Victoria & Mapperely Patient Participation Group

It is a pleasure to see you here and to present this Patient Participation Report focussing on the past year.  It is the second year the AGM has been held via zoom – who would have thought this would be the new normal.
 

Prior to our last AGM we elected to trial more regular “Full” PPG meetings and put the Action Group on hold, however on review it was felt the PPG was not as effective and the Action Group was reconvened. As a result of this change the Action Group has reverted back to monthly meetings and the “Full” PPG will meet quarterly.
 

As stated by Dr Mawji at our May meeting “continuing dialogue throughout the pandemic between the Practice and the patient body through the PPG is essential as is its role to positively promote the practice. The zoom facility has been essential tool in enabling us to support the patient body and the Practice.  It has also enabled us to trial different meeting times to increase our flexibility to accommodate Practice involvement and encourage PPG members attendance. However, upon review of this trial there hasn’t been a notable difference in our wider PPG attendance.  
 

Throughout the early stages of the pandemic the Practice was operating a “telephone first system” with face-to-face appointments only where patients needed to be seen.  This has recently reverted back to 90% face-to-face appointments.

The Practice has now got a unified telephone system with calls being answered by either surgery and a call waiting facility so that patients know where they are in the queue.  The rise in telephone consultations has not impacted on the wait time as GPs use a different telephone line.  However, patients phoning to request prescriptions does have an impact on waiting times; the Practice is currently reviewing this.
 

Patients can now view new information screens in both surgeries.  They are currently playing generic NHS information slides; however, the Practice plans to add specific information to best suit our patients.  The PPG has engaged with the Practice to provide a list of suggestions.

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As you are aware earlier this year, we were very fortunate to receive Health Promotion presentations.  Dr wheeler (from the Practice) delivered a presentation on Mental Health encompassing aspects of Mental Health, the impact of Covid 19 on Mental Health, tailoring a plan of support for each patient, format of a telephone review, and ongoing support. At our April meeting Shilan Darwish, Clinical Pharmacist from our Primary Care Network (PCN) outlined her role in our Practice and at our June meeting Andrew Simpkins the PCN Social Prescriber outlined his emerging role, however this has been impacted by the pandemic.  We are extremely grateful to these professionals for providing an insight into their roles.
 

Dr Mawji undertakes a number of roles outside the Practice including GP sessions with NEMS, Director of City GP Alliance and Deputy Clinical Director of Integrated Care Partnership which brings together all the Health, Social Care and Voluntary sector stakeholders within the city.  This benefits our Practice through the sharing of knowledge and the increase of networking capabilities.  Dr Mawji is to be commended for his dedication to both the Practice and the PPG.
 

A Special Edition Winter 2020 Newsletter was published featuring information about Covid-19 advice and testing, advice on making appointment during the pandemic, making more use of our high street pharmacies, Flu vaccinations, looking after your Mental Health and Practice updates. Debs continues to edit the Newsletters and we remain extremely grateful for her expertise and diligence in this role.

Alan continues to monitor the Practice website and will be involved in developing it to better meet the patient’s needs as soon as Covid pressure on the Practice management eases.
 

We have recently been involved in evaluating communication materials being developed by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to promote best care to Nottingham City patients.  This is something we welcome providing us an excellent opportunity for patient views to be represented.
 

As a PPG we want to continue to be pro-active in supporting our Practice during this challenging time to continue to deliver an excellent service for our patients. We wish to convey our thanks to Simon our Practice Manager, Dr Mawji and Dr Nightingale for their unstinting support to the PPG alongside all the additional demands that the pandemic has made on their workload. We would also ask Simon to express our appreciation to the clinical and administrative staff of our Practice for their continuing high quality of service.

 

Cath Verhoeven, PPG Chair, December 2021