Patient Representative Meeting March 2024
Dovercourt Group Practice
Patient Reps Meeting for both sites.
Thursday 7th March 2024 @ 2pm
1. Partnership
Chelle explained that there have been recent changes to the Practice
partnership.
Dr Jetha, Dr Sahu and Michelle Wilde are now part of the partnership with Dr
Read and Paul Wike
2. Training Practice
The Practice is now a training Practice with several GPs taking an actively role in
supporting training and supervision.
Dr Jetha is training first year medical students. Dr Younis and Agarwal are GP
trainers for the GP Registrars who already are Doctors but require additional
training to become GPs. They must spend 18 months in GP Practices and 18
months on rotation in hospitals.
We also offer training placements for Physicians Associates and Nurses,
Pharmacy Technicians and Admin roles (apprenticeships).
All trainees are supervised and the work they complete (calls, consultations, tasks)
are regularly examined and reviewed.
In being a training Practice, we are helping to create a workforce for the future of
Primary Care, helping the Practice to increase the number of appointments
available for our patients and sustainability of the Practice for potential recruitment
of posts.
3. Covid Boosters
There is a planned Spring booster vaccine to be made available for patients 75
and over, Care homes for older people and people over 6 months that are
immunosuppressed. No other patients will be offered a vaccine.
4. Manor Top Site- Clinical Staff
In the last year we have seen an increase in the number of Nursing staff at the
Manor Top site. It is planned to have more clinical staff at the Practice so there are
more available appointments for patients at the site. Dr Sahu will be working
Tuesday to Thursday and a Physician Associate will work on a Monday at Manor
Top.
A discussion was held around the difficulties in accessing the Dovercourt site with
limited public transport available. Ahmed and Maria shared a local campaign from
Oliver Copand to try and readdress recent approaches to bus service to respond
to need rather than demand for services. This could be explored for the area and
access to the Practice. Michelle mentioned that Owlthorpe surgery offer a
community bus that patients can prebook to attend the surgery and whether this is
something that could be considered for Dovercourt with Manor Community
Transport or another local service.
5. Cloud Based Telephone System
Chelle shared that the Practice is moving to a new telephone system that will
allow the Practice to monitor more closely usage and determine any trends so
services and access can be better planned for patients.
We have recently increased the number of incoming telephone lines to try and
improve access. Concerns were discussed that the messaging and options
around urgency of calls and when best to call the Practice was not clear and
whether this could be amended to guide patients better and to ensure that the
information on the website matches the messaging on the phones.
Michelle asked if the phone lines could be opened at the MT site at 8 am to aid
access, so they are the same as the DC site. The Practice are still considering
this. Current staffing levels are affecting changes.
6. Audits – appts/ online access
Chelle shared data around appointments per 1000 patients for the Practice in
relation to the other Practices across the city. We remain each month between
the second and fourth highest for offering appointments.
A discussion was held around the new GP contract that is coming in encouraging
patients to have more online access to ‘total triage’ which allows patients to
complete a form to request access to services, online consultations, and support.
This will require close monitoring from the Practice to ensure a timely and
appropriate response. The Practice currently offers an email service which works
similarly and feels that it may be better to continue to offer this service.
The Practice is also aware that many of our patients may not have access to
online services that could digitally disadvantage them and tries to consider and
keep in place many access routes into the Practice.
Chelle also shared the lates friends and family test information and feedback.
Much of which is very good and reflects quickness of response to be seen. The
poorer responses were more in relation to staff behaviour, in particular from the
admin team. This information will be shared at a Receptionist meeting.
7. A.O.B.
Maria mentioned that the proposed new contract for GP Practices is not very
promising considering the cost of living and the impact this has on individuals and
the Practice has a business. Changes may need to be considered regarding
current staff levels. It was also mentioned that the Practice is trying to support
patients with a high level of complexity of need and burden of disease that often
occurs earlier in the age profile of our patients then it does in the more affluent
parts of the city. Maria has written to the area’s local MP raising her concerns
Published on 22 March 2024