Notes of Previous Meetings

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PPG Meeting: Wednesday 17th April, Time: 10:00 am, Meeting Room, Martello Health Centre

Attendees:

• Chrissie Cooper - Martello PPG Chair
• Sophie Williams - SW
• Edwina Hosler - Martello Prescription Clerk
• Alison Rose - Paydens Administration Manager
• Lara Hitchcock - Paydens Manager
• Jenny Stoneman - PPG Member
• Craydon Care – CC
• Deana Coker - PPG Member
• David Rowe - PPG Member
• Beverly Rowe - PPG Member
• Ann Goode - PPG Member
• Maggie Cook - PPG Member
• Elfi Codlin - PPG Member 

Welcome/Introductions/Apologies

Members were welcomed and introductions made round the Table.

Presentation by Dymchurch Paydens Surgery

• Alison and Lara made gave a presentation of the journey of a prescription from when it is received by the surgery to when it is delivered to the customer.
• It takes 72 hours for the surgery to process the prescription request, get it signed by a GP and sent by computer to the pharmacist. It then takes 48 hours for the prescription to be processed by the pharmacy a total of 5 working days.

From 2 April the timetable for processing prescriptions will be:

When the prescription is received by the pharmacy it undergoes an accuracy check to make sure that they are exactly as prescribed. 60% are then sent to a pharmacy hub in Maidstone where they are robotically picked up, labelled and put in bags. 

Split items, fridge items, certain diabetic items, antibiotics and end of life prescriptions are dispensed by the pharmacy and do not go to the hub. The Hub was opened in the summer of 2023 and Dymchurch dispenses 9000 items per month. The Hub has enabled staff at the pharmacy to be more customer facing. Items from the Hub are scanned, booked in and put in baskets ready for customers to collect.

Questions

Controlled drug prescriptions are valid for 28 days and if runs out a new prescription needs to be ordered. Patients can be set up to have repeat prescriptions held at the pharmacy without a need to get the GP to sign each time.

A pharmacist needs to be on the premises for behind the counter drugs to be sold. Pharmacy First is being introduced in Dymchurch initially for blood pressure checks, queries about new medication, infected insect bites however the criteria is very strict.

There are a number of Apps where a patient can register and upload prescriptions such as Healthera and My GP.

Dymchurch has a team huddle every Thursday where problems and complaints are fed back and discussed.

A suggestion to send a message to patients on Facebook or Nextdoor to remind patients to order their prescriptions at the beginning of December.

3 Key Things:

• Pharmacy needs 48 hours
• Patients need to be kind
• Complexity needs to be explained

A Pharmacist has to do 5 years training and is a gateway of patients safety.

Surgery will give the pharmacy a by pass phone number to improve communication.

Feedback from Joint PPG Meetings

The joint PPGs have been focussing on Orchard House Surgery whose management has been under Invicta for the past 2 years and a PPG was formed in January this year.

Patient Survey Results and ActionPlan

An electronic feedback system through text messages has been introduced at Martello asking questions about their experience similar to the Family and Friends feedback on the Website. An extra question was suggested about whether patients would prefer a face to face or a phone call appointment in future. The phone message needs to be reviewed to advise patients what time to phone if they want a non-urgent appointment. Health checks for 50 -74 year old can be booked 6 weeks ahead.

Feedback Form

The Martello PPG proposed an updated Patient Survey to be put in the waiting rooms for patients to complete after they have been seen. These will be given to the receptionists with a request that they ask patients to fill them in and put them into the box in the waiting room.

Staff Update

Karen Moore one of the Care Practitioners is resigning at the end of April. The PPG members signed a Good Luck card and thanked her for her kind work that she has done at Martello. Martello are seeking a replacement but, in the meantime, will employ a locum to replace Karen.

We have 2 GPs. These are:

• Dr Neil Poplett—Clinical Director
• Dr Sheldon Huggins

Also our regular Locum GP’s are:

• Dr Obi Amaechina
• Dr Adetutu Palmer
• Dr Olawale Ogunnuga
• Dr Eleftherios Ganelis
• Care Practitioner - Antonio Monachello

Equipment Update

The patient check in equipment is on order.

Preparation for newsletters

Deana suggested getting a newsletter ready to go out with the next Parish Council Newsletter. She offered her help in preparing this.

AOB

Covid Jabs will be done at Church Lane Surgery.

Next Joint PPG meeting for Fri 31st May 2024 at 10.30am at the Romney Marsh Hub / Next Martello PPG Meeting will be Weds June 19th at Martello Meeting Room - Invitation to Louise Griffiths Social Prescriber

PPG Meeting: Wednesday 18th August, Time: 10:30 am, Via Zoom

Attendees

• Sophie Williams - SW
• Craydon Care – CC
• David Russell - DR
• David Birch - DB
• David Tyler - DT
• Roger Townsend – RT
• Sandra Leverick - SL

Welcome/Introductions/Apologies

Apologies from Maggi Cook, Dawn Waddell, Chrissie Cooper, Lisa Barclay and Neil Poplett

Matters arising from the minutes

Everyone agreed that they were happy with the minutes from the previous meeting.

Update from CQC

Overall they were happy did not need to complete a full inspection and there are no formal plans to do so unless anything changes. It was relatively good and a lot of it was very positive. MF advised that we could aspire to Excellent in some areas.

In respect of the Patient survey some issues were highlighted and we are looking at running our own survey.  One important think that was pointed out is that it doesn’t state when their last appointment was; therefore it could relate to a patient who was last seen 2 x years ago. They pick a % of patients to contact and gain feedback around 500 people was selected but there was only a 40-50% uptake.

Staff Updates

The First Contact Physio’s are now fully integrated within the team and up and running; a new Pharmacy Tech is joining within the PCN and we also have a   Clinical Pharmacist who has now joined us. A Care Co-ordinator will soon be joining us. 

A New Receptionist has recently joined us and we are also looking to recruit another, they will be working across the 3 x Marsh practices. Some members of the OH team chose not to be tuped over; Administrators are difficult to recruit as are GP’s; A member of the Reception team has now joined the MA team which has left a further gap.

SL wondered if the Care Co-ordinator would link in with Children as well or just adults, SW advised that we have our own Social Prescriber as well as a Care Navigator, our understanding is that she will see anyone.

We have all been affected by the pingdemic and August had been a difficult month due to Annual Leave across the board and everyone is tired.

CC asked if there was any update from the previous meeting regarding the 2 x GP’s who were being interviewed.  One who was keen to join us took a role within the frailty team; SW is unable to provide an update with regards to the other applicant as she needs to gain an update from NP and LB.

Plans to Unlock

We have been advised to carry on as normal, we haven’t stopped seeing patients F2F and have been flexing this as needed as more people need to be seen, staff and patients are still expected to wear masks and visors.

PPG Survey Form

The survey is currently being run as patients are not coming into the Surgery. As much; we could consider an electronic version to distribute to patients, possibly from October; we are getting new websites which may have the facility to offer something in respect of the PPG Surveys.

Building and Grounds Maintenance

DT raised his concerns around the drive; SW advised that she has a meeting with the Landlord next week in respect of the parking and to try and establish who is responsible for what aspects, once we have that we will have a clearer idea on who is responsible for what. 

The road has been used for over 40 years as a public road. It is very dangerous and there are concerns that someone may be seriously injured. KCC are involved but they have rejected the plans that have been submitted, the biggest difficulty is that it may be possible that we won’t be able to provide parking at the front of the building, as there needs to be a turning circle. An update will be provided once the meeting has taken place.

Church Lane Update

There is no current update as most things affect both sites and staff work across both.

Medical hub

A lack of cover throughout August has caused problems with us being able to provide this service.

Complaints/Bouquets/Compliments

Complaints haven’t been too bad, however; we do receive the odd complaint about access but they haven’t increased, initially when we came out of lock down there were a few which was not helped by the press and social media. People seem to be positive about the new phone system and we take on board any issues raised and will make changes where possible.

AOB

DT wondered if it would be possible to put some information in the Pharmacy regarding the 1 year of scripts being sent to the pharmacies and asked how the roll out was going. Dymchurch Pharmacy has been very difficult to get on board with this and some of the Pharmacies are finding it difficult to implement.

The majority of Dymchurch patients obtain their prescriptions from there; there haven’t been any queries in respect of this, our Clinical Pharmacist will deal with any that may come through.

DT asked if there is an issue with repeat prescriptions as he submitted a request on 5th August for 10 items and was advised by the Pharmacy that they had not received a request and it took 12 days before it was received resulting in him going a few days without any medication.

Many years ago when Elizabeth was here, she adjusted DT’s medications so that they all had the same start date. SW explained that where possible we try synchronising medications; however this can be difficult when a new medication is started and it can be difficult to keep on top of this. DT advised that there have been a lot of changes to his medications and they all seem to be slipping out of synchronisation again.

RT wondered what a review date is as he currently has one on his repeat slip for 2017 and is that when he should have had a review.

SW advised that she will look into this outside of this meeting. SL suggested that everyone has to take some responsibility for their own health and wellbeing, and contact the surgery to request these things themselves. DB will speak to SW regarding his medications outside of this meeting.

CC asked if we had any update in respect of the new Delta variant, SW advised that there was a peak after the football and there are currently 1018 cases in our area at present which has decreased from the previous week

Vaccination Hub

We are now running this from Church Lane; we moved out of the airport at the end of May. Once guidance is released we will be providing boosters’ we are unable to confirm which vaccine will be offered however; it will possibly be Pfizer this time round. It still hasn’t been confirmed if we will be rolling this out at the same time as the Flu vaccine and there is a Phase 3 meeting planned for today which should hopefully provide some answers.

If they are not co-administered there would need to be a 7 day gap between each vaccine; we are unsure if a 15 minute wait will be required under the National Protocol however, we are confident that we can run this as well.

The PPG asked us let them know if any help is needed with any of these clinics, we have been working alongside the Community Hub and are unsure how many of their members will be able to provide their support moving forward, however it is helpful to know that you might be able to provide some support.

SL asked how often we hold MDT meetings, SW advised that this works well now that we have Orchard House and these are held across the PCN, Oakhall refer their patients in but they don’t engage well. These are run on a monthly basis and our co-ordinator is also a Medical Assistant and more complex patients have a dedicated Medical Assistant as a point of contact. 

DR wished to offer a thank you to the ANP Karen who went over and above after he sent in an e-Consult and saw him on the same day and she also asked him ensure that as many people are aware as possible that we are offering ear syringing.

JC will plan the next meeting for 29th September 2021