MALMESBURY PATIENTS PARTICIPATION GROUP
Minutes of meeting on 8 February 2010
Present: Gill Bristow, Elisabeth Cheshire, Dave Grogan, Miriam Nicholls, Margaret Perrin, Ces Smith, Diane Vincent, Grace Walbridge, Jennifer Walker.
There were no apologies.
There were no minutes of the previous meeting due to a technical glitch.
Matter arising:
Margaret kindly prepared the agenda and other papers for the meeting. The group were very appreciative of Margaret in taking on this role as it is hoped it will assist the group to focus on health related matters and the effects that they may have on the local community.
Access to Health Records
Following a question on this topic Dave was able to explain the two main elements to this topic:
EMIS, the clinical software package currently used in the practice, has the facility to allow patient internet access to their records. In reality very few practices nationally have decided to activate this part of the system. This is not because they don’t want patients seeing their records This Practice is more than happy to share this information, but it feels this is much better achieved if the patient goes through their records in person, and with a health professional at hand who can help explain terminology etc. In reality most patients are disappointed that their notes are not ‘more interesting’. Security is of course very tight and the process of authenticating a patient is so in-depth the patients often feel the effort is not worth the benefit.
The other “Access to Health Records” topic is the National Spine project. The idea behind this is that a clinician in any part of the country can access the health records of an individual currently held on the Surgery system, providing they had the correct security clearance. An ideal example would be if a patient from Malmesbury fell ill at the weekend whilst in Liverpool.
This project is still in a development state and NO records can be accessed like this currently. A lot more has to be done both in security and communication links before anything can happen, indeed the project may never get to fruition due to political considerations.
Any patients registered here wanting access to their notes will need to complete a simple form (which is legal requirement) and on receipt of they will be contacted to arrange a suitable time that they can access their notes with a health professional.
Swine Flu:
The incidence locally and nationally has reduced dramatically; indeed many of the national logistic teams have been disbanded. However in every communication received by the practice it is emphasised that the vaccination of the “at risk groups” is paramount - especially the under 5yr olds and pregnant woman as these are the two patient groups that are affected most and can end up requiring ITU care.
The practice admin team have been very busy ‘recalling’ these patients and at the moment it looks as if they are attending in high numbers.
Extended hours:
These are working well generally, and very few appointment slots are never used. Of the three types, early morning, late evening, Saturday Morning the latter is the most sought after. Appointments at the ‘ends’ of the day tend to be filled with patients wanting “any” appointment, and these were the ones free at the time. Some patients do like these early/late times as it then leaves the rest of the day free.
All extended hour appointments (7hrs per week) are prebookable, but obviously only with the doctor who is undertaking these sessions at that time.
Integrated Treatment Centres:
Early days as they have only recently opened but they do certainly seem to ‘work’ where simple /routine surgery is not in question and the patient is otherwise generally fit and healthy. Occasionally there have been cases where patents have been ‘rejected’ on minor health issues and the Practices and the PCT are trying to resolve/clarify these to prevent future occurrences. They should certainly help relieve pressure on the RUH and GWH once in full swing.
Website inclusion for MPPC:
Dave said that there was space on the Surgery website for promoting the MPPC. We need to think of a good sales pitch. It was mentioned that this might be useful for fundraising but Dave said that the League of Friends usually manages to fund any needs.
Visiting consultants:
This is the responsibility of the PCT but Dave is aware has been a slow hard push to get some of the clinics set up. More Consultants are coming from GWH than RUH where it is strongly believed that a consultants’ time is more usefully spent at the hospital, but consultants seem keen to get out to local centres, especially Malmesbury which is very well set up. It was thought that consultants might alternate with sessions at Chippenham.
Dental Surgery:
Feedback from patients has been positive. Work is done by two young female dentists. It is thought that the catchment area will widen now to include more postcodes.
Athelstan House:
Diane will continue to explore the question of a speaker for the next meeting.
Any other business:
The Extra Care flats used to use Athelstan House carers but now have their own.
Clarification was sought regarding a previous national news article which talked of the governments wishes to allow patients to register at multiple GP surgeries. The idea behind this was to allow better access especially those patients travelling long distances to and from work etc. Although on the surface it sounds a good idea on a practical level it is potentially fraught with problems is unlikely to happen in the style currently being voiced.
Out of Area registrations
An ex patient asked a PPG member why she was not allowed to re register with the surgery after moving away for 6 months. It transpired her address was actually outside the Surgery Catchment area. Dave explained that the practice had decided to allow the few patients who live outside the official practice area to continue to be on the books but if they move out of the area they cannot reregister here at MPCC if they move back to that area.
Letterbox
Dave will action the signage for the letterbox.
Malmesbury school
Nurses visit Malmesbury school on Mondays and this is well attended. Indeed an audit on the activity has just started so we will be able to give you more details notice.
Misc
- The terms of reference for the MPPG will be discussed at the next meeting.
- Dave mentioned the Health Fair recently held in the Town Hall. Attendance was disappointing. The practice new almost nothing about it until a few days before!
- Road/directional signage has now been approved so works should start soon
- Ces thanked Margaret and Miriam for their work as joint secretaries.
Date of next meting
This will be on 12 April 2010 at 7 pm.