Standard Reporting Template NHS England (Wessex) 2014/15 Patient Participation Enhanced Service Reporting Template Practice Name: Practice Code: Park Lane Medical Centre J82646 Signed on behalf of practice: Tracy Elgar Date: 23.03.15 Signed on behalf of PPG: Virtual Date: 23.03.15 1. Prerequisite of Enhanced Service Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG) Does the Practice have a PPG? YES Method of engagement with PPG: Email & postal Number of members of PPG: 477 1
Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG: % Male Female Practice 44.4% 55.5% PRG 49.9% 50.1% Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG: % <16 17-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 > 75 Practice 24.3% 9.9% 15.8% 12.1% 14.9% 10.5% 6.8% 5.7% PRG 5% 7.5% 13.3% 13.2% 23.2% 18.6% 14.8% 4.4% Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PRG: White British Other white Black/African/ Caribbean/Black British Asian/Asian British Other mixed Not Stated Practice 55.7% 1.3% 1.2% 1.20% 0.9% 39.70% PRG 65% 2.5% 2.1% 1.25% 0.2% 28.95% Describe steps taken to ensure that the PPG is representative of the practice population in terms of gender, age and ethnic background and other members of the practice population: Initially the majority of patients that were interested in joining the group were 65-74 years of age. The Under 17 year age group had a low representation but this was to be expected as they are children. In order to increase the number of patients aged 18-64 years we carried out an in-house campaign to recruit more members ensuring that the group is a representative of our practice population. We also found that the only patients that had signed up to the PPG were White British and although we only have a small proportion of ethnic minorities we wanted to try and include as many other ethnicities as possible so we wrote to the 130 patients from non-british ethnic groups. 2
Are there any specific characteristics of your practice population which means that other groups should be included in the PPG? e.g. a large student population, significant number of jobseekers, large numbers of nursing homes, or a LGBT community? YES/NO If you have answered yes, please outline measures taken to include those specific groups and whether those measures were successful: Our patient population does not have any significantly high specific groups 2. Review of patient feedback Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year: We undertook a survey with our PPG regarding our appointment system and reviewed the results and all feedback received. We reviewed the online GP Survey and throughout the year we will also review patient suggestions and complaints. On a monthly basis we review the FFT results How frequently were these reviewed with the PPG? Annually 3
3. Action plan priority areas and implementation Priority area 1 Description of priority area: Advance booking of appointments What actions were taken to address the priority? Our survey revealed that only 48% of patients were aware that appointments can be booked in advanced (this means more than 2 days). A number of patients commented that the receptionists often tell them that they can t book in advanced or that they need to call back the next day. This has highlighted a training need for our staff. We will be re-training our staff to ensure the next available appointment for your GP is offered before patients are advised to call back the next day. If patients want to book an appointment a day or two in advance, then suggest that they sign up to the Online Service as there are almost always appointments available with their GP. These appointments are not visible to our staff so they have a better chance of seeing a doctor sooner if they book online than if they telephone reception. Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised): Promoting Online services and re-educating both staff and patients will allow patients to book appointments in advance when required. We will also be raising awareness of Advance Booking on our TV screen in the Waiting Room. This will ensure the message reaches all patients 4
Priority area 2 Description of priority area: Online services What actions were taken to address the priority? Although 79.7% of patients are aware of the Online Services that we offer, only 9% use the service frequently. A number of patients requested that more appointments could be made available online and also wanted to book nurses appointments. We have doubled the number of appointments available to book. Unfortunately we are unable to offer nurses appointments as the length of the appointments vary depending on what a patient is attending for. We explained, a smear or ECG requires a single appointment, a diabetic review requires double appointment, a spirometry appointment requires a double appointment followed by a 15 minute gap and then a further single appointment, and a blood test can be done in the same appointment slot as a blood pressure. Offering nurses appointments online would be fair too complicated to manage. A number of patients have had a few problems logging in, forgetting passwords and navigating the system. We therefore invited anyone having difficulties to contact us via email or phone and we would assist. Our email details are available in our practice leaflet, on our website and will be advertised on the TV screen in the Waiting Room. Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised): Utilising the Online Service to book appointments will reduce many of the issues that patients face when trying to book appointments. They will not need to call at 8am, appointments can be made in advance and around other commitments, appointments are usually available for the following day. Staff will be encouraged to promote the Online Services to new patients registering with the practice and also to existing patients 5
Priority area 3 Description of priority area: Appointments for working patients What actions were taken to address the priority? A number of the surveyed patients requested appointments be saved for working patients only. We explained that we understood that it is sometimes difficult to make appointments around work, but unfortunately we must treat all patients the same and we cannot reserve appointments just for those patients that work. We explained that we do however run an Extended Hours clinic outside of core hours on a Saturday morning. However, the survey shows that the majority of patients (46%) did not have a preference regarding when the Extended Clinics were held, nevertheless, 30% of patients still preferred them to be held on a Saturday morning. Our Extended Hours clinic will therefore remain on the 2 nd & 3 rd Saturday morning of every month. A number of these appointments are only available to book online so we hope that those people who can only attend at the weekend will be able to book a suitable appointment. We have also made the last appointment of each clinic only bookable online; we hope that those patients who are unable to attend because of work commitments will be able to find a suitable appointment by using the online service. We also advised patients that if they are working or have other commitments and need the latest appointment available but don t use the online service, to let our receptionists know and they will try and accommodate this where possible, although this will be a lot easier if patients booked this advance. Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised): Signing up to the Online Service to book appointments will reduce many of the issues that patients face when trying to book appointments, especially those patients who have work commitments.. Staff are encouraged to promote the Online Services to new patients registering with the practice and also to existing patients, especially to those patients who express difficulties obtaining a suitable appointment due to work. Our Online Service and the benefits of using it are much widely published in the surgery and online. 6
Progress on previous years If you have participated in this scheme for more than one year, outline progress made on issues raised in the previous year(s): We have made progress by implementing the Online Services. In a previous action plan this was an area that had been highlighted as something that patients had requested. This has been in place for some time now but we do need to do more work in encouraging more patients to use it. One of our previous action plans also highlighted that patients weren t aware of the ability to book appointments in advance. 51% of our patients were aware of the ability to book appointments in advance compared to just 48% this time. We now have a TV screen in the waiting room to display this type of information. Staff also need to ensure they are offering advance appointments to everybody. 7
4. PPG Sign Off Report signed off by PPG: YES Date of sign off: 24.03.15 How has the practice engaged with the PPG: The practice has found it difficult to involve patients in attending meetings and we therefore set up a Virtual Patient Participation Group which has proved successful. Patients are happy to complete surveys and give feedback when requested. This years completed PPG template, along with the most recently completed survey results and subsequent action plans were emailed to the full membership of the Virtual PPG. We invited patients to feedback any comments within 1 week. Only one patient responded stating Thank you for the results, I think that it shows that we are getting a good service overall & that most of us are happy with all aspects as I am. How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population? We feel that our PPG is representative of the whole practice population and we actively recruit more patients to join our PPG by advertising in the waiting room and on our website. Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources? Yes, see above. Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan? Yes. Previously the priority areas indicated by the PPG had been around appointment bookings so we decided to revisit this area to assess if anything further could be improved. How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan? The action plan will greatly improve the level of service received by patients. However it has only been a number of weeks since the points raised were 8
actioned. Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work? No 9