Malmesbury Patients Participation Group
Minutes of Meeting Monday 3rd October 2011
Present:
Dave Grogan, Marian Burfield, Grace Walbridge, Jennifer Walker, Margaret Perrin, Elizabeth Cheshire Georgina Carter, Diane Vincent. Denise Richards.
Apologies; Ces Smith. Miriam Nicolls
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
Surgery Updates:
Telephone: The music on hold system is now up and running well. Apologies that the time to fix it was protracted.
Patients Reference Group: Dave gave the group a website presentation on the new online system for registering as a member of this new group. Each member of the PPG were given a number of promotional letters and application forms and were asked to encourage members of their community to join this new group.
Contacting the surgery on line: It is planned for patients to be able to make some appointments online, this project is still ongoing at present.
Text: There is now the facility available for having the surgery text you when your appointment is due. This is also being tested at the moment but Practices nationally who have tried the system rate it highly, as do the users.
Flu clinics
Dave informed the group that the letters were going to be sent out to patients within the next week or so.
NHS Health checks: Each member of the group were given a leaflet by Dave on the new free health check which will be available to people between the ages of 40 – 74. He stated that if you were already attending a heart disease, asthma or diabetes clinic then you may not be called up to have the new health check. This facility is being offered at the surgery and patients can expect to be called in for the new health check over the next few years
111 alternative 999: This is being trialled in Durham and other areas of the country and if the system is successful it will then be rolled out across the county. Dave stipulated that he was not sure how this would affect the NHS helpline staff and was not sure if they would be seconded into this new system or if the NHSD staff would face redundancy.
Website update:
Minutes had been posted it was commented that the website is looking good and working well.
Financial restrictions on certain category of referrals:
A question was raised about ‘restrictions of funding’ in the NHS and Dave explained that some services were indeed restricted and each PCT had what the used to an “Exceptions List “now called “Clinical Priorities List”. These lists contains procedures or treatments the PCT perceive to be “not best value for money” and which NICE have said have limited clinical benefit. Cases can be made to a board to get any such restrictions lifted on a particular case provided there are extenuating circumstances.
Similar Restrictions also apply to the prescribing of medication.
Prescriptions: Margaret asked Dave if he could investigate the reason behind and also the cost of prescriptions that are not collected from Boots the Chemist.
Post meeting comment: Dave has confirmed with Boots that no charges are incurred by the NHS if the medication is not picked up – Indeed a new system is in place where the prescriptions are returned to the Practice to enable us to remove / annotate that the medication had not been dispensed.
Next meeting to be held on 5th December 2011.