The minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June were approved, there were no matters arising.

Practice Update

• The practice reported that referrals under the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS) scheme had commenced, a national scheme that NHS England and the commissioning board wanted all practices to undertake. The reception team, having carried out an assessment using a tool built by the clinical team, will advise patients if they’re suitable for an appointment at a local. It’s a slow start as teams and patients get used to it and it’s for minor ailments that wouldn’t require seeing a doctor for.
  
• A social prescribing link worker started taking referrals on July 1^st with the rural RPC East and RPC West practices on behalf of North Derbyshire PCN. This is in addition to the practices social prescribing link worker for young adults who need help with anxiety issues, going out, meeting new people, interacting with others and taking part in group activities. They have helped patients participate in various sports including football and martial arts via an organisation called Thr1ve SPYP - Social Prescribing for Young People that works out of Chesterfield Football Club as part of Chesterfield FC’s Community Trust work, see spiritestrust.org.uk/social-prescribing-for-young-people/ for more information.
  
• The practice updated us with the bimonthly report about DNAs (Did Not Attend) and was pleased that the unexplained spike in May had reversed. There had been an increase in Family & Friends responses which had fallen to around 300. This had improved to 998 responses with 87% rating the service they’d received as very good or good with 83% saying they would recommend RPC’s service.
  Negative comments received are logged and categorised to see if are common trends and themes that can be addressed.
  
• There was a continuing upward trend for on-line registrations though it was proving difficult to persuade those who weren’t yet using on-line services but had the facilities to do so to change their ways. A push to promote the various capabilities of the phone apps is to start to make patients aware that they can not only book appointments and order prescriptions but also check in at the surgery, have a phone notification when the doctor’s ready to see them.
  
  The practice invited questions and a member mentioned a comment they had read on social media after the DNA figures had been published. It related to appointments cancelled by the practice and whether these too might be made known. The practice will investigate if this is a report that they are able to run. The practice asked if there were any other areas the PPG be interested in learning more about telephone call times i.e. the average call time and wait time though for Brooklyn surgery, being on a different system, this might be a little more difficult. Members agreed such information would be of interest, the practice will look into producing something with these figures on in the future.
  
  The practice mentioned that NHS England had decreed how GP websites should look and what they should contain and RPC had carried out a benchmarking exercise that had resulted in a very positive outcome with not much needing to be changed to meet requirements. A review of where the majority of traffic was going, which pages are most looked and how prominent the information was had been done. The practice has remapped some of the links so that patients could more easily access the information they required and accessibility options were improved i.e. turning on large text, coloured text, the availability of a translation service. Statistics indicate that not everyone has a good reading age so content needed to be readily accessible and understandable to all, a long job given the considerable number of pages and the amount of information contained within them. The practice asked members to get in touch with questions and comments about the RPC website. Its content and ease of use.

PPG Matters

• The chair mentioned that at a recent Joined Up Care Derbyshire PPG Network meeting they had learned that some PPGs had members with specific roles other than the Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary that our group had. For example, some groups raised funds so had a Treasurer, one had a Mental Health Representative and others had various ‘Champions’. Although the chair didn’t think our own PPG would benefit from such appointments they did think that as the group grew the time would come when additional roles would be needed and asked members to keep this in mind.
  
• Dealing with recruitment had slowed during the summer holiday period but this would resume as soon as possible. The chair mentioned that at the PPG Network meeting he had explained the work that the practice and he had been doing to boost recruitment though no other group responded.
  
• Having circulated the most recent RPC Newsletter the chair asked that members think whether they could contribute to it.

Update on autumn flu and Covid vaccination eligibility and roll-out.

• One member had commented that they received three text messages from RPC inviting him to make an appointment for a flu vaccination, other members had received the same with links in each message when, if followed, offered appointment dates and times and nurses available. He felt this was a great improvement over previous years.
  
• Another member, who lived in Grassmoor, said that they’d been offered an appointment at a surgery too far away and Hannah said that the Grassmoor surgery was in the link and mentioned the large Saturday flu clinics at Clay Cross, Ashgate, Rectory Road and Brooklyn on September 16^th and 30^th with mid-week clinics at other sites.
  
• Another member mentioned that they had found the link permanently busy and as he had received the text earlier that same day. The practice had suggested trying later as it was likely the system was very busy. The practice advised that the arrangement for Brooklyn patients was different as that surgery was working with two others in Heanor with the option to attend any of them.
  
• One member mentioned reports of a new strain of Covid that had been identified in the UK (EG.5, an off-shoot of Omicron) though the current WHO opinion was that it posed a low risk to public health with no evidence that it caused more severe disease than other variants currently circulating. He was, however, concerned that the criteria for Covid vaccinations had changed and that some high risk patients appeared to be no longer eligible under the new guidelines i.e. those who had previously been advised to shield due to be clinically vulnerable but now fell outside the new list criteria. The practice mentioned that changes had also been made to flu vaccination eligibility with those aged 50 – 64 no longer eligible as they had been during previous years. One member asked whether, as parents of a disabled child, he and his wife would be eligible as if they became ill there would be no one to look after him. The practice said that as they were registered carers they would be eligible and would soon receive an invitation.
  
• The practice advised that the Covid vaccination roll out was due to start in early October though talks were on-going with NHS England about actual arrangements.

 Questions for the Practice 

• The chair advised that questions for the practice, how they are raised and answers received and circulated was being reviewed.
  
• The chair asked again about the provision of magazines in waiting rooms and whether this was possible and also about the provision of lockable PPG notice boards to abide by infection control requirements.
  
• It was agreed that the practice could laminate notices and pin them to boards rather than have lockable ones as that would be more cost effective. Some members felt there was little to display though the chair thought otherwise.
  
• The digital and communications officer advised the PPG that SystmOnline, the only way for patients without a mobile phone to access on-line services is no longer being updated, at this point they haven't said that it will be withdrawn, but there is a possibility of this in the future. The practice are hopeful that if this happens, an alternative would be put in place.
  
• A member raised an earlier question about recycling aluminium blister packs, further research to be undertaken.

A.O.B

• The chair mentioned a news item about the NHS using phone apps to help users lose weight, here is a link to that item: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66503006
  
  
• One member said that once again he was going to so his September walk to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research and hoped for the same support as last year when he had raised a total of £3,700.

The chair thanked those who had attended and closed the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27^th April were approved, there were no matters arising.

Apologies, welcomes and introductions

The chair welcomed two new members from the Brooklyn Surgery in Heanor to the PPG.
Staff introduced themselves, explaining their roles within the practice. The chair explained that in addition to administrative staff the group sometimes had clinicians attend meetings to talk about their particular roles within RPC and occasionally also external healthcare and welfare providers e.g. Derbyshire Carers or The Edge Ministries.

Practice Update

• The practice reported that although it had taken a lot longer than anticipated, the refurbishment of rooms upstairs at Rectory Road Surgery (Staveley) had been completed and with new equipment due shortly it was hope that nurses would be occupying them by the end of this month.
  
  
• As discussed previously, Dr. Bentley is once again doing her marathon walk from surgery to surgery for a charity selected from those submitted by staff. This year it is ‘Headway’ which supports those who have suffered brain trauma in North Derbyshire.
  
  
• In honour of it being Volunteers Week the practice thanked members of the PPG for giving their time to help RPC, not just by attending meetings but by helping at Covid clinics and elsewhere, the practice added that having spoken with other practices in Derbyshire, there were few that had continued to meet throughout the Covid pandemic as we had or had adapted to meeting via Teams so readily. The practice shared that they always appreciate hearing the group’s comments and feel it’s important to keep the dialogue open.
  
  
• The practice then shared the Slidedeck with the group. The first slide presented the DNA (Did Not Attend data) which showed missed appointments surgery by surgery. Though the trend had been downwards with April showing 4% DNA, it had peaked at 5.1% during May with no obvious reason for the upturn.
  
  Appointment reminders by text message were now sent 7 days prior and the day prior to an appointment both having a link to cancel.
  
  One member asked if patients who do not attend were contacted asking why. The practice answered saying that last year they surveyed four months of non-attendees and the biggest reason was that they had forgotten.
  
  The practice acknowledged that not all patients had smart phones but receptionists, when making an appointment gave an appointment slip of paper with date and time on it. Some phones have a ‘push notification’ option to send a reminder of an upcoming appointment however digital deprivation shouldn’t be overlooked.
  
  The practice shared that the national average for DNAs was 4.84% so RPC was not too far off. The practice have two policies for persistent non- attendees including one for children where safeguarding might be an issue. For others it would be three letters with the final one suggesting registration elsewhere.

• NHS England is having a big push on digital access, something RPC has been monitoring since November last year and there has been a big increase in patients registering for on-line services. There are now over 50% of the over 16 patient population registered which enables RPC to open up more on-line appointments. Monthly reminders are put out about RPC’s on-line channels; Airmid is the preferred platform for smartphones as it has a better user interface whereas SystmOnline, for computers and smartphones is no longer being updated by its developers TPP. When possible a choice of platforms should always be available.
  
  
• One member asked that the mention of on-line services be more prominent on the practice website as at present it was easily missed. The practice will look into the improvement suggestion and make changes where possible.
  
  
• The final slide referred to patient feedback based on the Family & Friends Test which requires certain questions to be asked with the results being fed back to NHS England. At RPC a new methodology was introduced in January with over 1,100 results received in the first month though it dropped to 138 during May. The practice suggest this to be a glitch in the system and are working to resolve this. The positive thing is that 95% of patients rate RPC as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ and 83% would ‘recommend to their family and friends’. Comments received are being shared on social media each week.
  
  One member mentioned that he had not received the post-appointment text message and it was thought that if this was widespread it could be a reason for the drop-off in response. Practice aware and investigating.

PPG Matters

• The current PPG secretary is having to step down from the Secretary’s role after several years of doing an excellent job producing the minutes and nudging the Chair in the ribs on occasions a new Secretary is urgently needed.
  
  The role is primarily one of producing the minutes either from written notes or from the recording of the meeting provided by the practice. Once a draft is typed it is first sent to David to look over and then to the practice to ensure it accurately reports practice news. A final version is then circulated to members, staff and on social media.
  
  The chair said that although he is prepared to type the minutes temporarily, duties should be shared by PPG members and asks that someone steps forward to fill the role.
  
  
• On behalf of the PPG the practice has sent out text messages to Brooklyn patients to invite them to be part of the PPG. 30 expressions of interest were received. Each of those had been sent an email by the chair with the PPG leaflet attached and a follow-up phone call had resulted in a number of new members for the group; this is on-going so more may be expected. In time this initiative is likely to be extended to other surgeries within RPC.
  
  
• The group discussed dates and times of the meeting. Members will be asked the following three questions in order for a conclusion to be made on any changes to meeting dates and times:
  Which is the most convenient week of the month for you to attend meetings?
  Which is the most convenient day of the week for you to attend PPG meeting?
  Which is the most convenient time for you to attend on that day?
  
  Members were asked when giving their reply to please take into account that the PPG must expand its membership if it is to fulfil its aim of being representative of the patient population and that our meetings should be equally accessible to all potential members. Meeting on-line has proved to be a great success as it eliminates unnecessary travel and ensures that staff members are able to join us from wherever they might be at the time.
  
  
• The PPG has a notice board at each surgery though the content at present is very out of date. Infection control needs to be considered and a covered, lockable notice board was thought preferable to having to laminate every document pinned up on nine notice boards.
  The chair had found suitable lockable boards on-line from Wonderwall Products priced from £45.60 and felt these would be appropriate for a request to the CRH Charity for funding.
  
  The practice agreed that this was something that could be asked for. David said that if successful it fell to the PPG to keep the notice boards updated and the practice are happy to help us facilitating.
  
  
• The practice asked for feedback about whether use of slide decks that had introduced to share information with the group had been beneficial. The chair felt they were very helpful and asked for further feedback from members.

Questions for the Practice 

• One member had reported being in the call queue and being cut off when the countdown had reached five minutes. This had also been mentioned to them by other patients and it was very annoying having to re-dial to start the process over. The practice asked that any examples of this happening be reported with the date, time and phone number so that it could be investigated by the phone service provider.
  
  
• Following a recent visit to The Grange one member mentioned that the check-in screen was out of action and this had caused a queue to form whilst the receptionist dealt with queries as well as checking patients in for appointments. The practice are working to get the screen fix but offered the Airmid app as an alternative to check n when getting close to the surgery.
  
  
• A member asked if there was scope for a samples to be left at reception so patients could drop in requested samples without having to queue. The practice shared that they check every sample to ensure that samples were sealed and correctly labelled to avoid samples going missing or not being tested, but that it would be considered.

Minutes of the previous meetings were approved

Practice Update

• The practice trialled a new way of sharing information with us using a Power Point slide deck to show information in a more visually appealing way. The practice asked if PPG members could give feedback about the slide deck.
  
  
• The year end figures were presented: The 90% target had been met for flu vaccinations, which is above the national average. Annual Review targets were being met, this in part was due to the hard work of backroom staff chasing up patients who are due for a review
  
  
• DNA statistics show that there is a downward trend; the latest monthly figure is 4.4% for March down from 6.1% in October. It is felt that the improvement is due to patients now receiving two text reminders plus it has been made easier for patients to cancel.
  
  
• Online access is at present being used by 40.4% of all patients across the nine sites and it is hoped that at the next meeting a figure can be given just for over sixteen year old patients who are permitted online access. This will then be used to determine the number of online appointments.
  
  
• Friends & Family feedback, since the introduction of the new system, the response has been very good. This month there have been 1144 responses, across all sites, of these, 88% of patients rated the service as either good or very good, also 84% would recommend the practice to friends & family.
  
  The comments section highlighted the good and the bad, the good being that patients felt that staff were very polite, and their problems were listened to. The bad, highlighted the problems in getting through on the telephone and also the lack of available appointments. The practice is finding the feedback information useful and is acting on that information to improve areas where necessary.
  
  As a result of this information four bank staff have been appointed to help with peak time call handling. Two are in-house staff and are receiving training, two more have been recruited and training is being arranged. This should certainly help when call handling demand is high. Additional appointments are put on when it is safe to do so but clinical vacancies remain.
  
  
• There is a national shortage of trained GPs so the practice has decided to try and attract GP fellowships with an intensive programme being put together to recruit more personnel.
  
  The practice explained that GP fellowships are where a GP wishes to specialise in a certain area, they will be given a set time out of their schedule to study that branch of medicine. The practice already employs a GP who specialises in respiratory disease and, as a practice with a high density of patients with COPD, this means RPC has that clinical knowledge in-house. The clinical fellow areas are based on identified areas of need and a recruitment campaign is being put together to attract more clinicians to the practice.
• The practice will be at the Peak District Highland Games at Matlock Farm Park on 27^th August with a nursing team in support of RPC’s vision to improve health and wellbeing not just for its own patients but across the wider community. The nursing team will be doing blood pressure and BMI checks and generally spreading the RPC vision.
  
  
• ANP Mel Baker and Dr Ruth Bentley have both successfully completed the Manchester Marathon, Mel in a personal best time of just under 4 hours and Dr Bentley, who was competing in her first marathon, an incredible time of 4 hours and 45 minutes, along the way raising funds for Weston Park hospital. Both Mel and Dr Bentley would like to thank members of the PPG who supported them with donations towards their total which was in excess of £700.

PPG Matters

• The chair gave an update on his investigation into dormant members. All have been contacted and several had no further interest in PPG matters however one member said that although they were unable to attend meetings, they would still like to receive copies of the minutes.
  
  As a result, we are now down to fifteen members, not many considering the size of the practice, and more needed to be done to attract new members, especially from those groups not currently represented.
  
  One member suggested that our meeting times should be in the evenings and also copies of our meeting minutes be placed on the PPG notice boards in surgeries. The practice informed us that there were strict guidelines on what items could be put up in the waiting room notice boards due to infection control, and that everything would have to be laminated. Other avenues could be explored, possibly using the TV monitors in the waiting rooms, Facebook could also be used.
  
  One member asked if holding meeting after 6.00pm would impact on the availability of RPC staff. The practice admitted that it may pose a problem, but the situation was not insurmountable, and that maybe a mix of afternoon and evening meetings could be trialed. After further discussion it was agreed to poll members for their preferences.

Questions for the Practice

• Several members had been in touch with comments regarding the lack of privacy in and around the reception areas in all the surgeries and asked about the use of Meet & Greeters like those used by banks. The practice have reassured us that if needed there was always, either a room or an area, set aside for patients to discuss their need in private.
  
  A member asked if there was any way a cheap and cheerful way could be found to save patients in the waiting rooms overhearing what was being said to the receptionists. The practice have looked into this and there are systems that could be used such as a white noise system used in many banks however this would be a large cost to the practice. Background music was suggested, but here again the cost of Performing Rights licences would also be expensive.
  
  Suggestions on improving privacy, especially at peak times, would be appreciated.

• A member had said he had been having problems in being unable to see and check his and his partner’s future appointments online. The practice asked what type of device they were using to try and ascertain the cause as they hadn't received any other feedback regarding this issue. A few other members confirmed they hadn't experienced any problems with SystemOne. Although one member said that she had at times experienced problems.
  
  The practice advised wherever possible that Airmid was the preferred system as SystmOne is no longer being updated.

• A member raised that they had seen a comment online about the practice where a patients appointment had been cancelled and they had to rebook and take another day off work. The members first thought was why had the patient not booked an out of hours appointment. The practice offered that depending on the urgency of the appointment an out of hours appointment may not always be suitable as receptionists will try to offer the first available appointment, however the practice will ensure that where possible and appropriate the call handlers and reception team will try to ask when the most suitable appointment would be for the patient. 

Minutes of the previous meetings were approved

Practice Update

• The practice introduced their new Head of Operations Nate Webber who has joined the practice and will be working closely with the Managing Director and Practice Operations Manager to aid the day to day running of the non-clinical side, covering all nine sites. Nate will also be heavily involved with the PPG going forward and we look forward to working with him.

• The practice are trying to encourage patients to get signed up for online services, they are monitoring uptake and will make more appointments available online when the online access starts to increase. This will help with the high volume of telephone calls that the practice are still experiencing between 8.00 and 10.30am. Other options were still being considered to help alleviate the pressure including bank staff.

• Drop-in blood test clinics have been re-started at the Clay Cross and Rectory Road surgeries, and the practice has received some positive feed-back regarding these. They are also looking at other skill sets to see what else could become drop-in clinics to make appointments more accessible for patients.

• Four new Practice Nurses, one Nurse Practitioner and a new GP have joined the practice in the last month. The practice will continue to work on their recruitment drive to hopefully expand the clinical team where there are vacancies.

• One member asked if there was any intention to close the Whittington surgery as there never appeared to be enough appointments available. The practice reassured us that there is no intention to close the Whittington surgery and that it was hoped to offer more appointments as soon as more GPs have been recruited.

• The refurbishment of Rectory Road surgery was nearing completion, it will increase the top floor to five clinical rooms and these will be filled with the nursing team. This will allow GPs, Nurse Practitioners, and the Trainee Team to expand out on the ground floor. A site inspection is to take place on Monday 20th February to ensure that the work has been carried out to RPC standards. This expansion was a big positive for the practice in response to all the new builds around the Staveley area.

• One member raised that they had experienced an issue when trying to send his blood pressure readings in via the website, they received a message saying ‘404, page does not exist.’ The practice apologised to the member and said that the page had recently been updated and the problem had now been resolved.

• The practice team are working on a healthy eating Cookbook for patients. Royal Primary Care are very passionate about a more holistic approach to health care. The practice have asked staff for low-cost, healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinners and have extended the offer to the PPG to ask if any of our members had any meal ideas to contribute.

• The practice shared that they are working on a ‘Meet & Greet’ service to try and shorten the morning queues at the surgeries. It will be based on the system used by banks when they have queues and is intended to help waiting patients who have struggled to get through on the phone to access services more easily by helping them to register for on-line services to book their own appointments and show them the benefits of using internet access and phone apps. The hope is that it would reduce phone calls and footfall at front desks whilst helping people get what they wanted quicker. It was not intended to stop people talking to the receptionist if they really needed to. In answer to a question from a member about privacy, the practice replied that a private area/room would be available if needed.

PPG Matters

• One member asked if information, including the minutes of our meetings be put on a notice board designated for PPG matters. The practice replied that all information had been removed during the Covid pandemic due to infection prevention measures that were put in place, but we will look to reinstate the posters and update the PPG boards with more up-to-date information. One member asked if magazines could, once again, be re-introduced in the surgeries as they had been at The Royal hospital. The practice will look into this and get back to the PPG.

• A member of the group had said that they had noticed a Royal College of General Practitioners accredited ‘Armed Forces Veterans Friendly’ logo on another practice’s web site and asked if RPC had accreditation, the practice confirmed that this is something they don't have in place but would look into as they feel this could be beneficial for them.

Minutes taken from the last meeting on Thursday 15th December:

Minutes of the previous meetings and the AGM were approved. 

Guest Speaker

This month’s guest speaker was one of the surgeries Specialist Mental Health Practitioners. They spoke about how the practice quickly recognised the benefits of an in-house mental health team both for patients and to GPs. The team is now four strong and seeing patients withal types of mental health issues: sleep problems, life events, stress, bereavement, anxiety, depression, personality disorders; a very broad spectrum. They continued with very enlightening and thought provoking insight into the work carried out by the Mental Health team, illustrated by a series of slides. This was followed by a Q&A answer session with several members commenting or raising questions. The practice explained the value of having a Mixed Team at RPC and that several other practices across Derbyshire were very keen to follow the model used by the practice. 

Practice Update

The practice informed the PPG that they, especially its GPs, are extremely busy dealing with an abnormally high volume of Strep A cases, this was exasperated by the number of staff off sick. GPs are dealing with an excessive number of patients per day (60 to 70). This was putting an enormous strain on them and could not be sustained. Several GPs were working 10 hour plus shifts on a regular basis 

One member asked if the problem of DNAs (Did Not Attend) could be addressed with their slots being re-allocated, also that the two missed appointment rule be applied. The practice is looking at how it could support those to attend. A study has been undertaken by the surgery around DNA (Did not attend) rates and advised that two reminders were now sent out to patients by text messages. The study got 608 responses over four months, messages were sent to all patients who didn’t attend their appointment to ask the reason why. The responses were that 218 (about 36%) of DNA’s said they forgot about their appointment, 21% were too ill to attend, 7% were unable to take time off work or conflicts with other appointments, 6% had transport problems with 1% having child care or carer provision. When asked, 20% said they had been unable to cancel their appointment. There is now a dedicated phone line to cancel appointments without having to wait for the admin team to answer plus there is provision on the apps. One member asked if reminders could be sent out two hours before appointments were due, the surgery advised that this wasn’t currently possible but may be with future system upgrades.

The surgery advised that they are using a common point scoring template called FeverPAIN score for diagnosing patients presenting with scarlet fever symptoms. This is being used by reception teams so that a best course of action could to be taken.

The issue regarding silent telephone calls i.e. when the practice couldn’t hear the person calling, experienced by some patients had been resolved and any further incidents should be reported.

Extra funding had been provided to DHU to support out of hours services and provision to see extra patients from across Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire at the hub at Ashgate Manor and another in Derby. 

PPG Matters

It was agreed that the chair contact dormant members who had not been heard from in the past year to ask whether they wished to continue to be a member. The practice will confirm that they are still patients of RPC. There were a number, including retired health workers, who although not attending meetings wished to maintain and interest in healthcare matters locally and it was easy to continue to include them on the PPG’s distribution list.

After discussion it was agreed that Facebook was the best social mediaplatform for PPG use.

AOB

The practice said that a presentation event had taken place at Clay Cross Social Centre with all staff members present and that several awards had been made, this had been a very enjoyable and successful event.

One member wished everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year, they went on to thank the staff at RPC for doing a brilliant job in a most challenging and difficult year. The chair echoed these remarks. They have said the care they’ve received this year from everyone at the practice had been first class. They also thanked the members of staff who had supported the group and attended PPG meetings. The chair wished both members of the PPG and all RPC staff a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year and this was echoed by various members of the PPG 

The next meeting will be a member only meeting on 19th January 2023, Merry Christmas!

At its last meeting on Thursday 25th August the group discussed how:

• ·A new Advanced Nurse Practitioner had been appointed for RPC East (Rectory Road and Inkersall) and she will be doing in-clinic work and helping with community and house bound patients. A part-time GP had also been appointed to RPC East, starting in October.
  
  
• ·Interviews are due to start shortly for a Frailty Specialist, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner who will focus on house bound patients to ensure they receive adequate care at home and thus reduce the need for them to attend hospital.
  
  
• ·The CQC assessment at RPC West resulted in an overall ‘Good’ rating thanks to the hard work and dedication of the team prior to the inspectors’ visit. Posters about the result will be displayed in the near future.
  
  
• ·A campaign has been started to get some PPG members for Brooklyn and there has already been interest. It was discussed that a text message campaign would be the first step to attract patients to join in our PPG meetings and to draw attention to the PPG Facebook page with the intention of having an integrated PPG for the whole of RPC.
  
  
• ·Updates to Next-of-Kin information are taking place via text messages to ensure that records are kept current. Handwritten sympathy cards have been re-introduced and are sent to the family or household of patients who have died expressing the practice’s condolences and drawing attention to the availability of bereavement support advice.
  
  
• ·Flu clinics were due to start at the end of September as soon as vaccine deliveries were received. It was intended that on Saturday, September 24th clinics would be held at Rectory Road, Clay Cross and Ashgate surgeries when it was intended that at least 900 patients per site would receive their vaccination. PPG members are asked to help on the day greeting and guiding patients and perhaps carrying out a survey. At Brooklyn surgery the flu clinic would be on Saturday, October 8th and there will be midweek evening clinics and perhaps morning clinics throughout October and November for those unable to attend the Saturday dates.
  
  
• Those aged between 50 - 64 who are not considered ‘at risk’ will not be offered the vaccination until the middle of October. Primary Care Networks will be responsible for Covid vaccinations. RPC falls within three different PCNs, all will be doing it slightly differently. In Chesterfield, it is thought that PCNs will vaccinate care home and house bound patients with the Covid and flu vaccines, one at a time in care homes, one in each arm at the same time for the house bound though that may change.
  
  
• The chair raised the issue of whether future meetings might revert to face-to-face, be a hybrid of face-to-face and on-line or continue as on-line only. He had been aware that some members had not been able to join us on-line whereas others, for a variety of reasons, would not be able to attend face-to-face meetings. The chair felt that all members should be able to give their opinion and would send out a survey before the next meeting. In the meantime he would liaise with the practice about solutions for members who were having difficulty joining on-line meetings.
  
  
• The urgent need for a PPG secretary. One member offered to resume the role provided we stayed as we were and he could utilise meeting transcripts provided by the practice. The chair appreciated his offer but wondered if anyone would be prepared to job-share.
  
  Please note the date of the next meeting: 4:00 - 6:00pm, Thursday, October 20th
  
  

  Our PPG is always looking to recruit new members. Membership of the PPG is free and open to all patients registered with Royal Primary Care together with surgery staff. We welcome members from all age groups, ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities to help ensure our group truly represents our patient population.

  If you are interested in joining our PPG, please visit the PPG page on the Royal Primary Care website (www.rpcchesterfield.co.uk).

  If you can't commit to joining our bimonthly meetings, you join our PPG facebook page via the following link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rpcppg