Oct. 22, 2025
Agenda
FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY PRACTICE
Meeting on 22 October 2025 at St Johns Health Centre.
0900 – 1030 hrs
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence.
2. Welcome and Introduction of new member.
3. Election of Chair for this meeting and next two years.
4. Minutes of Meeting held on 23 July 2025.
5. Matters Arising (not covered by a specific agenda item)
6. Health Centre Update
a) Details of any operational or procedural changes.
b) Information re any staff changes/vacancies.
c) Covid /Flu Jabs October 2025
7. Future Projects
8. Any Other Business.
9. Date/time of next meeting
Mike Rudd
Chair prior to Meeting.
Minutes
FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY PRACTICE
Minutes of meeting on 22 October 2025
Present: Graham Cundy, Hilary Gower, Malcolm Jefferies, Lynn McGrady, Nicky Yates (from item 6), Tom Allan, Dr Sekhon, Jill Keen (Practice Manager)
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Sandra Shaw.
2. Welcome and Introduction of New Member.
Tom Allan was welcomed to the group. Tom has been a patient at the Practice for several years.
3. Election of Chair for this meeting and the next two years
Following Mike Rudd’s resignation as Chair, Graham Cundy was elected to the role with immediate effect – a position that runs for two years. Mike’s contribution to the group was acknowledged and he was thanked for his considerable efforts over many years.
4. Minutes of the last meeting held on 23 July 2025
The minutes were agreed.
5. Matters arising
All issues are covered elsewhere on this agenda.
6. Health Centre Update
a) Operational or Procedural Changes
Jill confirmed there was a suggestion box available for patients although it’s relatively rarely used – the most recent suggestion being for a clock for the waiting room, which was purchased.
New regulations require every GP practice to keep their online consultation systems open all day during working hours to avoid the “8am scramble”. Jill explained that although some surgeries closed their online systems when all appointments were taken, this had never been the practice at St John’s. Indeed, it was noted that on-line prescription requests increase significantly at weekends – which could be expected as working people often have limited weekday time available.
Despite recent IT developments within the NHS and at local hospitals, it’s a concern that test results are not swiftly added to systems leading to subsequent consultant appointments being without key information. Even the GP Practice’s own systems of communication sometimes do not reach the Consultant in time, therefore delays are occurring when a patient turns up for a follow up appt. The only solution is potentially to have these emailed by the surgery to patients prior to consultant appointments. It was noted that referrals to private consultants by the NHS are increasing but many of their reports arrive in a written letter rather than electronic format and can take time to be assessed by GPs. The Practice can receive up to 300 letters a day. Communications from St Peter’s Hospital are more readily accessible on the system but patient referrals can involve a long wait.
Missed appointments continue to be an issue as many are last minute changes and patients often find it difficult to cancel appointments. For those with access to the NHS app, appointments can be cancelled within the “Upcoming appointments” area. In order to limit the number of missed appointments, the Practice does not routinely make appointments with a GP to discuss blood tests until after the results are issued, which patients can find irritating if they cannot then speak to a GP for an update prior to a consultant appointment.
b) Staff Changes / Vacancies
Two new members of staff have been recruited to replace vacancies in the Reception and Admin teams. There is a currently a full complement of salaried GPs.
c) Covid / Flu Jabs October 2025
The flu and Covid clinics are up and running and appear to have been successful in providing patients with a swift service although precise numbers of attendees have yet to be assessed. The next priority is to provide cover for those in care homes and housebound individuals.
In response to a query, Jill was able to confirm the Practice receives no funding for shingles vaccinations if patients are not within the prescribed eligible groups – which currently excludes many in their late 60s.
7. Future Projects
The group have previously identified communication with patients as an area worthy of future focus. At the last meeting Malcolm provided a summary of methods used by other local patient participation groups (PPGs) including newsletters and potential training sessions on use of the NHS app. As a patient for many years and a new member of the group, Tom mentioned he was unaware of the existence of the group as the minutes do not appear in an obvious place on the Practice web page and the waiting room notice board is easily missed. As previously discussed at meetings, GP surgeries were obliged to establish PPGs some years ago but their intended role has not been updated to reflect current processes. Although surveys of patients attending the surgery are undertaken periodically by the group, these exclude those with telephone appointments etc.
Group members would like to positively contribute to the Practice’s key aims. (In some GP surgeries a list of key aims is published.) Practice representatives were asked to consider the outcomes they would like to see from this group.
For the group to represent patients a group email address would enable two-way communication. However, this was not recommended by Jill as it would create an extra layer of administration for her to deal with. Jill did consider the group could have a useful role in disseminating information but the website used by patients is a central NHS site and not easily tailored to enable this. Text messages to patients could have cost implications. Jill agreed to consider how to make the group more prominent on the web site. Potential events for fundraising, educational or wellbeing purposes would need to place no additional pressures on staff as there is currently no capacity.
Group members, including Practice representatives, are asked to bring suggestions to the next meeting on how better communication with patients might be achieved.
8. Any Other Business
Following Mike’s departure there is now a vacancy on the group. Jill will consider options for recruiting to the group. The team would ideally like to have a better cross-representation across different age groups, although practical difficulties - work, childcare etc - were recognised as limitations.
9. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for 11am on Tuesday 20 January 2026.