CHAIR’S  ANNUAL REPORT for 2009

Welcome to the third annual open meeting of Penkridge Patient Link, our community’s patient participation group, working with Penkridge Medical Practice.

During 2009 we held to the same pattern of approximately three monthly meetings, alternately with the doctors and on our own.  This format has the benefit of giving members space to raise and talk through issues independently, and to plan for our consultative meetings with the practice.  During the year we had useful exchanges of views and information on everything from practice/hospital communication problems to the provision of a drinking water dispenser in the waiting area.  Despite seeking to encourage patients to raise concerns or suggestions, we continue to receive only very occasional contributions from residents.  We continue to take this as a vote of confidence in the practice!

Building on our previous work in improving the information available to patients, in response to the doctors’ request we created a leaflet on local support groups as a resource for GP’s with their patients, which we understand is filling a gap.  I would like to thank Kate Cartmel and Gordon Files for their hard work on this.  And tonight we can table our latest publication, on hospital transport.  We know this to be a real issue for residents and although there are no magic solutions, we have pulled together the available resources in one leaflet which we hope will be of value.  My thanks to Ruth Goodison, Howard Stemp and to Jan Hughes for her p.c. skills.

The most significant development during the year has been South Staffs PCT’s  creation of a patient consultation structure.  We now send two representatives to Stafford District Patient Participation Group, based on the local consortium of 13 GP  practices.  Barbara Boote and I have attended two of these meetings, finding Penkridge to be ‘ahead of the game’ in having a well established group whilst others are just forming.  At the November meeting we learned of the consortium’s possible projects for 2010/11, about the new Stroke Service, and heard from Anthony Sumara, Chief Executive of the Hospital Trust on his plans for turning the hospital around.

This District group, which is one of 6 across the PCT’s area, now sends two representatives to a Patient Council at the PCT itself, chaired by its chief executive and attended by its chairman.  The two Penkridge reps were nominated to represent Stafford District, and I have attended two meetings, the first with Barbara, the second with Ruth Goodison who has now replaced her on the District Group.  It has become clear to us that the PCT’s plans for patient consultation, whilst laudable and worthwhile, are going to make increased demands on local groups, through whom they want to consult on a range of health care services, not just our medical practices.  Due to my own personal commitments, I have asked Stafford Group to replace me at PCT level with a rep. from a different practice. 

Finally, a warm thanks to Ruth for her support as Hon. Secretary, and to her and to Barbara for representing Patient Link with me at District and PCT level meetings;  I would like to encourage more members to get involved, either as representatives or as office holders in the future.  Thanks also to Doctors Grocott, Jones and Allen and to Amanda Page, business partner at our practice, for their commitment to making the process of consultation between us a positive one.  And to all members, thank you, stay with us, and let us continue to seek to broaden our membership so that we can represent our community in the most effective ways possible.   

Amanda Parkyn
Chair, Penkridge Patient Link

February 2010  
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CHAIR’S REPORT ON THE GROUP’S FIRST YEAR, 2007 – 8

It gives me great pleasure to report on the first year of the group since it became independent, at the request of the doctors of Penkridge Medical Practice, in January 2007. At our first, exploratory meeting, which was attended by 8 of the 9 members who made up the patient participation group, as it was then known, we agreed that we should proceed as an independent group for at least one year, and see if we served a useful purpose. I agreed to chair the group for this period, and Ruth Goodison volunteered to act as secretary. At our request, the Practice agreed to provide us with a small budget of £100 p.a. to cover fees for meeting rooms away from the practice, and other incidental expenses. We recognised that membership of the group was not representative of the community we serve, and that we should actively seek more men and younger members to join us, as well as those with direct experience of disabilities and/or as carers. We identified, as modest aims for 2007, to concentrate our efforts on:

• Improving the information available to patients on the practice

• Starting to become an effective mouthpiece for the community, in our work with the practice

Since then, we have held a further three meetings at Haling Dene, to plan and progress action, and three meetings with the doctors and practice manager at the Medical practice for consultation, discussion and agreeing actions.

During the year we have welcomed new members Caroline Whalley, Gordon Files and Sandra Crowther.

The year has been an important one for the practice and the community, with the opening in May of the new premises in Pinfold Lane, providing us with opportunities for work in our new role. Our first efforts were in supporting the Practice in the open evenings held: we ensured the distribution of publicity around Penkridge and surrounding villages and in the press; we created a new leaflet, Information for patients about the new surgery (including on the temporary road closures, so unfortunately timed!); and we took the opportunity to create one on our group, in order to raise our profile. We distributed these two leaflets to visitors as part of their welcome to the open evenings at the practice, which were very well attended.

Issues that we have followed up with the practice following the opening have been:

• Exploring, with the Parish council, the feasibility of creating pedestrian access through the burial ground directly to the practice; this however has not proved possible so far, though County Highways (responsible for footpaths) are now being asked if they can help

• Assisting patients in learning how to operate the new appointment check-in system; this was seen as helpful however further work needs to be done in order to ‘spread the word’ more widely

We then turned our efforts to patient information. First we reviewed the existing 5 patient information leaflets, and with the agreement of the practice, drafted one, more comprehensive booklet, based on a national model. This runs to 8 A4 pages and covers all aspects of the running of the practice. With minor amendments, it has been adopted by the practice and is now going forward for printing, hopefully in A5 booklet format. It will be made available to all new patients, as well as on request at reception and on the practice’s website. This latter we have also reviewed; it appears to be working well and we have made a few suggestions. We are also planning to create our own web page, based within the Penkridge.org site, with links to the practice site. As websites can easily go out of date and become less useful, it will be important for us to monitor these on a continuing basis.

In conclusion, we have sought to establish ourselves as independent from but working constructively with the Medical practice, and I believe we have shown that we serve a useful purpose and have made a start upon which we can build. It was pleasing at our most recent meeting with the doctors to hear their appreciation for our work over our first year. It only remains for me to say that I have enjoyed working with all members of the group over the year, and have appreciated everyone’s support, in particular that of our hon. Secretary Ruth Goodison, who has worked hard to keep us on track with agendas and minutes and the important task of communication between us.

Chair - Amanda Parkyn