Hatfield Road Surgery - Patient Participation Group

Dear Patient,

patient survey We would like to know how we can improve our service to you and how you perceive our surgery and staff.

To help us with this, we are setting up a virtual patient representation group so that you can have your say. We will ask the members of this representative group some questions from time to time, such as what you think about our opening times or the quality of the care or service you received. We will contact you via email and keep our surveys succinct so it shouldn’t take too much of your time.

We aim to gather around a hundred patients from as broad a spectrum as possible to get a truly representative sample. We need young people, workers, retirees, people with long term conditions and people from non-British ethnic groups.

If you prefer, you can download the sign up form as a pdf document, print it out, complete it and return it to the practice.

download the pdf form Download the pdf version of our sign up form

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

The information you supply us will be used lawfully, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to know what information is held about you and sets out rules to make sure that this information is handled properly.

Hatfield Road Surgery

Dr G Sinha & Dr Sarkar

61 Hatfield Road , St Albans, Herts AL1 4JE

Telephone No:01727 853079

Patient Representative Group

This report has been produced for patients along guidelines required by the Department of Health Directed Enhanced Service and requested by HVCCG.

We are committed to ensure that patients are involved in decisions about the range and quality of services provided by our practice. This will be fundamental as we move forward to increase involvement in commissioning of services for our practice population.

This report summarises the development of Hatfield Road Surgery Patient

Representative Group (PRG) in 2013-14

It contains:

1. Profile of our practice population and PRG

2. Establishment of PRG

3. Priorities for the survey and how they were agreed

4. Method and results of patient survey

5. Action plan for 2014-15

This report summarises the development of our Patient Representative Group.

Introduction

This year one of our very active PRG members has very kindly prepared a report about PPG at Hatfield Road Surgery.

Patients Participation Group

The Patients Participation Group for the Hatfield Road Surgery has been in existence for about two and a half years. Its membership largely reflects the ethnic make up of the practice with a balance of white and other ethnic groups, but disappointingly no active representatives from the Bangladeshi community who comprise a significant proportion of the practice’s patients.

The PPG has a dedicated display board in the surgery waiting room, identifying the people in the group and presenting the results of the surveys or the findings of the PPG on identified issues.

Four in-depth surveys, covering over 100 patients each time, each person being approached personally by a member of the PPG, have been carried out, aiming to further the objectives of the PPG which are to find out what patients think of the practice and what they would like to see improved. The topics covered have been the helpfulness of the receptionists and the ease of booking appointments, the quality of the appointments with the GPs, the premises and repeat prescriptions and currently the use of A&E in non-emergency situations.

There is a huge degree of satisfaction with the surgery, with an above 90% satisfaction level for confidence and trust in the two GPs, in the treatment and advice they give, with the location of the surgery, the system for repeat prescriptions and the helpfulness of the receptionists. 80% were happy that they could see a GP on the same day if it was urgent.

The PPG supported the GPs against complaints that they were difficult to contact by phone during surgery hours, but is looking at ways of rectifying the problem of appointments running late.

This year the survey undertaken aimed to obtain information in order to assess how visits to A & E can be reduced when it is used as an inappropriate alternative to visiting the surgery or an already funded out-of-hours facility.

The PPG appreciates the support and encouragement it receives from the management of the Hatfield Road Surgery and would welcome new members to expand the patients’ representation on the PPG.

2013-2014

In 2013-14 the group conducted one survey and it involved more than 100 patients. The practice is thankful to all the patients who participated in the surveys. The practice sees this as an important way to develop services that most benefits the patients and with their help the practice hopes to develop this further over the coming year. It has been a challenge to form a Patient Participation Group in the practice in an effort to reach as many patients as possible. There have been a few teething problems but hopefully as the group becomes more established these will improve. Patients’ comments and suggestions are the most important part of this process and the practice would encourage the patients comment honestly on the services provided to them.

Practice Demographics

Population

Age group	males	females
0-16	460	399
17-34	626	539
35-54	715	462
55-74	269	281
75+	88	84

Establishment of a Patient Representative Group

This year the goal has been to evolve this PPG into a more structured PRG and agree local priorities, collate patient views, provide an arena for discussion and then implement changes. The first goal was to engage the current PPG with these ideals and ratify the process. This was discussed at a monthly meeting and the plan was fully embraced by the current members of the PPG.

At this meeting it was decided to

Review current structure of group
Expand the group by engaging more people
Emailing more people to be involved in the group either directly or virtually
Give out the membership forms to each patient coming to the surgery
Determine priorities for the year

Current structure of the group

There is a committee of 13 people which is virtually active in PRG. The committee conducts the surveys, analyses the results and maintains the display board in the practice.

Number of members	Age
2	70+
5	60+
1	50+
4	40+
1	30+

Number of members	Ethnicity
7	British/White
2	Bangladeshi/Asian
1	Indian/Asian
1	Pakistani/Asian
2	Srilankan /Asian

The PRG is quite established in our surgery although not widely represented. The PPG is not very big and it has been acknowledged that representation was required from a wider age group and varying social and ethnic backgrounds.

A&E Survey

This year the PPG decided to conduct a survey on Accident and Emergency admissions. 36% said they had been to A&E in the last 12 months.

14% said they visited A&E because of accident, 38% felt ill, 40% in pain, 8% wanted to see a doctor urgently. Most of the patients went to A&E as the surgery was closed in those times or late night or early morning.

To resolve the medical problem 12% rang 111, 36% phoned GP for routine appointment, 13% for emergency appointment, 5% visited a walk in centre, 13% visited the Minor Injuries at St Albans, 5% visited A&E , 13% phoned for an ambulance.

The reason they attended A&E was 39% said the problem needed looking at straight away and only 2% said there was no emergency appointment available at the surgery.

After the results of the Survey were collated the PPG said that our GPs always try to accommodate emergency appointments but they also said the patients need to be educated about visiting A&E. It was also discussed that the results should be compared with the Medeanalytics report. After the comparison it was found out that A&E multiple attendances match the multiple visits of the critically ill patients.

Resulting action plan and how it was agreed

The results of the survey were always emailed to the members of PRG following closure of the survey and members were invited to discuss the findings with the Practice Manager. PRG agreed to publish the survey results on the website and display the results in the waiting room for the public.

Moving forward to 2014-15

It was agreed that we have still failed to engage a wider section of our population although we are giving out the PPG membership forms to all the patients who come to the surgery. We also displayed a PPG poster in the reception area. In the last survey we also added a question if they want to join the group. But out of 100 people only three showed interest in joining the PPG. Every effort has been made to capture as wide an audience as we could. Patients of all ages have been encouraged to join the group. This year the group also decided to change the time for future meetings. The PPG meetings used to take place in Wednesday afternoon but the PPG has decided to change the meeting time to Thursday evening as an experiment to see if more people can make it. The group also intends to involve more people from community by organising a bigger group.

Annex C: Standard Reporting Template

Schedule M

Hertfordshire and South Midlands Area Team

2014/15 Patient Participation Enhanced Service – Reporting Template

Practice Name: Hatfield Road Surgery, St Albans

Practice Code: E82004

Signed on behalf of practice: Babita Sinha Date: 27.3.2015

Signed on behalf of PPG: Michael Plant Date: 27.3.2015

Prerequisite of Enhanced Service – Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG) (Component 1)

Does the Practice have a PPG? YES

Method of engagement with PPG: Face to face, Email, Other (please specify) Face to face and Email

Number of members of PPG: Max 7 plus 2 staff. In 2014, max 5 plus 2 staff

There are 12 virtual members, they are sleeping members , they never respond to the emails or contribute in the discussions.

Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG:

%	Male	Female
Practice	2129	1720
PPG	1	4

Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG:

%	<16	17-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65-74	> 75
Practice
PPG					3		2

Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PPG:

	White				Mixed/ multiple ethnic groups
	British	Irish	Gypsy or Irish traveller	Other white	White &black Caribbean	White &black African	White &Asian	Other mixed
Practice	1153	26	0	204	9	11	4
PPG	3

	Asian/Asian British					Black/African/Caribbean/Black British			Other
	Indian	Pakistani	Bangladeshi	Chinese	Other Asian	African	Caribbean	Other Black	Arab	Any other
Practice	229	369	894	51	240	209	35	0	0	560
PPG	1			1

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:

With small numbers it is difficult to be exactly representative of the practice, but with white British, Asian and Chinese represented in the PPG it is considered fairly and adequately close. Measures have been taken to bring more people to PPG. Posters, word of mouth, email and forms have been given with the registration forms but very few people showed interest.

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

Yes, we try to approach all the sections of our users. A big chunk of our users come from Bangladeshi community and we would like to see their representation in the group.

If you have answered yes, please outline measures taken to include those specific groups and whether those measures were successful:

Apart from the publicity in the practice ,we have displayed posters in the local shops and mosque but so far none of them have approached us to join PPG.

Review of patient feedback (Component 2 – 30% of payment)

Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year:

Personal one to one surveys conducted by PPG members with individuals waiting for their doctor’s appointment in the waiting room

How frequently were these reviewed with the PRG?

The results were processed and reviewed as soon as 100 surveys had been completed

Action plan priority areas and implementation

Priority area 1

Description of priority area:

To find out how many surgery patients have used A&E in the past 12 months and to find out if it was because of a surgery shortcoming, or alternatives, such as Minor Injuries Unit and the out of hours service, being deficient.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

Surveys were taken with 100 patients on a one to one basis in January 2014 and the results commented on and assessed. Acting on the information obtained, extra appointments with the doctors were created for the winter months of December 2014 and January and February 2015, the effect of which is being analysed currently.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

A notice was displayed in the Waiting Room advising of the extra appointments, which were allocated as required by the reception staff.

Priority area 2

Description of priority area:

Friends and Family Test

What actions were taken to address the priority?

Friends and Family Test surveys were given to the patients in the practice. The members of PPG were also asked to take part in handing out the survey but since some of them were away and some of them were not well , we had a brief meeting with one of the PPG members.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

We discussed the comments written by the patients in our meetings in house .

Priority area 3

Description of priority area:

The PPG wants to do a survey on Winter Pressure Clinics at the beginning of next financial year.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

The PPG is trying to prepare the questions to be asked in the survey.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

After the survey , the results will be published and then a report will be done in comparison with other surgeries in this locality.

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):

Three surveys have been carried out since the PPG was formed in 2011, in addition to the current look at A&E use. These covered the helpfulness of the receptionists and the ease of booking appointments, the quality of the appointments with the GPs, and the quality of the premises and the ease of obtaining repeat subscriptions.

There were only two areas of concern:

Whereas 54% had found it easy to talk to a doctor or nurse on the phone, 45% hadn’t and steps were taken to improve this. The two GPs now allocate half an hour at the end of surgery for such conversations which appears to have solved the problem.
The survey about appointments revealed that about a third (39%) of patients found they had to wait more than thirty minutes after their scheduled appointment time to see the doctor. This has been looked at by staff and improvements have been made.

PPG Sign Off

Report signed off by PPG: YES

Date of sign off: 27.3.2015

Has the report been published on the practice website? YES

Please insert web-link to your report:

How has the practice engaged with the PPG:

Provided meeting space as required and notice board for displaying information

How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population?

Not really applicable, but the large Bangladeshi population is slow to come forward.

Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources?

Yes, very much so from patients, with four detailed surveys

Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan?

Yes

How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan?

Improvements in numbers of available appointments in the winter months

Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work?

There is a little enthusiasm in the community to answer the surveys or joining the PPG ,However, the PPG was particularly pleased with the results of the surveys, with the demonstration of a huge degree of satisfaction with the surgery, covered more fully in last year’s report.

PPG appreciated the relocation of Hatfield Road Surgery to the new premises and actively participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony by the local MP.

Quick Links

Further Information

Your Health