Annex D: Standard Reporting Template

London Region [North Central & East/North West/South London] Area Team 2015/16 Patient Participation Enhanced Service – Reporting Template

Practice Name: Porters Avenue G.P. Practice

Practice Code: Y02575

Signed on behalf of practice: Dipal Sharma (Assistant practice manager) Date: 15/02/2015Signed on behalf of PPG: PPG chair (signed copy held at the surgery) Date: 15/02/2015 Prerequisite of Enhanced Service – Develop/Maintain a Patient Participation Group (PPG)

Does the Practice have a PPG?

Yes

Method of engagement with PPG: Face to face, Email, Other (please specify):

In order to improve patient services Porters Avenue Doctor Surgery organises a Patient Participation Group (PPG) every year. The PPG has now been established in our practice since 2010 and we hold meetings every 3/4 months. This group provides feedback to the practice about areas for improvement from which priorities for improvement are established. To encourage participation it was decided that an effective PPG would be established, with method of communication with our patients. When a patient registers at the practice we have a section on the registration form which asks if the patient would like to be invited to the PPG meeting. This is our first engagement with our patients relating to the PPG.

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To establish the PPG and to encourage participation from our patients, the following methods are used:

The surgery advertises the PPG through posters which are displayed one month in advance of the meeting in the waiting room and in the reception area to ensure a variety of patients can attend. (Please see Appendix- 3)

Flyers have been provided to patients to encourage participation. ( Appendix- 4) The reception team has taken on the responsibility to ensure patients are made aware of PPG meetings. The team also encourages

patients to complete patient satisfaction surveys (Appendix-1) including the friends and family survey so that the practice can carefully analyse feedback on improvements to the practice.

PPG meetings are held in the afternoon to target new patients, new parents and young patients. Evening sessions are aimed at patients who are employed or pensioners to ensure wider participation in the PPG.

Patients that make use of the out of hour’s service are also contacted by phone or by written invitation (Appendix -5), advising them of the date of the PPG.

The Annual survey also invites the patient to express their interest in attending the PPG meeting and if they agree, we contact them in advance of the PPG meeting.

The patients who regularly attend the PPG meeting agree the date and time of the next PPG meeting with the Porters Avenue G.P Practice.

Number of members of PPG:

Every year approximately 6/7 patients attend each of the Porters Avenue GP surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG) meetings.

Detail the gender mix of practice population and PPG:

% Male Female Practice 48% 52%PRG 65% 35%

Detail of age mix of practice population and PPG:

% <16 17-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 > 75Practice 31% 9% 21% 19% 11% 5% 2% 2%PRG 0 0 10% 10% 40% 20% 10% 10%

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Detail the ethnic background of your practice population and PRG:

White Mixed/ multiple ethnic groupsBritish Irish Gypsy or Irish

travellerOther white

White &black Caribbean

White &black African

White &Asian

Other mixed

Practice 21% 1% 0% 28% 1% 2% 1% 7%PRG 90% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Asian/Asian British Black/African/Caribbean/Black British OtherIndian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese Other

AsianAfrican Caribbean Other

BlackArab Any

otherPractice 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 12% 3% 2% 1% 1%PRG 0% 0% 0 0 0 10% 0% 0 0 0

Describe steps taken to ensure that the PPG is representative of the practice population in terms of gender, age and ethnic background and other members of the practice population:

The above charts detail the patient demographic of the practice including gender mix, age and ethnic background of the practice population and also of the PPG group. As of the time of writing, the Porters avenue GP surgery has 7761 registered patients, of which 48% are male and 52% are female.

The practice has a predominantly other white background ethnic group which is 28% of the practice patient population and 14% of patients

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describing themselves as White/British. The second major ethnic group of the patient population is African which equates to 12%. There are however, significant minorities of patients describing themselves as Irish, White and Black Caribbean, Other black, Arab, and Any other background. The details of the ethnic breakdown of our patient population is qualified by the fact that an outsized number of our patients have declined to state their ethnicity.

The majority of the patients at the Porters Avenue surgery are under 34 years of age. The second highest cohort of patients are between 35 and 44. The practice has encouraged all patients to participate in PPG through regular communication via posters advertised in the surgery and flyers advertising the PPG. (Appendix -4)

The Porters Avenue Surgery is situated just five minutes from Becontree station, in a purpose built new Health Centre. This surgery has a high level of demand for its services. A proportion of the patient population of the surgery suffer from chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, COPD.

The Porters Avenue surgery has a skilled team of GPs and nurses who are supported by our management and reception team. The team are committed to providing our patients with a convenient, high quality service. The main aim of the Porters Avenue surgery Practice is to ensure that patients find the care we provide to be caring, helpful and convenient. Our doctors and nurses are committed to provide a service that is

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for every ethnic group. We provide clinical care from 8.00am to 8.00pm, Monday to Friday, and Saturday 9.00am until 12.00 noon.

Porters Avenue Surgery opening times:

The We are open on the following days at the following hours:

Monday- 8:00am - 8:00pmTuesday - 8:00am - 8:00pmWednesday - 8:00am - 8:00pmThursday - 8:00am - 8:00pmFriday - 8:00am - 8:00pmSaturday - 9:00am - 12:00noon

We are very keen to work with you - our patients - to develop the doctor’s surgery in a way that suits the needs of our patient population. Therefore, the Porters Avenue practice has a well-established Patient Participation Group for registered patients so that we are able to effectively communicate with our patients and listen to our patient’s views to improve the service that we deliver. As a practice, we want to ensure that we address the needs of our patients in order to make the service as flexible as possible for everyone.

The Patient Participation Group (PPG) has a higher attendance of patient’s between 45 and 54 year of age, but we have representation from all age groups except the 17- 24 age group. To encourage further involvement with the PPG, we display posters and flyers once a month in advance of the PPG in the practice reception area in order to make all patients aware of the meeting.

The membership of the PPG has a lower representation from both male and female patients aged under the age of 45 . It has been already discussed at recent PPG group meetings that we should strive to increase the attendance of patients in other age range by selecting educational presentations which would be of interest to our younger population.

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The PPG meetings have also not been as successful as we would want in attracting patients of minority ethnic groups to consistently attend the PPG. This means that the PPG does not accurately reflect the ethnic population of the overall patient demographic of the surgery, despite our best efforts to ensure that the PPG is reflective of our patient population. There is an on-going effort to increase the number of patients from all demographics and overall members of the PPG by more advertising of the group on our website, and putting up posters in the surgery. Our reception team also will engage with individual patients who they feel would be interested in the joining the PPG group meetings.

Therefore, we have agreed that for the coming year we shall offer patients a wider range of talks which will not only cover practice issues, but shall also encompass other areas of healthcare such as, keeping fit, travel health and medicine. We hope that we shall attract a greater variety of patients, and long term, the members of the PPG will better reflect the practice population.

Are there any specific characteristics of your practice population which means that other groups should be included in the PPG? e.g. a large student population, significant number of jobseekers, large numbers of nursing homes, or a LGBT community?

No

If you have answered yes, please outline measures taken to include those specific groups and whether those measures were successful:

1. Review of patient feedback

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Outline the sources of feedback that were reviewed during the year:

At our surgery, we endeavour to deliver high quality care, to strive to respond to feedback and input from our patients from patient surveys. The surgery also reviews all complaints in an environment where all clinical and administrative team members are encouraged to develop their skills and expertise. This approach ensures that the care we offer to individual patient, as well as the population we serve, is delivered and established in a way that continuously improves our service.

The Porters Avenue team would like to thank our Patient Participation Group for their input and help with the recent patient survey. The Porters Avenue team would also like to thank all of our patients who took time to provide us with invaluable feedback about the services we provide.

Patient Survey:

In 2014, the Porters Avenue surgery used the same model that we used in 2013 to capture feedback from our patients to ensure consistency of feedback. The survey was distributed in paper form over the course of the period April 2014 to March 2015. The surgery has noted that in previous years, that the most effective way to ensure the highest number of completed surveys possible is to distribute survey forms in the waiting room area by asking patients to complete it.

The survey asked sixteen questions and a copy of the survey is attached at (Appendix- 1). The survey was adopted by the patient participation group.

Analysis of Patients Survey Results:

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The Porters Avenue surgery received 185 responses to the survey compared to 150 responses received in the previous year.

A summary of the feedback received from our patients is as follows –

Question 1: When did you last see doctor at the GP surgery?

In this question, 93 people stated that they saw their GP within the last 3 months. 85 patients recorded that they had seen their GP between 3 to 6 months and 7 patients responded that they had not seen a GP within 6 months.

Question 2: If you have not seen a GP in the past 6 months, why is that?

The majority of patients - 124 stated that they have not needed to see their GP in the last past 6 months. A further 51 patients stated they have not seen the GP as they were not able to get a convenient appointment time. 3 patients stated that they could not book an appointment easily. And 7 patient ticked another reason, but did not provide further detail. Therefore, we have focused on this feedback and made it a priority area to review our appointments to provide an excellent service to our patients.

Question 3: How do you normally book your appointments?

The feedback that we have received on this question from the majority of our patients responding (100), stated that they book their appointments by telephone. A further 85 patients stated that they book their appointments in person at the surgery. This feedback from our patients clearly demonstrates that our surgery phone lines and reception area is very busy. At our practice we are continuously looking to improve the quality of our services that are provided by our administrative teams to our patients and ensure high quality patient care is at the heart of everything that we do. Therefore following this feedback, we have focused on this matter and made it as a priority case to improve our telephone service to our patients.

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Question 4: Once you arrive for your appointment, how long after your appointment time do you have to wait?

This question seeks to capture how long patients waited to see a GP when attending an appointment. 37 respondents provided feedback that they waited between 5 minutes-15 minutes once they arrived for their appointment. A further 8 patients waited between 16 - 30 minutes and 65 patients provided feedback that they are normally seen on time and 68 patients mentioned that they waited less than 5 minutes. Porters Avenue surgery are very keen to work with our patients to develop the doctor’s surgery in a way to ensure that we see patients within a reasonable time, and will ensure that we will continue to work on this issue to ensure patients do not have long waits when they have attended the surgery.

Question 5: In the past 6 months how easy have you found the following:

a) Getting through on the phone: From the results of the survey, 25 patients answering this question stated it is not very easy to contact the surgery via by telephone. A further 68 patients rated contacting the surgery by telephone as very easy and a further 59 patients confirmed that it was fairly easy to contact the surgery by telephone and 33 people stated that it’s not easy at all. At our practice we are continuously striving to improve the quality of the services provided to our patients. Therefore, we have focused on this matter and made this a priority area to improve our telephone service to our patients.

b) Speaking to a doctor on the phone: On a daily basis, the surgery offers pre-bookable telephone appointments for patients who do not need to attend the surgery for a face to face appointment, but would just like to have a telephone conversation with one of our GPs to discuss medication, results or other matters. These telephone consultations are very useful for patients who like to ensure continuity of care with specific GPs as well. Even though this is the case, feedback provided by patients in the survey detailed that 25 patients stated they haven’t tried this service yet. 59 patients who responded that it was very easy to access this service, 53 patients responded that it was fairly. A further 25 patients responded that it was not very easy and 23 patients responded that it was not at all easy to have a telephone consultation with a GP. The surgery will review this feedback and will work to improve this access area for our patients.

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c) Obtaining test results by telephone: From the feedback that we have received from our patients, 40 respondents recorded on the patient survey that it is very easy to obtain test results by telephone and a further 54 patients provided feedback that it was fairly easy. We received feedback from 40 patients that it was not very easy to obtain results by telephone and a further 21 patients responded that it was not at all easy to obtain test results by telephone and 30 patients stated they haven’t tried this service yet.

Question 6: Are you able to book an appointment with the doctor of your choice?

26 patients responded that they could not see a doctor of their choice, 40 patients said sometimes they could see a doctor of their choice therefore a majority of 119 patients stated that they were able to see a doctor of their choice. The practice will continue to review feedback in this area and will continue to provide feedback to the PPG.

Question 7: in the past 6 months have you tried to see a GP fairly quickly?

From the patient responses that we received, 114 patients responded that they have tried to see a GP fairly quickly and 24 patients answered No to this question. A further 47 patients responded that they were unable to remember. It is well established that the practice provides a walk-in service on a first come first serve basis and patients arriving at the surgery before 10:30am will be seen on the same day if this is clinically appropriate.

Question 8: Think about the last time you tried to see a GP fairly quickly. Were you able to see a GP on the same day or in the next two weekdays that the surgery was open?

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114 of the patients who responded to this question in the survey confirmed that they were able to see a GP fairly quickly. A further 28 patients answered No to this question and a further 43 patients recorded that they could not remember. It is well established that the practice provides a range of appointments including walk in appointments for our patients. Question 9: if you weren’t able to be seen during the next two weekdays that the GP Surgery was open, why is that?

25 patients responded that the appointment times offered, did not suit them and a further 2 patients commented that the appointment was not with the Doctor of their choice. 82 patients said there were no appointment available. The Porters Avenue surgery will continue to review our appointment booking system in order to further improve the service that we provide to our patients and this issue is also part of an action plan.

Question 10: when you saw the clinician how good were they at each of the following?

a. Giving you enough time: 50 patients stated in their responses rated this area as very good. A further 80 patients rated this area as fairly good and 50 patients rated this area as not very good and 5 commented not at all good.

b. Asking about your symptoms: The majority of patients 80, who answered this question, rated the service as very good. A further 50 patients rated the service as fairly good. 50 patients mentioned not very good and only 1 person stated not at all good. We received very positive comments from our patients in this area.

c. Listening to you: 65 patients rated the service as very good and 85 patients rated the service as fairly good and 35 patients stated not very good.

d. Explaining test results: 65 patients rated the service as very good, a further 55 patients rated the service as fairly good and 50 patients rated the service as not very good. 10 stated not at all good and 5 people stated they haven’t tried . We received very positive comments from our patients.

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e. Involving you in decisions about your care: It is encouraging to see that 68 patients completing the survey recorded that they were involved in decisions about their care. 45 patients rated the service as fairly good,25 stated not very good and 37 people stated not at all good.

f. Treating you with care and concern: 120 patients completing the patient survey were positive about the treatment or advice that they received. It is encouraging to see those positive responses from patients. A further 50 patients rated this area as fairly good. 15 of our patients rated this area as not very good.

g. Taking your problems seriously: In this area of the patient survey, 145 patients rated the service as very good and a further 25 patients rated the service as fairly good. 15 patients provided negative feedback in this area. As a practice, we ensure that our clinical and administrative teams ensure that we treat all of our patients with both care and concern and ensure that we provide a high quality service to them.

Question 11: How easy do you find getting into the building at the surgery?

Feedback from the survey was very positive in this area. 118 patients who responded rated the building as very easy to find. A further 67 patients stated that building was fairly easy to find. The surgery received negative comments in this area from 6 patientsThe practice is situated just five minutes from Becontree station. On our website we have provided a location map for patients to be able to locate the surgery. To ensure that all of our patient cohort are able to locate the surgery, we have ensured that patients can select languages to ensure that there are clear directions. The website reference is : http://www.portersavenuedoctors-dagenham.nhs.uk/

Question 12: How clean is the GP Surgery?

Patients provided positive feedback on the surveys that were returned to the surgery regarding cleanliness of the surgery. 119 patients rated the cleanliness of the surgery as very clean. A further 66 patients rated the cleanliness of the surgery as fairly clean. The overall response in this area

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was very positive about the physical environment of the surgery.

Question 13: In the Reception area, can other patients overhear what you say to the Receptionist?

In this area of the patient survey we will need to review the feedback received with the building management team. 51 patients stated that they do not mind if other people can overhear them, a further 131 patients stated they are not happy about this. The practice management team will focus on this issue to improve this area of concern as a cohort of patients has provided negative feedback to our surgery. The Porters Avenue team also ensure that there is always a room for our team to hold any sensitive conversations with our patients. The Porters Avenue surgery team are very keen to work with our patients and of course the building management team to review any possible improvements in this area.

Question 14: How satisfied are you with the opening hours at the surgery?

The Porters Avenue GP surgery is open from 8.00am to 8.00pm, Monday to Friday, and Saturday 9.00am until 12.00 noon. From the patient survey, we received A large majority of patients (109) provided feedback that they were very happy with the surgery’s current opening times.

Question 15: How helpful do you find the receptionists at the practice?

Encouragingly the huge majority of patients have a positive view of the Administration and Reception team. From the feedback that we received on this question, 97 of our patients stated that they are very helpful. A further 69 patients stated that they are fairly helpful. Such comments are routinely passed on to our team; as it encourages them to know that the work they do on behalf of our patients is appreciated.

Question 16: In general, how satisfied are you with the care you get at the Practice?

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The surgery has received very positive feedback in this area. 103 patients stated that they are very satisfied with our practice, a further 79 patients stated that they are fairly satisfied. This positive feedback equates to 82.6% of those patients who provided feedback on the care that they receive from the surgery. This is encouraging feedback from our patients and it provides feedback that the practice’s reputation amongst its own patients is very positive. The Porters Avenue surgery will continue to ensure that our patients will continue to receive a high standard of care from our team.

Patients Feedback:

The Practice is very proud of the feedback that we have received from our patients in the patient surveys that we have received. The clinical and administration team strives to provide the highest standard of care and service to all of our patients.

In conclusion, the results of the survey indicate a high level of general patient satisfaction with the surgery, its staff and the services it provides. The survey does however highlight those areas where patients would like to see improvements; specifically with regards to the following areas.

DNA Policy- “Did Not Attend” Improvements on telephone lines and access. Improvements on patients online access

As a practice we are always striving to improve our services to our patients and we do not always get things right, despite our best efforts. So, it is important that we receive feedback from patients through surveys and through an open and honest discussion at the PPG meetings that are held.

As a result of feedback from our patients, we are working hard to improve our telephone service and to shorten the length of time patients have to wait to see a doctor by increasing the number of additional GP appointments online. We also agreed that we will work on reducing the number of appointments where patients Did Not Attend (DNA) GP and Practice Nurse appointments.

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The surgery acknowledges that the improvements that we make will not meet the needs of all of our patients, so during the PPG meetings we ensure open communication to inform our patients of the reasons or constraints that are also a factor in responding to patient feedback.

The results of the patient Survey were presented and reviewed with the PPG (Patient Participation Group) at the meeting held in January 2016 (Appendix-6,7,8).

How frequently were these reviewed with the PRG?

To improve our services towards our patients and to ensure that we maintain open communication with them, we hold the PPG meetings every 3 months. At our surgery we endeavour to deliver high quality care, to respond to service user’s feedback via patient surveys, we review and investigate all complaints and ensure that we learn the appropriate lessons. We encourage an environment where all GPs and our other clinical and administrative teams develop their skills and expertise and this is regularly reviewed by the Practice Manager and Clinical lead. The PPG provides an effective forum for patients to openly discuss what they believe is a good service and is a vehicle for patients to communicate the standards of service that they expect from the surgery. Through this approach we will ensure that the care we offer to individual patients as well as the overall practice population we serve is delivered and established in a way that continuously improves.

2. Action plan priority areas and implementation

Priority Area 1

Description of priority area:

Reducing the number of unattended appointments - DNA Policy- “Did Not Attend”

An appointment is classified as a Did Not Attend (DNA) appointment when a patient does not attend their appointment and does not

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inform the practice to cancel that appointment. As a result the practice is not able to offer this appointment to another patient.The priority area that has been established is to understand, reflect and monitor the number of Did Not Attend appointments as a priority. This has been raised as a priority area at each PPG meeting held. The amount of DNAs is increasing day by day. Patients that are in need of an appointment should be seen and this leads to wasted appointments and affects other patients who also need an appointment. This is a new area of activity that the PPG are about to embark on. They have been fully briefed on the challenges faced with the high number of DNAs. The PPG group felt very strongly about this area as the numbers of DNAs are very high. The practice team provide feedback to patients on the number of DNAs each month in the waiting room area.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

These actions were address the priority below :

This area has been identified as a priority, as patients not attending their appointments without informing the practice affects the care and service that we can provide to all of our patients. Over the last year we have seen that patient demand for appointments has increased, which means it is very important for the practice to stress the DNA policy that is in place and to promote to patients the benefits to us and fellow patients that they inform us that they will not be attending an appointment.

Reducing the amount of DNA’S is a priority area as patients not attending an agreed appointment leads to increased waiting times for our overall patient population, as these appointments would be utilised for other patients and significantly adds to delays along the patient pathway.

The practice endeavours to reduce DNAs, we remind patients of future agreed appointments by sending an appointment confirmation letter if the appointment is booked for the future 2-3 weeks. The practice also sends text messages, reconfirming the appointment with the patient when appointments are booked. The practice also provides a text message reminding patients of our cancellation process at least 24 hours before the appointment time, which allows sufficient time for the appointment to be utilised by other patients. The practice also now provides a card when patients register with the practice informing about Did Not Attends (DNA).

It has come to our practice knowledge that patients DNA for a variety of reasons. The practice has identified this area for improvement, to

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ensure that the practice is able to utilise all of our appointments, to reduce the waste of GP and nurse appointments and to ensure that our overall patient population do not experience longer waits for appointments than necessary.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

Results of action and impact on patients and carers:

During the PPG meeting we discussed the results of actions and any changes being made. This year we the total number of DNAs for GP appointments was 2,349 and for 1525 DNAs for nurse appointments and this is what we are trying to reduce in order to improve our service to all of our patients.

To effectively manage and reduce the amount of DNA appointments the practice has educated our patients on the effect of DNAs on the practice and we especially focus this education on the new patients of our practice. All patients receive text reminders of when their appointment is and if they are not able to attend the appointment they are able to utilise the text back service and cancel the appointment and the practice receives an email confirming this. Therefore the practice can then offer the appointment to other patients who require the appointment.

In relation to reducing the amount of DNA appointments, we have implemented a rolling release of appointments 48 hours prior to the appointment time system, which only allows you to book an appointment 48 hours in advance, we also provide appointments for patients up to 6 weeks in advance if required by our patients.

This will result in patients remembering when appointments are booked, a text reminder is sent out to the patients mobile phone registered with the surgery. We also encourage all patients to update their contact details, to ensure we can communicate effectively. To ensure that the practice holds updated contact details, our reception team are urged to approach patients to encourage them to inform the practice of any changes to their contact details so that we can update this information on our systems.

The reception team writes to the patient if 3 or more appointments are missed consecutively. (Appendix 9-example of DNA Letter) in order that the patients may understand the effect on the service we can offer as a result of their missed appointments such as prescribing.To provide further education to our patients on this area, we display the amount of DNA monthly DNA appointments in order to reduce

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wasted available appointments. Also we attach a small card with the registration form to educate our new patients in this important area.

Priority Area 2

Description of priority area:

Improvements on Telephone access:

The Porters Avenue surgery has received feedback from patients that they have experienced difficulties in contacting the surgery by telephone. At our surgery we are continuously looking to improve the quality of our service that is provided by our administrative teams to our patients. The surgery strives to ensure our patients experience a high quality level of care and service and this is at the heart of everything that we do. Therefore, we have focused on this matter and made it as a priority to improve our telephone service to our patients.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

These actions were address the priority below :

We had a meeting with the Phone provider and explained our phone issues. The Software has been set up by the phone provider. The software enables us to identify the grey areas which need to be looked into for further action. The areas that it covers are the

highest volume of calls, attended calls, and missed calls. The software provides us with the opportunity to provide a greeting message which informs patients and carers about the practice

opening and closing times, repeat prescription advice, walk-in service details, appointment bookings, and how to obtain patient

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access log in details. The greeting message also signposts patients and carers to other departments within the Health centre, if their telephone call is not

related to the Porters Avenue GP surgery. Discussions have been held with the building manager on this particular topic as we receive numerous phone calls from other departments.

As discussed with our administrative team, we aim to answer telephone calls within 5 rings. A new voice message which provides more details on the services available to patients has been recently developed. The practice has also allocated more staff resource to answering telephone calls from our patients. The telephone message has changed to provide updated information to our patients. A bypass number is provided to elderly patients and for those who have had unplanned admissions to hospital. An extra team member has been recruited and will start by the end of February 2016 and that team member will concentrate on

answering telephone calls from patients.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

Results of action and impact on patients and carers: In our PPG meetings we had a discussion with our PPG members about their experiences of the telephone service. The Porters avenue G.P. surgery local management team also held discussions with the building manager, as the Porters avenue G.P. surgery also received many telephone calls that were intended for other departments situated in this building. When our reception team, are dealing with these calls, and directing these patients to the appropriate services, this undoubtedly has an effect on our ability to deal with telephone calls from our own patients. The surgery management team has suggested to other departments in the building that they also display their direct telephone numbers to their patients or that they are displayed on their website. We have also proposed adding the contact numbers for other services on the surgery’s website. In order to give a better service to our patients and carers, we have had several discussions with our phone company provider and together our goal is to find a solution by installing software to monitor all our outgoing, incoming and missed phone calls. This software also provides us with the data on the flow of incoming calls to the surgery and the length of time patients are holding until their telephone call is answered. The practice has eight telephone lines in order to respond to our patient’s telephone calls, we have also recruited a new

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receptionist to provide the reception team with extra capacity to respond to patients telephone calls to the surgery. At our practice we are continuously looking to improve the quality of our services provided by our administrative teams to our patients and carers and will always ensure that we provide a high quality and caring level of service to our patients. All of these initiatives have improved our service to our patients and by providing extra admin resource to answering telephone calls from our patients, this will also ensure that we are able to provide a more effective service.

Priority area 3

Description of priority area:

Improving patients online access:

The Porters avenue surgery has agreed to provide patient online access to our patients. Through this service patients can book appointments online. During the PPG meetings, it was agreed that the appointment system has to cope with conflicting expectations and demands and could never be perfect due to the demands of all of our patients for our services. The practices aim is to satisfy as many expectations as possible and we used the feedback from our patient’s survey to assist us in this task. This weekly and daily monitoring will also continue so that we continue to adapt our service to our patients.The positive benefit for patients of online services are

Repeat prescription requests, Booking an appointment without attending the surgery or calling the surgery. Checking blood test results.

What actions were taken to address the priority?

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These actions were address the priority below :

Online services Reducing the demand on the practice telephone system. Allowing patients to book appointments online which is very flexible, as the system is available for patients to use 24 hours a day on

seven days per week.

Patient Access provides access to on-line services of your local practice. This includes arranging appointments, repeat medication, secure messages, and access to medical records and for patients to update their details. The practice encourages all patients to be aware of the availability of this service, as it brings great benefits to our patients.

The reception team encourage patients to use the online appointment system to reduce the demand on the telephone service. The online system reduces the demand on our reception team by reducing the number of telephone calls that are received and improves access to those who need to contact the surgery by telephone. The online system also makes it easier for patients to access their patient records and to book appointments as this online service is available 24 hours a day. This new means of access then allows other patients to have a better level of access to the reception team by telephone.

The voice message on our telephone service is also used to advertise the online access service. The Porters Avenue practice advises patients to access the online service as this will further improve their access to our services. The practice also advertises this message through posters, the practice website and NHS choices.

Result of actions and impact on patients and carers (including how publicised):

Results of action and impact on patients and carers:

The actions and results of patient access application were achieved and are still being achieved by more new patients being made aware and by utilising the service. The patients that attended the PPG meeting were pleased to have access to information relating to themselves.

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It’s been a positive change for the surgery patients have provided feedback that they are able to access on the go services from their mobile phones making it easier to use any time.

We have also received feedback that patient access service is very user friendly. Patients are able to order repeat prescriptions. View their appropriate medical records. Patients are able to book or cancel appointments. Patients are able to update us with their latest contact details and inform us of any changes within a matter of seconds. Also the service allows patients to send the practice secure messages.

As a result of an increased number of patient using the online patient access service, this has reduced the number of incoming telephone calls to the practice. In order to increase the number of patients using the online access service, the reception team will continue to promote this service to our patients.

Progress on previous yearsIf you have participated in this scheme for more than one year, outline progress made on issues raised in the previous year(s):

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Progress since previous year s :

The Porters Avenue surgery has agreed to improve patient satisfaction by refining the service we provide for our patients at reception. The practice management team has arranged training for our reception team for electronic prescriptions (EPS) and on repeat and acute prescriptions. During our Administrative meeting in November 2014 we had discussions with our reception team about improving our telephone service and providing clearer instructions on reviews required for QOF. The practice has kept our promise which we made in our last two PPG meeting and have appointed a new doctor and nurses to the team. From March 2015 a new permanent doctor is joining us and also a part time permanent nurse is joining the surgery in March 2015. We have appointed extra admin resource to answer patient telephone calls by the end of February.

At our practice we are continuously looking to improve the quality of our services provided by our administrative teams to our patients to ensure our patients receive a high standard of care and service. Therefore, we have focused on this matter and made it as our priority case to improve our telephone service to provide an excellent level of service to our patients. Though we have made significant improvements and actions on the telephone system,

PPG Sign Off3.

Report signed off by PPG: YES

Date of sign off:

How has the practice engaged with the PPG:

The practice has ensured effective communication with our patient that attended the PPG meetings. During these meetings the practice management team ensured that practice update are provided to the PPG and we engaged in open discussion with the PPG members.

How has the practice made efforts to engage with seldom heard groups in the practice population?

The practice has used the obvious ways of communication to advertise the PPG meeting, including posters and leaflets. The reception team has also ensured patients are aware of the posters and provided leaflets to them with the aim of increasing participation from seldom heard groups in the practice population.

Has the practice received patient and carer feedback from a variety of sources? :

Yes through patient surveys, complaints and the Friends and family survey

Was the PPG involved in the agreement of priority areas and the resulting action plan?

The practice has engaged the PPG to ensure the priorities and their resulting action plans agreed mutually.

How has the service offered to patients and carers improved as a result of the implementation of the action plan?

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Progress since previous year s :

The Porters Avenue surgery has agreed to improve patient satisfaction by refining the service we provide for our patients at reception. The practice management team has arranged training for our reception team for electronic prescriptions (EPS) and on repeat and acute prescriptions. During our Administrative meeting in November 2014 we had discussions with our reception team about improving our telephone service and providing clearer instructions on reviews required for QOF. The practice has kept our promise which we made in our last two PPG meeting and have appointed a new doctor and nurses to the team. From March 2015 a new permanent doctor is joining us and also a part time permanent nurse is joining the surgery in March 2015. We have appointed extra admin resource to answer patient telephone calls by the end of February.

At our practice we are continuously looking to improve the quality of our services provided by our administrative teams to our patients to ensure our patients receive a high standard of care and service. Therefore, we have focused on this matter and made it as our priority case to improve our telephone service to provide an excellent level of service to our patients. Though we have made significant improvements and actions on the telephone system,

All PPG attendees agreed that the practice has delivered improvement to our patients as a result of these priority area.

Do you have any other comments about the PPG or practice in relation to this area of work?NO

Appendix

Appendix 1 – Survey Form

Appendix 2 – Charts for questionnaires

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Appendix 3 – Poster for PPG

Appendix 4 –Flyer for PPG

Appendix 5- PPG invitation letter

Appendix 6 – PPG Meeting Minutes

Appendix 7 – PPG Meeting Minutes

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Appendix 8– PPG Meeting Minutes

Appendix 9– DNA Letter

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