About the Patient Participation Group

Who we are

We are an advisory group of patients whose members work voluntarily with the surgery, acting as ‘critical friends’ to help the practice improve services for the patient population.

The practice feels it will be extremely beneficial to have patient involvement and that the group’s constructive and challenging views help the surgery to better understand the patient perspective and be more responsive in their service delivery.

Why we have a group

The delivery of general practice is changing under the new NHS and the practice continues to face a variety of challenging government objectives and priorities, which are continually changing. General practice is the most commonly used point of access in the NHS. 90% of those who use general practice services will be diagnosed and treated without being referred for further specialist treatment. Current government policy therefore aims to improve both access to services locally and patient choice.

As healthcare is being brought closer to the patient, the practice is being required to ‘deliver’ more each year, for which they have no increase in the resources available to them. It is therefore important that these resources are used wisely and that the patient perspective is considered.

What the group will do

It is envisaged that the group will provide a forum to work with the practice on a variety of areas, including such issues as:

• Considering service suggestions which could benefit groups of patients or individuals, providing a patient perspective
• Assisting in evaluating and prioritising demands on our resources
• Determining responses to patient satisfaction questionnaires and forming suitable action plans to address patient concerns
• Acting as a sounding board for future surgery plans
• Improving communication between patients and the surgery
• Considering specific operational issues as raised from time to time
• Acting as a forum to discuss complaint trends to seek improvements or determine appropriate courses of action
• Acting as patient support for specific events
• The practice is keen to work in partnership with the group and it is hoped that this approach will help to influence the provision of health and social care locally within the wider health community.

Watch out for information on the Patient Group display boards that will let you know what work is currently being undertaken by the group.

What we can't do

We are not a forum for individual agendas or personal complaints. Complaints must be made directly to the practice to comply with the standardised NHS Complaints Procedure and be handled under a strict code of confidentiality.

If you have a complaint, please either speak to one of the practice team or read our complaints policy.

Membership

Whilst the group aims to be representative of the patient users of the practice services, the members are not considered delegates of the population and it is recognised that the views expressed are based on their own experiences.

If you are interested in becoming involved please complete and submit our online form which can be found below.

We will be in touch shortly after we receive your form. Please note that no medical information or questions will be responded to.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Terms of Reference

Purpose

• To act as a representative group of patients to inform and influence the management of the practice
• To provide a focus for patients to channel ideas and suggestions regarding service and health care
• To organise health events and projects to educate and benefit specific groups of patients
• To improve communication between the practice and the patient population
• To collect, collate, discuss and disseminate survey information to and from the wider practice population
• To act as a representative group to influence the local provision of health and social care

Patient Participation Group Membership

• Membership of the PPG shall be open to all patients from within the practice
• Meetings of the PPG will be held approximately every 6 weeks.
• The practice manager or her deputy will be in attendance.
• A quorum will comprise 3 members plus at least 1 member of staff.
• Minutes of the meeting will be taken by the Practice Manager and circulated to all group members.

Virtual Membership

Any patient may volunteer to be a Virtual PPG Member and there will be no limit on the number of patients in this group. Members in this group will be contacted on-line and will be asked to respond to a number of surveys each year.  Virtual members will be offered the opportunity to help with projects and will be kept informed of all meeting decisions via the Practice Website.

Rules

Members must  respect patient and practice confidentiality. The group will not be expected to act as a focus of complaints from patients (these will be dealt with by the Practice Manager).

Patient Contact

Patients will be able to contact the PPG members by:

• Placing message in the suggestion box at Reception
• Writing to the group at the practice address
• Emailing the practice

The PPG will produce a regular newsletter.

The PPG will have a dedicated area of the notice board in the Patient Information Area and will post regular updates on the waiting room TV screens.

PPG responses to suggestions from the patients will be displayed on the notice board, in the newsletter and on the waiting room TV screens as appropriate.