staff all pulling together to make it work.  Dr Sahoo asked that this praise was conveyed to the nursing team and staff involved.

PCN Updates:  Dr Sahoo explained what the Primary Care Network (PCN) is and what it is made up of.  He explained that we work together with William Brown Centre and Blackhall and Peterlee Practice as part of the network and provide patients with access to social link workers, first contact physiotherapists, first contact mental health workers. It was explained that the PCN patient group meeting was taking place after this meeting and patients were free to stay behind and attend as representatives are needed from all 3 practices.

Any other business:  Christine asked the patients if they preferred to be contacted by letter or text regarding the next meeting.  EH explained that text is probably better as can respond to say if attending.  Christine recognised that some patients did not have mobile numbers and would send them letters.

RD spoke regarding the new developments in patients accessing records and that he felt that it makes patient care two tiered as patients who could not access internet would not have the same access than those who do.  Dr Sahoo pointed out that this is a government level decision and that he agreed it had a lot of problems, but it was something that we will need to work with and deal with issues as they arise.

Dr Sahoo spoke about how the practice had removed patients due to their behaviour towards staff and that we are operating a zero tolerance of these behaviours.  He said that this seems to have calmed down and he is finding we are seeing less of this behaviour recently.  PJ pointed out that the reception staff should be congratulated on their work as they always try their very best to accommodate patients and EH agreed that she finds the reception team very calming and professional in comparison to other practice teams she has had contact with.  Louise to pass this onto reception staff.

Staff well-being is a big priority at present and a team building afternoon was arranged where staff went bowling and for a meal. This was a big success and was enjoyed by all staff and hopefully we can arrange similar events in future.

Actions:

Louise to pass on congratulations to staff for providing a well run covid/flu programme and to admin staff for always trying their best to accommodate patients and remain calm and professional under what can be a very pressurised environment. Louise/Christine to update Facebook page with any suggestions that have been taken from the PPG and to show what action has been taken.

Next meeting TBC:

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.

Please note: Both Sites will be closed for Staff Training on the following dates:

• Thursday 14 March 2024 from 12.30pm
• Thursday 27 June 2024 from 12 noon (cancelled)
• Thursday 25 July from 12.30pm.
• Thursday 12 September from 12 noon (reprovided from the June cancellation date)
• Thursday 26 September from 12.30pm.
• Thursday 24 October from 12 noon.
• Thursday  28 November from 12.30pm

Please contact 111 if you require medical care or 999 in an emergency.