The Patient Participation Group (PPG) is about implementing real, positive changes in their communities. PPGs work with patients and Practice staff to achieve a common goal in the provision of the best possible services provided by the Practice.
As a Practice we are always looking at ways we can improve our services and opinions of our patients. Once a quarter we contact, via email, members of this representative group and ask questions such as what do you think about our opening times, taking up no more than ten minutes of your time. It’s important to know that all surveys are anonymous.
What does a PPG do?
- The PPG facilitates patients and the Practice staff working together to share ideas to help improve the services offered at the Practice in addition to sourcing out any local community services
- Helps improve on the experience of attending the Surgery
- Helps the Practice decide on the overall service priorities
- Acts as a channel in communicating to patients how changes in the NHS will affect service provision and provide information on the help available, support groups and networks
- Helps patients understand more about the medical conditions / problems
- Helps improve patients overall experience of the Practice
What it is not:
The PPG will not deal with personal medical issues or individual patient complaints. No medical information or questions will be responded to.
Changes made throughout 2024:
As a result of the Patient Participation Group feedback, as a Practice we have:
- Opened up more appointments for those patients signed up to online services to book online
- Changed the recorded phone message to make it more clearer and louder
- Implemented a new phone system with a callback feature meaning patients don’t have to stay on hold
- Improved our waiting times for GP and Nurse appointments with the introduction of two new salaried GPs and two Nurses
- Increased our communication from the Practice with the routine Facebook posts and quarterly newsletters
We need you!
If you are interested in having a say in the way your local health services are delivered, getting involved with our Practices PPG is a great place to start. No training is required to be a member of a PPG, the most important thing is that you are keen and focused on taking positive action to help the Practice and our patients.
We currently have 74 patients signed up to our PPG and we aim to increase this to around 100 patients from as broad a spectrum as possible to get a truly representative sample of our patient demographic. We need young people, workers, retirees, people with long term conditions and people from non-British ethnic groups.
If you are happy for us to contact you occasionally by email please fill out a join the participation group form.