PPG Minutes 5 December 2022

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 5th December 2022 at 19.00hrs

Present: Ces Smith (Chair), Margaret Perrin (Secretary), Frank Soden, Charlotte Gorman.  Shayne Smith. Miriam Nicholls, Jane Ingham, Jenny Walker, Paul Avis, Natasha Bojanowski

Apologies, Alastair Knight (Vice Chair) Peter Welsh, Denise Richards, Robert Watson

Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.  Proposed Jane Ingham   Seconded:  Paul Avis

Matters arising from the previous meeting. Nil.

Ces Smith Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending,


Surgery News

Charlotte reported that the Doctors have carried out 9751 appointments up to September 22, and pre covid in the same timescale (2019 ) they carried out 6972 appointments.

There will be a doctor, nurse, and paramedic available on Saturdays, pre appointment will be required.

The reception staff have all undergone Care navigation training to help them to signpost patients to the correct area of expertise.

The new telephone system will be up and running in the new year. A few glitches had occurred which have been rectified and the new system will be up and running by the end of January 2023.

The surgery carried out 1400 covid injections at the Saturday clinics they also completed over:

  • 2,400 under 65 Flu Injections
  • 3,500 over 65    Flu Injections
  • 250 children’s   Flu Injections were given.

All covid boosters have now been completed by the surgery

Charlotte will investigate the Lumen Eye which is a piece of equipment doctors can use to spot bowel disease, this procedure only takes ten minutes and provides results in real time, Charlotte will see if it could be possible for the surgery to offer this service. She explained it was very unlikely as the doctor/pharmacists do not have a free window to carry out this activity. Safe working: The European Union of General Practitioners and the BMA have recommended a safe level of patient contacts per day for a GP to deliver safe care at not more than 25 contacts per day. At Your Service, published by the Policy Exchange and with a foreword by Sajid Javid MP, states that 28 patient contacts per day is safe. 

At present some doctors at the surgery have in excess of 30 contacts in one duty session (morning or afternoon), as was seen Monday 5th December.


Staffing

Staffing shared across the five group practices:

There are 14 clinical pharmacists in the team, who are able to prescribe medication, complete medication reviews, amend repeat prescriptions and manage prescribing in the care homes which frees up the doctors time.

Charlotte has found the group a base room as they have nowhere to complete their telephone consultations etc at present, they will use the room presently used to store patients records which will now be stored in a secure unit off site.

The Living well team provides support for patients with social prescribing, those needing care at home or who need a short-term transition into a care home, they are also the link between the Community and the Surgery. The 3 living well team members who will be responsible for social subscribing, these members of staff have a wide range of backgrounds and will be taking over some of the doctors social subscribing duties.

There are now 3 paramedics working out of Malmesbury completing home visits and minor illness clinics.


Other areas of discussion

Bowel Screening Charlotte reported that NHS bowel cancer screening checks are to everyone aged 60 to 74 years. The programme is expanding to make it available to everyone aged 50 to 59 years over 4 years and started in April 2021.

Floor covering: Charlotte informed the group that this has now been completed

Car parking: The car park does not belong to the surgery, so they have no authority over the number of places allocated.

Warm Room: It was reported that there are several areas dedicated to this service, the Abbey and library to name a few. A timetable of selected areas will be available soon.

A member of the group queried whether there were any checks in place to ensure the care navigation is working and that the patients are not just being sent around in a circle unnecessarily. Charlotte will investigate as this data is not being collected at present.

Miriam Nicholls has resigned from the group as she is moving from the area and Ces thanked her on behalf of the group and surgery for all her hard work over the last 20 years.

Meeting closed: 8.00

Margaret Perrin

Secretary

Secretary


Meeting dates for 2023

Tuesdays

  • 7th February
  • 4th April
  • 6th June
  • 8th August AGM
  • 3rd October
  • 5th December