Patient Participation

Patient Participation Report

The practice’s patient participation report was undertaken as a result of the 2017/2018 Patient Participation Direct Enhance Service (DES) commissioned by the Department of Health.

The purpose of the patient participation DES is to ensure that patients are involved in decisions about the range and quality of services provided and over time, commissioned by their practice.

It aims to encourage and reward practices for routinely asking and acting on the views of their patients. This includes the patients being involved in decisions that lead to changes to the services their practice provides or commissions, either directly or in its capacity as gatekeeper to other services.

The DES aims to promote the proactive engagement of patients through the use of effective Patient Reference Groups (PRGs) and to seek views from practice patients through the use of a local practice survey. The outcomes of the engagement and the views of patients are published in this document.

What is the Patient Participation Group or PPG?

A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group of people who are patients of the surgery and want to help it work as well as it can for patients, doctors, and
staff. The NHS requires every practice to have a PPG.

Why should I join?

You have been to the surgery as a patient, parent, carer or friend. Your experiences matter and you can bring different ideas to the surgery to help us treat patients better or to improve what we do in some way. You will also gain a better understanding of the NHS, and gather feedback from other patients.

Will my views be heard?

Your views are important and will be listened to. It may not be possible to act on every suggestion,
but all feedback is very valuable. Working in a spirit of mutual respect, openness and trust, all patients’ views will be discussed and,
where appropriate, we will work together on solutions.

How often does the Patient Participation Group meet?

We meet at the surgery, but not too often. We know that you are busy, so we meet only a few
times per year, and hope that you can join us. If you can’t make meetings then don’t worry – you can still be part of our virtual group.

How do I join the patient participation Group?

Joining the patient participation group is easy, just simply contact the practice and request for
your name to be added to the PPG and we will inform you in advance when the next meeting will
take place.

The Next PPG meeting will take place on the 11th May 2023

Before joining this meeting, please have a look at the last points of the discussion from the PPG
meeting held on the 23.02.2023

Welcome & Introduction
Quarterly Feedback:
The majority of the feedback was positive and very good, however, two areas were identified for
improvement, and the following points outline the positives and negatives.

Positive feedback:

•  This is the best surgery and the telephone system is really good and most of the time you get a call on the same day.
• Extended Access is a great service for people who work full-time- offering evening and weekend appointments.
• Triage system – you get a call back when you are in the queue so you don’t have to wait for a long time. Issues have been solved in a timely manner.
• Practice Merger – this is good as it means if there is no appointment at one site, there is an option to have an appointment at our second site.
• Staff are very helpful
• Access to appointments – The surgery has a very fast way of doing things and we work well as a team to try our best to help patients.
• Faster referral process for cancers checks compared to other GP practices.

Concerns or Improvements to be addressed:

• Processing of letters and actions.
• Some patients may prefer to speak with the practice over the phone rather than submission online.