Patient Participation Group (PPG)

 

The SMG Patient Participation Group work voluntarily to provide a two-way communication between patients and staff and supports the practice in improving the service provided to patients. We aim to represent patient views and provide the means for patients to make positive constructive suggestions about the practice.

The PPG group consists of registered patients, Operations Manager and a GP. The group meet to suggest positive ideas and voice concerns usually every two months in the evening at one of our surgeries.

The aim of our PPG is to provide the following:

  • Provide an opportunity for patients to make positive and constructive suggestions/ideas about the practice
  • Work positively to help identify any problems and engage with the practice to seek solutions.
  • Liaise with the practice to provide practical support and to help patients take more responsibility for their own health.
  • Help the practice to deliver change.
  • Support the practice in its aim for excellence. 

The Swan Medical Group PPG met on 11 Sep 2024. Among the items discussed were:

  • Surgery update.  The latest figures on telephone calls; call backs and appointments made were covered. Some PPG members had experienced problems with the call back system. It was agreed that any PPG members having problems would email the practice manager with details so that they can be followed up. Of concern was the rise in ‘Did not attend’ appointments which equated to 61 hours of lost clinical time. Patients missing more than one appointment are followed up. It was recognised that some missed appointments are due to confusion over the Liss and Liphook site locations.
  • Health promotion events. The next events are in October and are to help patients manage digital access. They are being run at Winton House and with U3A at the Love Lane community centre. There will also be follow up one on one sessions for those who wish. The PPG hope that if successful these will be a template for further events. It was decided that the next conventional health promotion event will be in June 2025. The GPs will propose possible subjects and PPG members helping at the vaccination clinics will ask patients for any suggestions.
  • Re-election of the Chair. It was agreed that the current Chair, David Snelson would be re-elected for a period of 2 years.
  • Document management. The practice manager demonstrated how the Swan document management system works with most documents coming in electronically from multiple sources and then being directed to the relevant member of staff and on to the Patient’s GP for action if needed. The PPG observed that the software default notation of ‘DOCMAN (Mr) was confusing for patients.
  • NHS App events list. It was noted that patients looking at events and consultations in the NHS App often see multiple administrative entries such as ‘SMS sent’. This is again an unfortunate by product of how the software is designed.
  • BMA work to rule. The Swan Medical Group Partner present, Dr Cunliffe, confirmed that they would not be following the BMA work to rule recommendations.

The Swan Medical Group PPG met on 25th Jan 2025. Among the items discussed were:

Surgery update

The PPG discussed recent issues with the telephone system, particularly immediately after the Christmas break. Several patients were surprised that no callback was offered at times, despite this being the normal mode of operation. The Swan team explained that a few issues arose particularly immediately after Christmas and these were:

  • Very heavy demand
  • Surgery staff sickness
  • A limitation on the number of callbacks that can be handled at any one time in the phone system

This meant that at times callbacks could not be offered either because of system overload or because the surgery had to withdraw them as there would not be time in the day to return the calls.

The PPG understood these problems but asked that the telephone messages be updated with fresh information when call backs are not available. They also noted the very heavy demand on the telephones looking at the figures for December 2024:

9620 Calls answered – approx. 480/day

4897 – Call backs – approx. 245/day

27 minutes 24 seconds – average wait time for call to be answered.

The Swan team advised that under the new NHS England GP contract, which comes into force in March 2025, GP surgeries must offer E consult service between 8:00 AM and 6:30 PM. This does unfortunately mean that the early morning and early evening E consult slots will have to be withdrawn as the workload in answering all the E consults would be too high. However it was emphasised that the target for an E consult reply is 48 hours and that urgent issues should be dealt with by telephone or personal attendance.

Health promotion events

The PPG noted the positive feedback from the digital teaching events held before Christmas, particularly the one-on-one sessions in the surgery and the U3A teach in which they (U3A) have asked to be repeated. The PPG hope that these can be repeated later in the year.

The PPG then discussed potential subjects for the next health promotion event and taking the feedback from the vaccination clinic queues and a Facebook poll. It was decided that the next health promotion event will be a combination of advice on healthy living with a particular emphasis on living well in old age. It is hoped that the event can be held in mid-April either just before or just after Easter; full details will be published later in the spring.

Any other business

In AOB there was some discussion about the pressure on limited car parking spaces for both the pharmacy and Swan surgery in Petersfield. The Swan team explained that they had tried to expand car parking to the east of the surgery or by way of a lay by in swan street but these proposals had been rejected by the council. The PPG felt that it might be worth writing to the Council to point out that they should be more flexible given the number of elderly patients needing to drive to either the pharmacy or surgery in Petersfield.

Date of next meeting

the next meeting of the PPG will be held at the Swan surgery on the 2nd of April 2025.

In our aim to educate patients and develop self-help the PPG arrange health and awareness events once or twice a year, and to date we have covered:

  • Men’s health
  • Women’s health
  • Dementia
  • Carers support
  • Child/baby health
  • Stroke awareness
  • Heart health
  • Diabetes
  • Asthma, Eczema and Hay fever

Current Swan Medical Group PPG members (2024):

Peter Agnew (Liphook Village)
Brian Bartholomew (Swan Petersfield)
Ruth Bonner (Swan Petersfield)
Linda Collett (Liphook Village)
Frances Dowty (Liss Hillbrow Surgery)
David Ford (Swan Petersfield)
Jenny Hance (Liss Hillbrow Surgery)
Ros Humphreys (Riverside Surgery)
Ella de Jongh (Swan Petersfield)
Jenny de Jongh (Swan Petersfield)
Julia Maughan (Liss Hillbrow Surgery)
Sonia Meredith (Liphook Village)
Ray Morton (Riverside Surgery)
Mike Peters (Swan Petersfield)
David Snelson (Swan Petersfield) Chair
Ann Tremain (Liphook Village)
Andrea Venn (Swan Petersfield) Minutes secretary

Patient Reference Group

We also have a Patient Reference Group (PRG) who we contact from time to time, usually by email but we can also contact you via post if necessary.

If you would like to join our PRG please contact the surgery for more information or send us an email to: hiowicb-hsi.swanmedicalgroup@nhs.net

patient participation group