EASTFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE

PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP



ANNUAL REPORT

2012









BACKGROUND

Eastfield Medical Centre has approximately 7,500 patients providing care and services to patients within Eastfield and the surrounding area including holiday makers.

Details of the full range of services we offer are available within our practice leaflet which can be obtained from the medical centre or on our website. www.eastfieldmedicalcentre.co.uk

We have 5 GP partners and 2 associated GP’s. We are also a training practice and work closely with the Hull and York Medical School to help provide Dr’s for the future.



EASTFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP (PPG)

Step 1: Develop a reference group

In order to recruit patients to the Patient Participation Group (PPG) we produced poster and flyers that were distributed to local shops, chemists and the library and also within the surgery and on our practice website. Despite our efforts we received minimal response. We felt it was important to try to get representatives of a wide range of our patient demographic so we decided as a practice to develop a virtual PPG by putting a questionnaire on the practice website asking patients to become involved in our PPG.

We currently have 5 members in the group, 2 male and 3 female the age range being between 38 and 69. It is a mixture of working and retired patients who offer a varied selection of valuable experience relating to health and practice issues.

We communicate with our group via telephone and e-mail.







Step 2: Agree areas of priority with the PPG

Primarily we asked members of the group for their proposals on outstanding issues within the practice.

  • Clinical Care
  • Getting an Appointment
  • Interaction with medical centre staff

 From their response we produced a questionnaire to be distributed to patients. (see appendix 1) The PPG were asked for their opinion of the draft questionnaire and from this we redesigned the layout and included suggestions they had made.



Step 3: Conducting the survey and collating patient views

We carried out the survey over a week and were able to obtain a total of 103 completed questionnaires from patients who had consulted with a range of clinicians.

  • 26%of patients had seen the Dr of their choice whilst 68% had seen an available Dr
  • 34%of patients had made the appointment within the previous 48 hours whilst 66% had pre-booked the appointment earlier than the previous week
  • 97% of patients said that this was acceptable
  • 95% of patients judged their consultation as “very good”
  • Interaction with reception staff scored high with 78% rating it as “good” or “very good”
  • Patients were divided on the question of a telephone consultation with a GP with 52% stating that this was not to their preference
  • Overall a total of 89% were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the medical centre
  • 60% of patients said that the medical centre had improved over the last year, 34% said that it had stayed the same and 6% said that it gotten worse
  • Results were obtained from a wide range of ages, 20% were under 25, 36% aged between 25-49, 18% aged 50-64, 9% aged 65-74 and 7% aged over 75
A selection of additional comments received from patients:

  • “Reminders for injections would be great
  • “Hard to make appointments well in advance as not always on the system”
  • “Excellent practice- excellent staff”
  • “Hard to get an appointment with the Dr of your choice- or your child’s choice”
  • “Rarely able to see your own Dr, I prefer to see my own Dr who knows my medical system”
  • “Love the open surgery”
  • “Appointment system is constantly changing”
  • “Dissatisfied with the appointment system”
  • “Needs more magazines in the waiting area”

Step 4: Agreeing an action plan with PPG based on the findings of the survey

The findings of the survey were discussed with the PPG members and the following was agreed and developed into the following action plan
  • Appointment system information to be available in Reception and displayed in the waiting room to keep patients updated of the current system
  • To look into the practice leaflet being available to download and print from the practice website and for attached staff (i.e. district nurses and health visitors) to distribute the practice leaflet to their patients to promote the services which are offered by the medical centre
  • To look into offering more reading material in the waiting area and more provision for children
  • To aspire to enable patients to book appointments at least 3 weeks in advance
  • To promote the importance of cancelling unwanted appointments to decrease the levels of non-attendances
  • To continue to promote the work of the PPG and work together in partnership to continue the improvement of the practice
  • To develop and promote the use of EMIS Access to enable patients to book appointments on-line
  • To use our website and social media like “twitter” to promote and advertise up to date surgery information


The implementation of the action plan is ongoing and therefore the PPG will address the above issues and also introduce further areas for development as they arise.





This annual report is available on our practice website and a copy has been forwarded to North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust.


























EASTFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE OPENING HOURS AND ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS



PRACTICE OPENING TIMES

MONDAY 7.30am – 6.30pm

TUESDAY 8.00am – 6.30pm

WEDNESDAY 8.00am – 6.30pm

THURSDAY 8.00am – 6.30pm

FRIDAY 7.30am – 6.30pm



TELEPHONE NUMBERS

APPOINTMENTS 01723 584690

ENQUIRIES & EMERGENCIES 01723 582297

PRESCRIPTIONS/RESULTS 01723 585777


When the practice is closed please ring 01723 582297 and you will be transferred directly to the emergency out of hour’s service.


WEBSITE
www.eastfieldmedicalcentre.co.uk

Also follow us on ‘Twitter’ www.twitter.com/EastfieldMedCen