Download Preston Road Surgery PRG Meeting Minutes 14 October 2014

Preston Road Surgery
PRG Meeting Minutes 14th October 2014
Present: Dr Will Bowditch, Sandra Maddison (Surgery Manager), Lisa Hindle (Surgery IT
Supervisor)
Apologies: Dr Eleanor Costales
Dr Bowditch welcomed the group to the meeting and led a discussion on the Prime
Minister’s recent comments on GP access.
Extended Surgery hours
The surgery is concentrating on how to plan and provide better care for our over-75
population in order to make better use of the resources we have to enable more availability.
This allows the surgery to provide a service for both over 75s and general patient population
demand. Terry pointed out the limitations of the record access at the walk in centre, if
opted out of the Summary care record sharing. Dr Bowditch clarified the difference between
the SCR and HSCIC, which are two separate systems. Lisa mentioned the need to revisit
advertising this in case patients would like to change their choice. Both Lisa and Sandra are
able to check the status of SCR if patients require it, with a view to teaching reception on
how to check and inform.
Action Plan Update
Promotion of our advanced nurse practitioners is ongoing, although there is a need to clarify
the difference between an ANP and a practice nurse so patients can recognise when to ask
for the correct one. Information will be arranged for the waiting room to help patients
understand when to ask for an ANP rather than a GP.
It was suggested that slides should be added to the information screen as we have for the
GPs, so that patients get to recognise who they are. It was also suggested to make it aware
that the reception team can advise on when to see the appropriate clinician.

Appointment Availability
Sandra passed around charts depicting waiting time statistics, which compared March and
July’s figures. Following the work on the structure of clinics as suggested by the PRG, the
waiting time has significantly reduced between these two lots of figures. The length of
consultation that each patient requires has increased, but blocks between appointments
allow the GPs scope to not overrun. Due to the increasing complexity of problems, many
appointments need to be longer than 10 minutes. A piece of work was carried out by Drs
Bowditch and Stalley several years ago when it was decided appointments should be
increased from 6 minutes to 10 minutes.
There may be a possibility to identify which patients have the most complex needs in order
for reception to offer longer appointment times.

Medications use reviews
The local pharmacies are able to offer reviews of medication use, in order to help relieve
some of the pressures off of the clinicians. There may be a long term plan for pharmacists to
visit the most vulnerable patients in their homes.

Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions
A system has been rolled out in order to electronically send repeat prescriptions directly to
pharmacies of the patients’ choice, allowing flexibility in ordering and collecting in a timely
manner. There is a possibility to send several month’s worth of prescriptions at a time, so
that the patient does not need to remember to order each month. This could be very
beneficial for those patients with, for example, memory problems.

NHS health Checks
The surgery is currently promoting NHS Checks to patients over 40 who do not routinely
attend the surgery for any other long term conditions. We are currently targeting the 44/45
age range, although it is open for anyone to ask for one of these screens.
The screening is beneficial as it will help to prevent conditions by identifying warning
symptoms early. Primary prevention such as exercise and diet will help to decrease the
likelihood of developing any of these conditions.
Feedback
Following on from the previous patient survey, the group reviewed the comments given in
March this year. The main areas to work on improving were waiting times, appointment
availability/access, and illness prevention. The group decided that these were the best to
continue with and the surgery will arrange smaller surveys to continuously review feedback.
A link to the NHS choices website will also be added to the surgery websites in order for
patients to provide their thoughts and comments.
The importance of patients letting surgery staff know if there is an issue was raised, and it
was reiterated that the comments box was available in the waiting room for any general
feedback. On the same lines, Sandra read out a response from Toby Hood, Manager of the
head and neck departments, relating to issues from the last meeting around the lack of
access in the REI area. More staff have been employed as a result, enabling improved access
within the eye department. It was suggested that this response could be entered into the
Daily Echo to make people aware that if the service deteriorates, to let the Dorset County
Hospital know.
It was highlighted that community resources need to be reviewed, and Peter described
available literature for providing feedback on the current services available. Dorset County
hospital would like to invite service users to attend a local meeting to enable feedback to be
provided on services to enhance what is offered. The most local meeting is 10/11/14 from
2pm – 4pm in the Pavilion Ocean room, and concerns how services will develop, with
emphasis given on how the responses that the PRG provide could influence change. There
are more information leaflets surrounding this in the surgery waiting room.
Patient Information Talk
The group discussed possible topics for the next information evening, and it was decided
that nutrition appealed to a wider audience within the patient population. A date for after
Christmas will be arranged, and the possibility of a lunchtime talk as well as an evening one
to enable more people to attend.
Carer’s group
There is a new group for ‘ex’ carers, called ‘Carers moving forward’, as described recently in
the Daily Echo, which is available for any carer who feels the service could be useful. It was
primarily set up for those carers who struggle to adjust when the person that they care for
goes into a home, hospice, or other residential place. If anyone would like to attend the
meetings, the number to contact for more information is 0300 111 3303. Meetings are held
at Ackland Road day centre, Dorchester.
Next meeting
The next group meeting will be arranged for Tuesday, 3rd February at 6.30pm, after the
patient information talk. The PRG form will be sent out along with the email in order for
group members to recommend joining to other patients. The possibility of a lunchtime
meeting for younger members to attend will be considered for future meetings.