PPG Minutes: 8th May 2024

 

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

 

Time: 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location: SMA Medical Centre

Present

  • SMA patients: 12 attendees in total (patient attendee numbers were supplied by NC and not named due to GDPR).
  • Co-chairs: Andy Agathocleous (AA) ..
  • Guest speaker: Dr Patel (Lead GP and Hurley Group partner)
  • Senior Practice Manager: Nick Christou (NC)
  • Apologies: Co-chair Mumtaz Patel.
 

Meeting Minutes

  • The minutes of the last meeting were made available to all the meeting attendees and are also available to all patients on the PPG area of the SMA practice website.
  • The minutes were reviewed and accepted by the attendees of the meeting as a true record.
  • AA gave a live demonstration to the meeting attendees of how they can navigate the SMA practice website and locate the PPG meeting notes.
  • Action: NC the minutes from today's meeting to be uploaded onto the PPG area of the SMA website.
 

Guest Speaker

Dr. Patel gave a talk on the following health topics:

  • Diabetes - Five practice GP's can prescribe insulin as they have had the additional training.
  • Approximately 1000 SMA patients have been diagnosed and are being treated for Diabetes.
  • Hypertension was the next highest condition for SMA patients and that Gaviscon raises blood pressure.
  • Patients do not need a GP referral to see a Community Pharmacist about their symptoms. Community Pharmacists can prescribe antibiotics and can be seen for seven conditions.
  • Repeat medication - Only order the medication you require and check if you still require all the medication listed on your repeat prescription.
  • Pharmacists may order all of your repeat medication if they are not informed that you are no longer taking certain medication or if you already have an adequate supply of your repeat medication. Obtaining medication you do not require or have adequate supplies is adding substantial costs to the NHS and wasting unused medication.
  • 18 to 30 patients are seen each day by a GP. The practice is reviewing Frequent attenders at the practice to understand the issues that are creating the high demand, the findings show that 62 Patients had more than 26 encounters each with the practice in a year that is a combined total of 1612 encounters.
  • The practice is receiving 300 to 350 patient calls a day.
  • Mounjaro the weight reducing weekly injection can be administered by trained GP's at the practice.
  • Patients were given the opportunity to ask Dr Patel questions.
 

Practice Update

Nick Christou gave an update on the practice:

  • Full time Doctors: Dr. Sanjay Patel - Lead GP & Partner, Dr Shehla Oureshi - Associate Partner, Dr Henry Edung and Dr.Vacap.
  • One SDU2 and one SDU3 trainee doctors at the practice.
  • Dietitian.
  • Clinical pharmacists.
  • Physiotherapist.
  • Mental Health Practitioner.
  • All patient medical records are now digital.
  • 800 NHS health checks were completed in the last year. This was the highest number in Waltham Forest.
  • An additional physiotherapist will be recruited by the time of our next PPG meeting.
 

AA PPG Chair Update

Apologies that the last PPG meeting was held in November 2023 this was for a number of reasons. NC has given assurances that the PPG meetings will take place every 3 months.

The number of patient attendees at today's meeting was substantially reduced as only patients that had signed up to the PPG were invited by text message to today's PPG meeting. We had 49 attendees at the last PPG meeting as all SMA patients were invited to the November 2023 PPG meeting. The change in the patient invitation process was made by the practice.

Healthwatch Waltham Forest PPG meetings resumed on 6 February which I attended and was mainly an introductory session. I will be attending the next HW meeting on 14 May . Healthwatch is the consumer champion for health and social care and who make recommendations to Healthwatch England to advise the Care Quality Commission to carry out special reviews or investigations into areas of concern.

PPG chairs are strongly recommending that all SMA patients obtain a password from the practice so that they can access and log into Patient Access where their medical records are stored. Patients will be able to view their medical records and order repeat medications. A live demonstration was shown to the attendees of the meeting on how to locate the login page of Patient Access.

SMA patients can communicate directly with the PPG chairs without going through the practice by using the confidential PPG email address.The practice will not be able to access the emails you send to this email address. If you have any recommendations or topics that are NOT health related that you would like to discuss relating to the practice or NHS, please use the email and let us know.

 

Patient Questions

  1. Contact telephone numbers for Waltham Forest GP federation Network (WFGPFedNet) who provide GP appointments and blood tests outside the normal opening hours of the practice including weekends.
  2. Which Travel vaccinations does the practice provide and are certificates being issued?
  3. How do patients obtain referrals for chiropodists and Neurotherapy?
  • Action: NC to display posters (WFGP FedNet contact details and to provide updates to the above points 2&3 at our next PPG meeting.
 

Work in progress

  1. Provide a list or a pamphlet of the services pharmacies provide with and without a GP referral.
    Update: A document detailing the services pharmacists provide can be found on the SMA web site and the details are also displayed in the practice.
    Action: Complete.
  2. E-consult timings are 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday. There is an on-going discussion about whether the timings could revert back to 7 days a week 24 hours a day for patients who have a health concern.
    Update by Dr.Patel : There are no plans to change the timings as the practice is already providing a much better e-consult service than most other GP practices.
  3. Appointments to see a GP are triaged and filtered to the appropriate Clinician, this includes face to face appointments. Face-to-face GP appointments are at the discretion of the practice.
    Update Dr Patel: Face to face appointments will remain at the discretion of the practice as the patient symptoms may not need a GP face to face appointment.
  4. Negotiations are ongoing with the practice manager to reinstate on-line pre-booked face to face GP appointments & messaging services.
    Update Dr Patel:No plans to reinstate pre -planned or on-line face to face appointments or messaging services.
  5. Why are promotional events such as PPG invites, patient surveys, pick up blood test forms, submit blood pressure readings and vaccination text message reminders to patients being recorded as consultations on the patient's medical records.Telephone consultation appointments are being recorded on patient records without notifying the patient and recorded as patient not available.
    Update:NC has informed us that this is a technical issue and not the practice administration. AA to escalate this issue to Patient Access, the patient record provider and Healthwatch.
  • Action: Points 2-5 ongoing further updates to be provided at the next PPG meeting.
 

Next PPG Event

Patients at the meeting said they would like to see at the next PPG health awareness day - A GP to be present, health checks, specialist on Asthma, Health Lifestyle, Arthritis, Cancer, Sickle cell, training on how to access your medical records and how to navigate the SMA website to the PPG area.

Action: NC, MP & AA to organise the event. TBC

 

Next PPG Meeting

Thank you all for attending today's meeting and your continued support.

Action: NC to send invites to the next PPG meeting date, TBC