PPG Meeting Minutes

July 2024: Hybrid Meeting held at Dorchester Road Surgery and via Zoom Video Conference.

Attendees

Present: Tracey Scorer (PPG Co-ordinator), Carole Pentelow (Practice Manager), Leanne Birch (Operations Manager), John Hewitt (Preston PPG Chair) and 25 PPG Members.

Apologies: 17 PPG members.

Chair: Tracey and Carole

 

1. Welcome

Carole welcomed everyone to the 1st WBMP PPG Meeting which was held as a Hybrid meeting, with some members present at Dorchester Road Surgery and other members online via Zoom.

 

2. The PPG Mission Statement and PPG Ground Rules

were reviewed, and after discussion the Mission Statement and PPG Ground Rules were agreed.

 

3. PPG Election 

An election was held for the position of PPG Chair and Vice Chair, and it was agreed as below.

  • PPG Chair – John Hewitt
  • Vice Chair – Leslie Senior + (if any other member not present at the meeting would also like to stand as vice chair, please contact Carole or Tracey)
 

4. Practice Updates 

Practice Merger

Carole said that the merge between the practices went well. As part of the merge, we have welcomed 4 additional GPs to the Practice.

Carole said there have been some challenges along the way, but regular meetings have been held with management to overcome these along with staff meetings to keep all staff informed of any changes.

Carole said she went from managing a Practice of 6,500 patients to the new merged Practice of over 26,000 patients but has full support from a larger management team.

Sandra Maddison remains the Practice Business Manager, and Leanne Birch the Practice Operations Manager.  There have been changes within the Management job roles, and each role has its own responsibility.

Leanne said some Dorchester Road Patients had been telephoning Royal Crescent Surgery and vice versa, patients have been advised to contact their own surgery as usual for any queries or for booking appointments.

Management are looking at some processes within the Practice that can be shared between the surgeries, but it will take time for all 3 surgeries processes to run as 1.
The daily duty doctor is shared across the Practice, if a patient needs advice or to be seen by a duty doctor it could be from a different surgery.

Leanne said they are currently discussing plans for this year’s Flu Season vaccinations, which will also include the Covid vaccination for those people who are eligible.  These will be held at vaccination clinics on several dates in October.

Leanne said previously PPG members have helped out at the Flu clinics, especially in the car park and would be very grateful if any PPG members would be available to help out again this year. (more info on the flu clinics and dates will be sent soon)

A PPG member mentioned issues with the NHS App when Dorchester Road Surgery merged.  Carole said she was aware of these issues, and affected patients should contact the surgery to be set up again for online services.

James said the NHS App has much improved, and that we should promote this as the App for patients to use.  One issue some patients mention however is that they don’t receive appointment reminders direct as an SMS, but these go through as a message to the App.

Tracey said the surgery does not have any control over how the NHS App operates.

Healthy Eating Project

John updated the PPG on the Healthy Eating Project, and a small working party has held Discussions with The Friendly Food Club, Dorset’s cooking and food education charity who run cookery workshops and food education sessions. John said the PCN are involved and are discussing rolling out ‘Health Talks’ across the locality, aimed at educating people who suffer from pre-diabetes and hypertension.

The talks will be attended by a diabetes dietician, a cardiovascular nurse, and a representative from Live Well Dorset. Those patients attending a talk would be invited to enrol on a funded cookery course of 6 sessions tailored to their medical condition.

Discussions have also been held with Weymouth College, to consider the possibility of producing videos of healthy cooking for the education of their own students and others. 

Practice Website

Tracey said that Dorchester Road and Royal Crescent and Preston Road websites are currently being reviewed, differences on the websites are being noted and changed appropriately so both websites will look the same and have the correct information and content.

Once both have been aligned, the new Weymouth Bay Medical Practice website will be formed.  If anyone searches for the old website address, they will be automatically redirected to the new website.

Tracey said once the websites are merged, she will inform the PPG and welcomes members to review the new website and provide any feedback as required.

 

5. AOB

Weymouth Minor Injuries Unit are extremely busy when all practices close for staff training. Are they given notice in advance of the Practices closing?  Leanne said that the other services (pharmacies, 111, minor injuries/ UTC) are usually notified of the closures by the PCN. Leanne has raised this as an issue for them to look into and ensure that all staff are appropriately notified in advance and on the day in the future.

Phone lines busy – are more call handlers planned?  Leanne said the phone stats are regularly reviewed and the Practice try to match call handlers to call demand, and the known peak times. Leanne said she is looking to promote other ways for patients to contact the practice rather than using the phone.

 

6. Digital Champions 

The Digital Champions are available to help people with IT issues at Weymouth Library. These are pre-booked appointments and can help people with setting up email accounts, and online services such as GP patient online services, NHS App, online shopping, banking and more.  Appointments can be booked by calling 01305 221048.  Leslie said there was scope for the Digital Champions to be present at GP Surgeries on a regular basis again, should the Practice wish.  Carole said she would speak to Sue who organised the Digital Champions visiting the surgeries.

 

7. Post-meeting notes

The sound quality and internet connection at Dorchester Road surgery kept dropping out, and if future hybrid meetings are planned, please can the IT at the surgery be improved to allow members joining online to follow the discussions. (Chris has offered to help advise on this)

Tumbledown Farm has projects underway, growing veg and donating to food banks. A Former Foodbank user mentioned how she had not been able to access fresh veg from a food bank.  

 

8. Next Meeting

The date for the next meeting is yet to be confirmed.