About the Patient Participation Group

Are you interested in finding out how your GP practice works and about the health services it delivers?  

Why not join our Patient Participation Group?

Weymouth Bay Medical Practice have an active Patient Participation Group, combined of patients from Royal Crescent Surgery, Preston Road Surgery and Dorchester Road Surgery. We are always seeking new members to have a say in what we do. If you would like to join our PPG group, please contact the surgery or complete a sign up form below.

The Patient Participation Group play a part in shaping roles and services within the surgery. We are always seeking new members to have a say in what we do.

If you would like to join our PPG group:

A group meeting

The PPG has the following aim as decided by its members:

"To work closely with the surgery team, representing the views of patients, to develop the workings of the surgery and improve the health of the community".

  • Promote the proactive engagement of patients.
  • Seek views from patients as appropriate.
  • Involve patients in decisions about the range and quality of services provided.
  • Involve patients in decisions that lead to changes to the services the practice provides.
  • Assist in gathering views from the wider patient population with local practice surveys.

Ground Rules

Ground rules are important to ensure people can participate fully and fairly at meetings. Members should: 

  • Be encouraged and supported to share their experiences/ views of services. 
  • Respect the views of others.
  • Allow others time to speak. 
  • Respect confidentiality: issues, comments, views should not be discussed outside the meeting, unless members agree that they can be shared or minuted. 
  • Not use the meeting to air patient confidential complaints or grievances.
  • Mute microphone at online meetings and use the ‘raise hand’ option to indicate they wish to speak. Be considerate of members who are not as IT literate as others.

This group helps us identify areas where we can improve or change, help us set goals and produce positive results. We would like to be able to find out the opinions of as many patients as possible, whether from meetings or an electronic forum.

We will keep you updated on surgery news and forward surgery newsletters.  We will meet 3 to 4 times a year.  We believe that by working together, this will help ensure the delivery of a modern, high quality general practice.

The information you supply us will be used lawfully, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to know what information is held about you and sets out rules to make sure that this information is handled properly.

Latest PPG Meeting Minutes

18th February 1pm to 2.30pm

Attendees:

Present:

  • Tracey Scorer (PPG Co-ordinator)
  • Leanne Birch (Operations Manager\)
  • 23 PPG Members (14 online, 8 in person

Chair: John Hewitt

Role and Remit of the PPG

The PPG exists to represent the collective interests of patients. It is not a forum for individual complaints but a collaborative space for the Practice and PPG to share information and work together constructively. Where actions appear not to be in the best interests of patients, the group has a responsibility to provide clear feedback to the Practice.

Communication remains a frequent theme in patient concerns. The group discussed the importance of improving how information, such as updates on new services is shared with patients. Current methods include newsletters, the Practice website and via SMS messaging.

Practice Updates

The Practice has recently welcomed three new frontline staff members, which is already helping to strengthen call-handling capacity along with a new Health Care Assistant. Recruitment is ongoing, with additional medical reception roles advertised and interviews scheduled next month.

A new Patient Services Manager post is currently being advertised. This new post will take over the day-to-day operational management, replacing Leanne’s current Operations Manager role.

Leanne will take on a new role as Patient Relationship Manager and will concentrate on patient experience and estates management, giving Leanne more time to understand the patients journey and lead service-improvement work.

Overall, these staffing and structural changes are intended to reduce pressure on the team and allow the Practice to continue improving the services they provide.

Digital Communication Challenges

  • Mixed experiences with the NHS App — some find it useful, many struggle with setup, logins and unclear features. SystmOnline and the Airmid App are also used for online services.
  • Preferences for communication vary widely (SMS, email, letters, WhatsApp, social media).
  • Younger age groups rarely use Facebook; more likely to use Instagram or alternative platforms.

PPG Representation Is Small Compared to Patient Population

  • Approx. 340 PPG members out of 27,000 patients, however this is much higher than other Practices in Weymouth and Portland.
  • Desire to expand participation, especially younger patients but unclear how to encourage wider sign-up.

Difficulty Engaging Younger Patients

  • This is a persistent challenge across all surgeries.
  • Younger patients often do not engage unless they have an immediate need.
  • Suggestions included exploring Instagram, TikTok (with caution), Whats App or schools/family-based approaches.

Phone System

The current phone system is outdated and merged across the 3 sites; a new system is being procured> New system expected to include:

  • Queue number position
  • Estimated wait time
  • Call-back functionality

Practice requests PPG involvement in testing and feedback.

Saturday Appointments and Cross-Site Appointments

  • Many patients are still unaware they may be booked into other surgery sites across Weymouth and Portland or that Saturday appointments are available.
  • Confusion over address in text confirmations can lead to missed or mis-located appointments.
  • Strong recommendation to redesign the appointment message so that the location appears first.

Prescription Management Issues

Problems with:

  • Ordering too early (system prevents early submission)
  • Repeat dispensing misunderstandings
  • Batch prescriptions not always working smoothly with pharmacies

Advice to use the free-text box online, when ordering early eg, due to travel.

COPD Pathway Concerns

Some patients unhappy with COPD assessment processes, especially:

  • Being assessed first via phone rather than face-to-face.
  • Having to travel to Lynch Lane for spirometry.
  • Practice to raise this with the respiratory/PCN team

Website Analytics

Most visited pages relate to:

  • Systm Online
  • Prescriptions
  • Appointments

Very low engagement with self-help or health-information sections.

Self-help content exists but is not being used. How can the Practice encourage patients to utilise the website and the self-help pages more?

Requests for Future Education Topics

Group would welcome external speakers, especially on:

  • Dementia
  • Support for carers
  • A dementia-focused session could be planned for the next meeting. Hilary from Age UK, said she knows of a Well-being team leader who runs a cognitive stimulation therapy session for people with Dementia, maybe she could come along to the next meeting.

Healthy Living Newsletter

Created by the PPG working group and PCN

The first Healthy Living newsletter focused on Exercise/movement, Mental Wellbeing and Nutrition. John said the intention is to stimulate discussion within families and communities.

John said he is involved with a small working party from the PPG and members from Active Dorset Mental Health Forum, nutritionists, dietitians who are happy to contribute to this newsletter with the help of the PCN and they will shortly be working on the 2nd Newsletter.

Overall Summary

The meeting focused heavily on communication, digital inclusion, service awareness, and the patient journey. There is strong willingness from both the practice team and PPG members to improve engagement, but persistent challenges remain — especially around technology, phone access, and reaching younger demographics. Operational improvements (new phone system, staffing, clarified messaging) are underway. Some clinical pathways (ie COPD) may require further review.

John thanked all members for attending and brought the meeting to a close.

The date for the next PPG Meeting will be Tuesday 19th May 2026.