The Patient Participation Group

 

Who we are

We are an advisory group of patients whose members work voluntarily with the surgery, acting as 'critical friends' to help the practice improve services for the patient population.

The practice feels it will be extremely beneficial to have patient involvement and that the group's constructive and challenging views help the surgery to better understand the patient perspective and be more responsive in their service delivery.

Why we have a group

The delivery of general practice is changing under the new NHS and the practice continues to face a variety of challenging government objectives and priorities, which are continually changing. General practice is the most commonly used point of access in the NHS. 90% of those who use general practice services will be diagnosed and treated without being referred for further specialist treatment. Current government policy therefore aims to improve both access to services locally and patient choice.

As healthcare is being brought closer to the patient, the practice is being required to ‘deliver’ more each year, for which they have no increase in the resources available to them. It is therefore important that these resources are used wisely and that the patient perspective is considered.

Patient Participation Group and Patient Reference Group

Lavant Road Surgery has an established Patient Participation Group who regularly meet with the practice to provide feedback, as well as organise events for the benefit of our patients.  

We hope to develop a Patient Reference Group which will be a larger group of patients who will act as a Virtual Panel, receiving several emails during the year asking for feedback.  We hope that the Reference Group will attract patients from all age groups, social and cultural backgrounds so that it reflects our practice population and who represent the interests of our local community.

What the groups will do

It is envisaged that the groups will provide a forum to work with the practice on a variety of areas, including such issues as:

Patient Reference Group (PRG)

• Considering service suggestions which could benefit groups of patients or individuals, providing a patient perspective
• Assisting in evaluating and prioritising demands on our resources
• Acting as a sounding board for future surgery plans
• Considering specific operational issues as raised from time to time.

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

In addition to that of the PRG:

• Determining responses to patient satisfaction questionnaires and forming suitable action plans to address patient concerns
• Improving communication between patients and the surgery
• Considering specific operational issues as raised from time to time
• Acting as a forum to discuss complaint trends to seek improvements or determine appropriate courses of action
• Acting as patient support for specific events
• Organising patient events.

The practice is keen to work in partnership with the group and it is hoped that this approach will help to influence the provision of health and social care locally within the wider health community.

Watch out for information on the Patient Group display boards that will let you know what work is currently being undertaken by the group.

What they can't do

The groups are not a forum for individual agendas or personal complaints. Complaints must be made directly to the practice to comply with the standardised NHS Complaints Procedure and be handled under a strict code of confidentiality.

If you have a complaint, please either speak to one of the practice team or read our complaints policy.