Feb. 5, 2024
Agenda
FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY PRACTICE
Meeting on 17 January 2024 at St Johns Health Centre
0900 – 1030 hrs
AGENDA
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Appointment of Chair for two-year period.
3. Minutes of Meeting held on 18 October 2023.
4. Matters Arising (not covered by a specific agenda item)
5. Patient Survey
a) Discuss and agree format.
b) Discuss and agree methodology.
c) Discuss and agree date (s) to conduct survey.
6 Any Other Business.
6. Date and time of next meeting.
Mike Rudd (Chair)
Minutes
FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY PRACTICE
Minutes of meeting on 17 January 2024
Present: Mike Rudd (Chair), Graham Cundy, Hilary Gower, Malcolm Jefferies, Lynn McGrady (Sec), Sandra Shaw, Jill Keen (Practice Manager), Dr Sanjeev Sekhon
1. Apologies for Absence
Barbara Britten has now retired from the group. The team noted the valuable contributions she made during her long service and wished her well for the future. A notice seeking a new team member to replace Barbara will be put on the noticeboard shortly.
2. Appointment of Chair for two-year period
Having been nominated by Graham Cundy and seconded by Sandra Shaw, Mike Rudd has agreed to continue as Chair for the next two years.
3. Minutes of the last meeting held on 18 October 2023
The minutes were agreed.
4. Matters Arising from last meeting
Staffing Changes – Gillian has now left the Practice and is replaced by Michele as a full-time Health Care Assistant. Emma has also returned to her role as a nurse within the Practice.
5. Patient Survey
The NHS recommends that Patient Participation Groups undertake periodic patient surveys. Following the decision by the group to reinstate the patient survey, a potential list of questions had been circulated within the team following discussions at the last meeting in October 2023.
Jill explained that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issue a postal survey during the spring each year which is sent to a small number of patients. This survey runs to 63 questions and has a notably low return rate but is often used by the CQC during their inspection process. It was suggested this survey could inform the design of the group’s proposed survey. After some discussion and in view of the length and complexity of the CQC survey, the group opted to focus on simple questions to gauge patients’ experiences in seeking an appointment and during their consultations, including communications with Receptionists and health professionals and also patients’ access to the internet.
There were concerns in the group that changes in NHS policies in recent years could make direct comparisons with previous years’ survey results inappropriate. There are budget constraints across all NHS services and the limited availability of GPs impacts on the number of available appointments. Additionally, the NHS drive towards collaborative approaches within geographical areas has transferred some funding away from the Practice into GP federations including North West Surrey Integrated Care Services (NICS) which coordinates extended hours services within the area. This can impact adversely on the continuity of care between a GP and patient.
The new patient survey also needs to recognise the wider use of ancillary health professionals within the Practice team, including pharmacists. Patients are frequently referred directly to nurses and other professionals where appropriate. In view of this, the group decided that a number of questions on the proposed Practice survey will now refer to consultations with health care professionals rather than specifically with GPs.
The last survey undertaken by the group was in September 2018 during which members of the group met patients arriving at the surgery over a one week period and handed out paper surveys to complete. The vast majority of patients attending during this period were happy to complete the forms whilst waiting for appointments and it’s proposed that we continue with this approach. However, as more consultations are now undertaken by telephone or on-line, without visiting the Practice, there is also a need to gather the views of those patients. Jill is to consider methods by which all patients can be made aware of the proposed survey – preferably for completion on line - and whether Survey Monkey is also a potential option.
It's proposed that the survey carried out within the Practice will be in week commencing 22 April 2024.
6. Any Other Business
A generous donation has been bequeathed to the Practice by a former patient. Jill requested suggestions from the group for its use and is also to seek recommendations from staff.
7. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for 9am on Wednesday 17 April 2024.