2014/15 Patient Participation Enhanced Service Reporting Practice Name: PLANE TREES GROUP PRACTICE
1. Prerequisite of Enhanced Service – Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG)
Does the Practice have a PPG? YES
Method of engagement with PPG: Face to face, Email, Other (please specify): Face to face, virtual (via email), telephone and in writing (for those with no
internet access).
Number of members of PPG: 10
Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG:
% Male Female
Practice 49 51
PRG 60 40
Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG:
% <16 17-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 > 75 Practice 18 15 15 17 15 18 9 3 PRG 0 0 0 10 10 30 30 20
Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PRG:
White Mixed/ multiple ethnic groups British Irish Gypsy or Irish
traveller Other white White &black Caribbean White &black African White &Asian Other mixed Practice 89 0.5 2 0.5 0.5 0.5 PRG 70 20
Asian/Asian British Black/African/Caribbean/Black British Other Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese Other African Caribbean Other Arab Any
Describe steps taken to ensure that the PPG is representative of the practice population in terms of gender, age and ethnic background and other members of the practice population:
The practice has 67% of ethnicity recorded for registered patients however we are actively updating this at every contact. We have worked with Calderdale Voluntary Action (in line with CCG plan) to actively seek to recruit PRG members and ensure the group is representative of the practice population.
Are there any specific characteristics of your practice population which means that other groups should be included in the PPG? e.g. a large student population, significant number of jobseekers, large numbers of nursing homes, or a LGBT community? NO If you have answered yes, please outline measures taken to include those specific groups and whether those measures were successful:
2. Review of patient feedback
Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year: NHS choices comments, practice website comments, comments sheets from the waiting room, emails, in-house and national surveys, Friends & Family and in-house questionnaires, complaints and compliments, telephone and face to face comments.
3. Action plan priority areas and implementation Priority area 1
Description of priority area: Telephone Access
What actions were taken to address the priority?
Reviewed via the telephone recording software including: activity, no of rings to answer, extensions unanswered and assessed this in line with staff availability. This resulted in reducing the number of options to press when calls are answered (from 5 to 3) to speed up the connection of the call, increased staff cover at peak times to ensure calls were answered quicker, trained more staff on appointment booking. We are actively promoting use of online appointment booking and ordering of repeat prescriptions to reduce pressure on the telephones and give patients more choice.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
More staff are now trained to answer calls especially at peak times, patients are getting through quicker due to increased phone capacity and there is an increase in patients registering for online access.
Priority area 2
Description of priority area: Privacy At Reception
What actions were taken to address the priority? Less calls are answered at front reception as we have increased staff capacity in back reception and upstairs. A sign asking patients to stand back and respect the patient in front of them is now displayed. The private area is actively promoted if patients wish to discuss anything away from the front reception area.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
Feedback continuously obtained and reviewed through all methods of patient communication. Shared at PRG meetings, reported in the patient newsletter, practice website, media screen and notice boards in the waiting room.
Priority area 3
Description of priority area: Appointment Availability
What actions were taken to address the priority?
Capacity and demand assessed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to assess number of appointments available, offered, taken and number of appointments missed (Did Not Attends – DNAs). Increased number of appointments
offered during normal working hours in line with CCGs additional pressures scheme. Additional appointments offered on Saturday afternoons again in line with CCGs winter pressures scheme. DNA system reviewed and updated to address the reasons for DNAs and text reminder system upgraded to send reminders to patients.
Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):
Feedback continuously obtained and reviewed through all methods of patient communication. Shared at PRG meetings, reported in the patient newsletter, practice website, media screen and notice boards in the waiting room.
Progress on previous years
If you have participated in this scheme for more than one year, outline progress made on issues raised in the previous year(s): Being seen on time for appointments is an area we have actively worked on to improve. Trying to audit this manually has proved extremely difficult and time consuming. It has also proved to be inaccurate. We have now been able to set up audits to monitor length of waiting times automatically via the clinical system.
From 1st April 2015 we aim to audit waiting times on a quarterly basis. We will continually use various methods of obtaining patient feedback on this and our other three priority areas. We will discuss our findings with the Patient Reference Group, publish results in the waiting room, on our website and in the patient newsletter.
4. PPG Sign Off
Report signed off by PPG: YES Date of sign off: 23 02 15
How has the practice engaged with the PPG:
How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population? Worked with Calderdale Voluntary Action to use different methods and approaches are used. Sent letters to secondary schools in Calderdale (collectively with other Practice Managers) to invite young people to get involved in PRG work.
Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources? Yes
Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan? Yes
How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan? Increased access by way of additional appointments, improved telephone access and access to a wider range of trained health care professionals through initiatives such as healthy lifestyles, shared care and work with Calderdale Carers Project with the CCG.
Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work? Have found the support from Calderdale Voluntary Action extremely helpful. Additional resources have enabled us to engage with other community groups and organisations to ensure our PRG runs effectively.