A description of the profile of the members of the PPG Sleaford Medical Group Local Patient Participation Report 2012/13 There are currently 33 patient members of the Sleaford Medical Group (SMG) Patient Participation Group (PPG), 58% of which are male and 42 % are female. Membership of the PPG was open to all patients registered at SMG and 93% of those who joined the group classified themselves as white British. These gender and ethnicity figures generally match the practice demographic. Patients of all age ranges were welcome to join the group and most age categories are represented. We have found it difficult to attract younger members to the PPG, and are still working hard to try to recruit them. The percentage of members in each age range is as follows: Under 16 0% 17-24 0% 25-34 0% 35-44 3% 45-54 12% 55-64 24% 65-74 33% 75-84 27% 84+ 0% Efforts made to ensure the PPG is representative A PPG information leaflet, which included a sign up form, continued to be made available in the waiting areas and published on the front page of the Practice website. The Patient Participation Group was publicised throughout the year on the patient information screen in the waiting room. Leaflets regarding the PPG were sent throughout the year to local community groups to encourage membership from sections of the population that we did Page 1 of 13
not already have represented in the group. In particular we have been trying to recruit younger members to the group and have continued to supply local youth centres and schools with leaflets and posters. We feel that the makeup of the group is as close to representative as we could achieve, and continued to publicise the group throughout the year to try to obtain further members. Unfortunately, although the numbers within the group have grown in the last year, we seem to have had more members from already well represented groups. We did not feel that we could deny membership to patients who wanted to be involved however. A description of the steps taken to determine and reach agreement on the issues which had priority and were included in the local practice survey At the PPG meeting in January we discussed the patient survey which was to be completed throughout the months of January and February 2013. We gave the patients a draft version of the survey and asked for their comments. Some questions, such as those surrounding home visits, were removed from the survey at the group s request. This was because we completed a separate patient survey on the subject of home visits in 2012 as part of last year s PPG report, and the group felt that this area needed no further investigation. On the whole, the group was happy with the areas of priority highlighted in the draft survey questions. The Practice has worked with the PPG throughout the year to try to reduce the number of unattended appointments. We have improved the system for reminding patients that they have missed an appointment and have introduced a text message appointment reminder service. It was felt by the PPG that the Practice has done everything it can in the last year to try to reduce unattended appointments, despite not seeing a huge improvement. It was agreed that this would not be an area for improvement for 2013-14 A description of how the Practice sought to obtain views of its registered population The surveys were given out in the months of January and February 2013 to patients to complete whilst visiting the practice and published on the practice website. More than 2% of the total Practice population completed the survey and the results were discussed at the PPG meeting in March 2013 in order to agree an action plan to set out future priorities. Page 2 of 13
Speed phone answered Speed call transferred Appt within 2 days Appt more than 2 days Convenience of appt Dr of choice Another Dr offered? Satisfactory No. of Patients Patient survey results and analysis Access to Dr or Nurse 2013 250 200 150 100 50 No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent Yes No Don't know 0 Question Most patients asked felt that the speed the telephone was answered and the speed at which the call was transferred was either poor, fair or good. We were disappointed with this, but feel that this may be because of the telephone system we currently have. We have been discussing our telephone system with the PPG throughout the year, and the patient survey has confirmed there can be problems accessing the practice by telephone at certain times throughout the day. Page 3 of 13
We have therefore agreed with the PPG to have improving access to the Practice by telephone as one of our agreed actions for 2013-14. We would therefore hope that the result of next year s patient survey will show an improvement. More than half of the patients surveyed felt that they were able to obtain a consultation with a Doctor or appropriate healthcare professional within 2 working days. This was part of our action plan following last year s survey, and so we are pleased the majority of patients asked still feel they can obtain an appointment within 2 working days. 63% of patients felt that they were able to book an appointment with a Doctor more than 2 days ahead. 62% of patients thought that the convenience of the appointment offered was good, very good or excellent. However, 25% of patients felt that the convenience of the appointment offered was fair. The Practice is currently looking at reviewing the current appointment system, along with introducing new ways of managing Minor Illnesses, to try to help patients obtain an appointment with the most appropriate clinician at a convenient time for them. 51% of patients were not able to see a Doctor of their choice, but the majority of these patients were offered an appointment with another GP and 61% of patients who were offered this thought it was satisfactory. This maybe because we have had a change in clinical staff over the last year, and so some patients are requesting appointments for clinicians who are no longer working at the practice. We are very encouraged by the fact that most of the patients who saw another Doctor were happy with this. It was agreed therefore that a basic information leaflet that patients could keep to hand informing them of clinical staff members, which days they worked and useful phone numbers may help to combat this. This was agreed as one of our Page 4 of 13
No. of Patients actions for 2013-14. Access to Dr or Nurse (Cont.) 350 300 250 200 150 100 No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent Yes No Don't know Sometimes 50 0 Waiting to check in Use self check in Waiting to see Dr/Nurse Speak to Dr/Nurse on phone Question Satisfaction with Out of Hours 64% of patients asked felt that the length of time waiting to check in at Reception was good, very good or excellent, and 88% of patients used the self-check in machine. The majority of patients asked felt that the length of time waiting to see a Doctor or a Nurse was fair. We have improved information given to patients when a clinician is running late in the last year by ensuring our Reception staff are informing patients if there is an unexpected wait to see a particular clinician and by adding extra information onto the self-check in machine to inform patients roughly how many minutes the patient will be waiting for their appointment. This may have made patients more aware of clinicians running late in the Practice and so may have caused the perception that clinicians are running late more often. This was discussed with the PPG and it was not felt to be a particular problem. Page 5 of 13
No. of Patients 50% of patients asked felt that the opportunity of speaking to a Doctor or a Nurse on the telephone when necessary was good, very good or excellent. We have increased the amount of telephone consultations offered within the practice in the last year so we are pleased with this result. Most of the patients surveyed had no experience of the Out of Hours service. However, of those that did have experience with the Out of Hours service, the majority of them felt that their experience was good. Obtaining a Repeat Prescription 140 120 100 80 60 No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent 40 20 0 Prescription ready on time Prescription issued correctly Handling of queries Question We are again very pleased that patients feel they get a good to a very good service from our dispensary and dispensary staff for the second year. Page 6 of 13
No. of Patients Obtaining Test Results 120 100 80 60 40 No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent 20 0 Advised when to contact us Results available Satisfied with info given Satisfied with how told Question Improving the information given to patients when obtaining test results was one of the actions we set in conjunction with the Patient Participation Group last year. We are therefore pleased that this year s survey has shown a slight improvement with these results. Last year, on average 28% of patients thought that the information given when obtaining their test results was good. This year, on average 34% of patients felt that the information given was good. Page 7 of 13
No. of Patients About The Staff 140 120 100 80 60 No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent 40 20 0 Info provided by recep staff Helpfulness of recep staff Info given by other staff Helpfulness of other staff Question We are again very pleased that patients feel they get a good to very good service from both our Reception staff and other staff in the Practice for the second year. Page 8 of 13
Overall Satisfaction 0% 14% 7% 23% 25% No Experience Poor Fair Good V Good Excellent 31% We were very pleased that 68% rated their overall satisfaction with the Practice as good, very good or excellent. Page 9 of 13
Of the patients surveyed 66% were female and 34% were male. The ethnicity of patients surveyed is as follows: Ethnicity % of patients British 95% European 0.98% Christian 0.49% Welsh 0.49% C of E 0.49% White black 0.49% Irish 0.98% Scottish 0.49% Hispanic 0.49% Page 10 of 13
The ages of the patients who completed the survey are as follows: Age 8% 30% 21% 16-25 26-44 45-64 65+ 41% Agreement with the PPG Following our last meeting with the PPG and members of the Practice Team, including a GP Partner, the Acting Practice Manager and representatives from the Practice as a whole, the action plan at Appendix 1 was agreed based on feedback from the patient survey. Summary We are delighted that so many of our patients think overall we provide a good or very good service for the second year. However, we know we can continually make improvements to work towards ensuring that our patients rate us this highly. We will put in place measures outlined in the action plan and continue to listen to what our patients say and work closely with our PPG. Page 11 of 13
Additional information NHS Lincolnshire requires us to include within this Local Patient Participation (LPP) Report details of our opening hours which are as follows: We are open 8.30am 6.30pm Monday to Friday and offer late evening appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. During this time patients may access our services by attending in person or by telephone (until 6.30pm). Doctors' consulting times may be subject to variation. Telephone appointments are available on request. Page 12 of 13
Appendix 1 Local Patient Participation Action Plan 2013/14 Objective Action Responsibility Timescale Look at improvements to the Acting Practice Manager and Partners current telephone system and look at innovative ways to encourage patients to call the Practice at certain times of the day Try to improve access to the Practice by telephone Improve patient access to basic information about the Practice To create a basic patient information leaflet detailing current GPs, days of work and useful telephone numbers for patients to keep to hand Acting Practice Manager and Admin Manager To see some improvement by December 2013 Leaflet to be created by September 2013 Page 13 of 13