23/02/2023 PPG minutes

Minutes of the PPG Meeting held on Wednesday 22nd February 2023 at 11.00 – held online

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Present:

Apologies:

*CM & HT access to the meeting was delayed due to technical difficulties. DW had similar problems and failed to join.

Minutes of the previous PPG meeting on 22nd September 2022 were formally accepted as a true record.

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1. Role of the Physician’s Associate:
   This role supports doctors in the diagnosis and management of Surgery patients. It is part of the Surgery’s Allied Healthcare Professional Team who work together to provide a holistic response to patient needs. Marion outlined how she interacts with patients to assess, diagnose and plan their medical management, and she pointed out that she cannot prescribe medicines or order certain medical procedures such as x-rays. The role is supervised by a Surgery doctor and there is interaction on patient needs on a daily basis. Marion is a qualified nurse with a further 2-year Masters qualification which allows her to perform as a Physician’s Associate. She talked about how she was quickly integrated into the Surgery team and feels supported in her role. The Surgery is currently looking to recruit an additional Physician’s Associate into the team.
2. Prescription discussion update:
   Charlotte had spoken to the PPG at the last Committee meeting and came back to discuss what had arisen from that first meeting. Clinical Pharmacists work as part of the Surgery team by providing expertise on day-to-day medicine issues and consultations with patients directly. They are responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex issues to make sure the medication they need is kept up to date. Charlotte had prepared information on her role and on frequently asked questions on prescription management, which are planned to be published on the Surgery website. Charlotte took on board some suggestions from the PPG to clarify some of the content and also will look at the possibility of having some pre-bookable slots for patients’ medication-related issues. The key point was that their work was overseen by a partner who they would refer to if issues were beyond their experience or expertise e.g., complex medicine regimens.
3. Surgery ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA) Data:
   A number of Surgery appointments are not completed because the patient did not attend and did not inform the Surgery of their non-appearance prior to the appointment time. These missed appointment slots could have been used by other patients and therefore need to be measured and ways to reduce the number trialled. At present the number of DNAs is running at 90 to 100 appointments each week (5% – 9% of the total appointments available). Patients are reminded with text messages (or phone calls in specific circumstances) and posters are now in place in the Surgery showing the weekly DNA numbers and also, importantly, how to cancel appointments if needed. The PPG discussed ways to help decrease the DNA numbers with one of the most important being to remind patients to keep their contact numbers (mobile phone etc) up-to-date so that communication can take place effectively. It is planned to put a section in to the next Surgery newsletter on the DNA situation.
4. Matters Arising:
   • Primary Care Network (PCN) re-name: The process to rename the PCN to Reading Holy Brook is progressing.Friends & Family analysis: Not discussed due to time constraints. Will be discussed at the next PPG.
   • Telephony update: The new telephone system is in place. It has useful features such as ‘call-back’ which allows you to request a ring back if held in a long queue; this will call you back at the same place you would have had a response if you had stayed waiting in the queue. Statistics show that the queue is never more than 20 – 30 minutes and this is at peak times, such as Monday morning. The system allows the Surgery to see how many calls are waiting and then the number of staff available to answer the calls can be adjusted.
   • Photo Board: The board is now in place and photographs of the Surgery’s Senior Management Team are being collected to go on to the board (Outstanding Actions Log item 20).
   • Out of date information on the website: The corrected information has been passed to the external suppliers who manage the website and is expected to be published soon (Outstanding Actions Log item 55).
   • Newsletter: The second edition of the Surgery newsletter has been published. Suggestions for topics to be included are welcomed. The next edition is expected in the coming months.
   • Christchurch Road site: The Surgery is awaiting grants to progress the action plan for the site’s reuse.
   • Milman Road site carpark: Not discussed (Outstanding Actions Log items 18 & 24).
5. Any other business:
   The attendance of Doctors at the PPG was discussed and it was acknowledged that the winter period was very busy but as activity reduces toward the summer the possibility of attendance would be considered.
   
   Concern was raised about a notice that has appeared on the practice web site saying “Important parking restrictions in Milman Road have now been amended and you can park on the road for up to 2 hours after 08:00 each day.” PW said that checks with Reading Borough Council website and signage on the street show no changes have been made in recent years. 2-hour parking is only available opposite New Christchurch School. NR agreed to check the source.

The next PPG Meeting is planned for Wednesday 24th May at 11.00.

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Appendix A: Outstanding Actions Log – 22 February 2023

No.	Description	Date	Owner	Target Date
18	When will staff markings on the right-hand side of car park be erased and or replaced with new markings?	Dec 17	NR	Jun 2022
20	Photo Board of Staff (physical and/or on website)	Mar 18	NR	31 Aug 2022
24	Disabled car parking spaces (properly sized and marked)	Mar 18	NR	Jun 2022
55	AD to update website and correct out of date information about Kennet	Aug 21	NR	31 Dec 2022
62	NR to check source of Milman parking notice	Feb 23	NR	ASAP