Patient Group Meeting Minutes

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August 2024

Welcome and group rules

Present

• Dr Elizabeth Grigg
• Sharon Rowe
• Dr Jane Armstrong
• Ian Aldridge
• Mr & Mrs Keenan
• Liz Blazey
• Sam (Village Agent working with Izzy)

Elizabeth reiterated group guidelines, (as opposed to group rules) and sought agreement for the following: there should be no personal items raised but raised directly with Sharon who said she was happy to discuss matters arising, secondly, please keep comments succinct, and thirdly, the need to respect confidentiality, and these were agreed.

Apologies

• Sally Payton
• Izzy Sylvester
• Dr Margaret Tatham
• Sandra Wilson
• Dr Duckworth

(Invited as 3 prospective new members, Donna and Zara Bangs, DNA, as above, Sally sent her apologies)

Clarity about the membership of the group by Tracy Brick to be facilitated by Kate.

An agreed and prioritised agenda item

Introduction to the surgery’s new Safeguarding Patient Care Coordinator

Carly Hughes has been appointed to a new full-time role, Safeguarding Patient Care Coordinator, funded through the Primary Care Network (PCN). Carly is based at the surgery. All (West Somerset) PCN practices have been allocated a Safeguarding Patient Care Coordinator. The amount of resource is dependent upon the practice list size.

Carly’s primary role is to manage the children and adult safeguarding registers at the practice and deal with all administration relating to this area. Previously, the safeguarding administration role was managed by another member of the surgery team as part of their role, but this was not sustainable. There are two safeguarding meetings per month; one to cover children and the other for vulnerable adults. Carly maintains and updates the safeguarding registers, prepares meeting agendas and takes minutes.

Carly also manages the practice’s palliative care register and attends the monthly multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings to take minutes and document action plans.

The role has been extremely helpful to the practice team. Carly has freed up the former safeguarding administrator to focus on her role, and is able to support the GPs by helping to signpost and refer patients to other support services. Carly works closely with the PCN team, Living Better nurses and our Village Agents. GPs can task Carly with specific actions, and Carly will then liaise with external organisations including Minehead Eye, MIND, Young Somerset, etc.

The practice safeguarding and palliative care registers are RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rated, to identify patients most in need. Carly Hughes

Kate mentioned the challenges for those with Learning Disabilities, and issues of reviews. Sharon explained that all patients on the practice LD register have an extensive annual review, and an action plan is then provided to the patient and/or their carer(s).

Somerset FT and the PCN have jointly funded a children and young persons’ mental health worker. The PCN has recently recruited to this post.

Carly has been in post 6 months so far. Carly was thanked for her presentation and left the meeting.

Review last meeting minutes

Elizabeth reviewed the last meeting minutes. There was a misspelling of Blakey, to be corrected and item 8, the date for the carer’s event was 15/06/2024 not 15/05/2024. Elizabeth made these corrections to the hard copy of the minutes.

Sign off minutes

The minutes were signed as correct on condition of the agreed amendments, and to be held as the record of the meeting.

Practice update

Staff update - the practice is now fully staffed. The new GP, two receptionists and HCA are settling in well.

Current patient numbers – the practice list size is now 10,625.

RSV vaccination campaign (Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Available from 01 September 2024. Pregnant women (over 28 weeks) and older adults aged 75 to 79 years. Advice is not to have the vaccine at the same time as flu or COVID vaccines. The vaccines come in a reconstitution kit, so the powder and a solution need to be mixed and a needle attached to the syringe. It will therefore take longer to administer than the flu vaccines. The surgery is in the process of finalising plans for this campaign.

Flu vaccine

The main campaign cannot start before 03 October 2024. The surgery will use the text messaging self-book system and phone call contacts for patients again this year. There will be two mass vaccination clinics on Saturday 05 October and Saturday 12 October. There will then be smaller mid-week clinics for those who cannot attend the mass vaccination sessions. Nurses will visit housebound patients as in previous years.

New telephone system

A new telephone system will go-live from 29 August 2024. This will have enhanced features for patients including a check and cancel facility, and patient call-back to avoid queuing.

NHS Somerset letter to the practice

The surgery received a letter from NHS Somerset’s Chief Executive Jonathan Higman last week to congratulate the practice on its recent patient survey results. “The survey results for West Somerset Healthcare are above the Somerset and national average and among the highest in the region. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to the commitment and hard work of your team. The survey highlighted the high standards West Somerset Healthcare has maintained across a range of areas, with 93% of patients describing their overall experience as good. Only twelve practices in Somerset achieved over 90% in this year’s survey.

Elizabeth asked Sharon about the welfare of staff and how the surgery maintains this. Sharon discussed the positive impacts of being fully staffed. She explained that team building is ongoing, with social events planned every few months and less formal things for example the staff currently have a sunflower growing competition. Kate asked who staff turn to when they need to discuss personal or work-related difficulties. Sharon said she is often a first port of call and her full-time availability makes her accessible. Sharon said she is well supported by the partnership. Communication is vital to good teamwork and to help facilitate this Sharon meets weekly with the GP partners, there are monthly department meetings, and daily whole team briefings every morning to discuss the day’s events.

Village Agent Update

On behalf of Izzy (asked by Izzy to attend in her absence), Sam gave us a Village Agent update. They also support unpaid carers too. She links with Tracey (carers’ champion) from the GP surgery. The general view was the PPG Carers event was very good, as carer burnout is a major problem and info on comprehensive support was present at the event. Some carers still work making it even harder. Watchet CCT are sponsoring a carers lunch once a week at the Royal British Legion. Sam said carers must be heard, and hospital discharges are particularly challenging for those people with paid/unpaid carers. There are also particular challenges with Magna. Sam was thanked for coming to the meeting and her presentation.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust update

Kate said that SFT is recruiting a new Chair, in which there is a lot of interest. The ICB has emphasised that going forward care must be personalised and that strategy should drive practice by staff. The CEO of SFT, Peter Lewis is currently tackling another challenging issue, that of beds taken up by people who are fit to leave hospital but cannot because their ongoing care package is not available, mergers have added to challenges for SFT. Ian raised concerns about the value of the governor role and Kate said that this is now a current matter of discussion, and Peter Lewis will be more available for governors.

2024 PPG managed educational community events/activities update

It was agreed that the PPG wanted to run the carers event annually. It was restated that the carer’s event had gone very well.

Community feedback - Patient concern

Mrs Keegan asked the group about its purpose? General discussion concluded it was principally about being a conduit for the Surgery’s patients, giving feedback and relaying important issues back to patients. Kate talked about past patient surveys conducted during the flu vaccination period in the past.

A positive example was encouraging the surgery to use text reminders for appointments. Sharon said that managing DNAs is still challenging but sometimes a DNA was appreciated because it allowed staff to fill in other work commitments. Ian suggested a ‘campaign’ to better educate patients about the role, functions, and expectations of a GP surgery, for staff. He suggested, particularly education about the work of the Surgery’s GPs and other staff, particularly to inform about staff’s other roles and responsibilities, e.g a day in the life of a GP for patients, as many GP’s had other roles taking up further whole-time equivalents elsewhere.

There was also discussion of fund raising for the surgery for e.g. surgery equipment.

Dementia Alliance Watchet/other

Postponed as Margaret was not present.

Any Other Business

Kate raised the possibility of the PPG undertaking research projects. Elizabeth said she would ask.

Date of Next Meeting

13 November 2024 with AGM