Minutes of the Meeting of the Spilsby Surgery Patient Participation Group
Wednesday 11 November 2015 at 7 pm
The Grange, Ashby Road
Present: Dorothy Dobson (Chair), Stephanie Wroe, Ken Wroe, Julie Rajput, Christina Holmes, Jeanette Amaral, Maureen Jarvis, Margaret Saunders, Jason Longstaff
Apologies: Enid Bailey
Absent: Sian Lovett
- Apologies and Welcome
Dorothy welcomed new members Maureen Jarvis and Margaret Saunders to the PPG and to their first meeting. Jeanette reported that she had received an email earlier in the evening from Suzy Sheldon, resigning from the committee owing to work commitments.
- Nominations and voting for Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary
Dorothy Dobson proposed for Chair by Stephanie and seconded by Ken – carried
Chris Holmes proposed for Vice Chair by Dorothy and seconded by Maureen – carried
Jeanette proposed for Secretary by Chris and seconded by Julie – carried
- Terms of Reference review
Chris proposed that the Terms of Reference should be reviewed for non-attendance at meetings without apologies. It was noted that it is made clear to everyone putting their names forward to be a committee member that the group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. It was agreed that Jeanette would send out the current terms of reference for consideration at the following meeting. Action – all.
Jeanette asked if the frequency of meetings could be increased because of the lack of continuity of holding meetings only every 2 months. Dorothy proposed 10 meetings per year (not December or August), this was seconded by Jeanette. Although Chris felt that meeting frequency should not be increased because of attendance and lack of items to discuss, it was carried but would be monitored throughout the year.
- Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes of the meeting from 11 September 2015 were agreed subject to the following amendment:
Jeanette’s attendance to be added.
- Matters Arising from the previous meeting
Chemotherapy Bus
The FOI response from ULHT in connection with the mobile chemotherapy bus had been previously circulated to members. ULHT had said that it was due to go to Skegness at the end of October 2015. Chris tabled an article from the local paper of 21 October 2015 about the bus which also mentioned that it would be going to Skegness for one day a week and Louth for one day a week. Chris had also raised this at the recent ULHT Trustees meeting which she had attended. On the ULHT action log it had been noted that the bus was due to start going to Skegness in October 2015 and was ragged green. Chris would ask for this to be changed to red at the next meeting in January 2016 if this proved to be untrue. Julie had also been to Lincoln County Hospital recently and had seen the bus being used as a regular clinic. Jason then reported that the bus would not be going to the Skegness hospital site because no-one had spoken to ULHT Estates about it, so the proposed new site for it in Skegness would be at the Ambulance station. It was agreed that Jeanette would make a further FOI request to ULHT to find out when the unit would be used in Skegness. Dorothy also mentioned that she had learned that a local group were raising funds for this facility and it was agreed that this group should be made aware that despite the intention of this unit being for rural patients in places where there wasn’t a chemotherapy unit, it isn’t. It was also agreed that this issue should be raised with local MPs Victoria Aitken and Matt Warman. Action – Dorothy, Jeanette
Hand Gel
Chris thanked Jason for sorting out the hand gel and clock in the patient waiting room.
NAPP subscription
Jeanette would liaise with Jason around a subscription for the PPG to NAPP. Action – Jeanette
Surgery/Reception Waiting Areas
Jason had arranged background music in the patient waiting room. It had been raised that the music was too loud but Jason explained that it is also there to prevent conversations from Dr Howarth’s consultation room being overheard.
Town Council
Dorothy would invite Spilsby Mayor Julia Pears to the January meeting. Action – Dorothy.
New build in Spilsby – Ashby/Halton Roads
Most of the committee had attended the recent consultation by Allison Homes at the Franklin Hall. It was noted that it had been well attended by local residents. It was reported that many people were under the false impression that a new surgery would be built but it was made clear again at this meeting that only a 3 acre plot of land had been offered. The concern was also that if this development was done in stages, which it had been proposed to do, then reducing the number of homes built at any one time would potentially place that under the 106 monies threshold. It was noted that there was still no communication by the town council with the surgery and that if any future discussions took place between the developer and the town council, the surgery’s and patient views would not be represented. There was also a discussion around the current new builds taking place in and around the town, i.e. Boston Road, Partney and Hundleby. It was agreed that Dorothy should raise our concerns with local County Councillors. Action – Dorothy.
Medical Equipment Fund
As proposed new treasurer, Ken would contact Geoff Tong to discuss arrangements for taking over overseeing the Medical Equipment Fund. Action – Ken
Pilgrim Appointment Letters
Chris had raised this at the recent ULHT Trustees meeting and had asked for it to be put on the agenda and it had been put on their Action Log. They had been told that ULHT was currently undertaking a full review of appointment letters. As a minimum standard ULHT expect all appointment letters to leave the Trust 10 days before the date of an appointment and where this is not possible, a patient needs to be called. Chris informed them that this is not happening so it cannot be ragged green on their Action Log. Chris has asked for this item to be put on the January meeting agenda. It was noted that ULHT had said that this did not apply to cancer patients, who are always phoned. The committee thanked Chris for taking this up with the Trust.
- Flu Clinic October 2015 Feedback
Chris reported that she had given out the Good Neighbour forms at the flu clinic. Besides this only three patients had spoken to her at the clinic. One had mentioned that they had had a recent hip operation and their follow up treatment by the surgery had been excellent. Another patient had mentioned that the pharmacist at the surgery had not been very amenable but they had praised Bev. The third patient had breathing difficulties and Chris advised them to make an appointment to see Dr O’Kelly, who specialised in respiratory problems and COPD. Chris felt that the clinic was so effectively and efficiently run that this might have been why patients didn’t have the opportunity to stop and talk. It was noted that many patients had paid compliment to how the clinic was run and the opportunity too to have a blood pressure check whilst there. The next flu clinic on 21 November, which would be morning only, would be attended by Ken and Stephanie. Jason reported that the uptake had been lower this year than last year but it was noted that there were now several other sources for flu jabs.
- Good Neighbour Scheme
Jason reported that they had had a good response of forms and the next meeting of the steering group would be held on 30 November 2015 to move it forward. It was noted that any volunteers would need to be DBS tested and the cost of this would be picked up by Community Lincs.
- Making two treatment-related appointments
Ken asked Jason if there was a surgery policy not allowing patients to make two treatment-related appointments at the same time. He had been asked to have a blood test and on the day of the test had tried to make a follow up appointment but was told that he wasn’t allowed to until the blood test results were back. He was aware that this had also happened to other patients too. Jason said that this was not the case and would speak to receptionists.
- Surgery Update
Jason reported as follows:
- Higher chairs had been ordered for both consultation rooms and waiting areas
- The Alzheimer’s Society would be running an event for local businesses early next year to raise an awareness
- The surgery would be supporting and Alzheimer’s Health Bus for one day in Spilsby in the new year which would be well advertised
- New registrar Liz Marchant would start on 2 December
- Dr Jaffrey had now left
- Dr Kuttapan was staying until September 2016
- They were a nurse short since Jas had left but an advert was running
- DNAs were up slightly on last year but would be monitored in December
- Christmas and New Year opening hours would be the normal 8am to 6.30pm on all days apart from Bank Holidays. Prescription deliveries would need to be re-arranged accordingly. It was noted that the home delivery of prescriptions was now in its third year and was going really well
Jason spoke about the £5/head monies and the letter which Dr Savory had sent to Dr Peter Holmes, Chair and Clinical Lead of East Lincolnshire CCG, which had been circulated amongst the PPG already. It had been mooted that these £5/head monies would be withdrawn to be used elsewhere. Jason tabled a second letter which Dr Savory had sent on 10 November to MP Victoria Atkins. Jason explained for purposes of the new members that the £5/head monies had been used by our surgery to employ a temporary care coordinator whose job it was to offer vulnerable, sick and usually elderly patients time and community nursing expertise to coordinate their often complex health, social and voluntary sector care needs. A response from Dr Holmes had suggested that a continuation of £5/head monies would be an administrative decision, however, the Surgery felt strongly that this should be a clinical one. It was noted that Georgie, the care coordinator, currently had a caseload of around 70 patients, patients who otherwise would slip through the net, not being eligible for any other health or social care. These were isolated patients who were referred through to her before a crisis occurred, that is, before the patient became an A&E or in-patient statistic. It was further noted that the Surgery would not have used all of the £5/head monies and that over the year the cost of this post would equate to around £2/3 per patient head. It was debated how many preventable A&E or hospital admissions it would have taken to equate to the £20k cost of this post – 3 or 4 possibly? It was agreed that Jeanette would circulate the second letter to the group and that we should write in support to MP Victoria Atkins and our local Lincolnshire County Councillors of the group’s strong desire to see these monies and this excellent work continued. Action – Jeanette
It was agreed that a December patient newsletter should concentrate on Christmas opening hours, the triage process (issue raised at AGM), self-care (AGM), and prescriptions prior to Christmas and New Year and highlight that DNAs are again on the rise. On average there were 12 lost appointments per day to people not attending. Ken wondered if there was any future in offering patients the opportunity of coming into the surgery and waiting for a missed appointment, with no guarantees? Jason said he would give it some thought. Action – Jeanette (newsletter)
- Consortium Update
There was no further update.
- Any Other Business
AGM Minutes
Chris had completed the draft minutes which had been checked by the Surgery. Would pass to Jeanette to circulate to the group. Action – Chris and Jeanette
U3A
Jason reported that despite a suggestion at the AGM that Jason attend the U3A to talk to the group briefly about the surgery, he had been informed that there would be no opportunity to do that in the next 12 months because the diary was full. Margaret said she would take this back to the group at its next meeting as she was sure a 10-15 minute slot could be found for this. Action – Margaret
There being no further business the meeting was closed.
Next meeting – Wednesday 13 January 2016 at 7pm
