Microsoft word - bhc patient survey action plan 11-12

BIRLEY HEALTH CENTRE PATIENT PARTICIPATION REPORT 2012
This is the first report we have prepared in this way – in previous years, we have
conducted a survey of patient feedback, discussed its findings with our Patient Focus
group and summarised the results in a Newsletter.

Summary of national developments in the NHS which impact on patients or general practice

There has been a lot of organisational change in the NHS, and there remains
pressure to reduce costs. Last year this resulted in some hospital procedures being
stopped for several months. The NHS is working to reduce hospital costs especially,
and in Sheffield the main aim is to reduce the number of older people who are
admitted to hospital, especially when what they want and need, is better support to
stay at home.
The current NHS reforms are viewed with great scepticism by our patient group, but it
remains to be seen whether they will adversely affect services.


Summary of practice initiatives in the year which have impacted on patients.
We have been working to develop better services in;
Anti-coagulation (warfarin monitoring)
Screening people who are over 75, to check we are trying to provide support when
needed.
Screening all patients who have a long term illness, to check if they are becoming
Depressed.
Training Health Care Assistants in Ear Syringing and Spirometry.
We have started a system for annual reviews in the month of birth – this has been
well-received.
We have purchased a height/weight machine to check BMI, which is next to the BP
machine in the waiting room.
The Life Channel TV has been out of action for months, because of contract
problems between the company and NHS Sheffield – we have been trying to resolve
this.
We have upgraded the waiting room heating system, installed solar panels to reduce
our carbon footprint, and are building 3 new consulting rooms.
We ran a successful Expert Patient group which offers support in living with a long
term illness. We will build on this by developing Care Planning approaches.
A summary of findings of the patient survey.
We have been lucky enough to have a group of patients in our Focus Group for a
number of years, and this has continued to meet. The membership has increased
from 12 to over 20, now including ‘virtual’ members who are included online. The
majority are retired, but our local Councillor is a member and we have a good gender
mix and a wheelchair user. Several are Carers and several have a Carer. Many have
a Chronic Disease, which means they have extensive experience of NHS services in
both Primary and Secondary Care. We have very small numbers of patients in other
specific interest groups, so are happy our current membership is a good cross-
section. We will continue to try and recruit BME and hard to reach groups during
consultations and by our usual publicity.
We also use our Practice website to provide another channel of communication.
We began our survey by inviting ‘open – ended’ feedback via Patient Opinion. We
obtained around 50 postings, almost all of which were positive. The only issues
which we felt could be added to our subsequent survey were about Reception
confidentiality and our appointment system.
It was however really heartening for all our staff to be able to read such glowing
praise for their work.
In addition to the postings (above), we have had almost 200 feedback forms
returned, from a broad sample of our patient population. We have put a link on our
website, publicised the survey in our newsletter, and handed out forms in the
Surgery.
This has not produced any surprises – we know the problems with a system which
reserves a number of appointments for ‘on the day’, and this is the main issue
highlighted.
The survey forms have given overall very positive scores for all aspects of our
services.
There is a high satisfaction score for our opening hours.
Reception have had some low scores, but this seems linked to the fact that they are
the people who have to negotiate regarding appointments (eg, there is competition
each morning for the remaining slots with our more popular GP’s).
There is almost universal agreement with sharing the patient record.
The texting system is quite popular.
The check-in screen is well-liked and the BP room is used a lot more.

Patient survey action plan.
1. As agreed at our last Patient Focus group (including emailing the ‘virtual’
members), we are concentrating on the management of same day demand, to try to
find a satisfactory way of giving a service to the increasing numbers of patients who
want to be seen the same day. Since increasing numbers also want to see a GP, and
the GP of their choice, it is simply not possible to provide for everyone’s wishes.
However, we do want to reduce the stress caused by competing to be first to get
through at 8.30 each morning. We will take options to the next Focus group in April.
2. The Focus Group are concerned about the impact of the new school entrance,
because of road safety and because of parking in our grounds by parents collecting
or dropping pupils. We will raise this again with the Council and NHS Sheffield. The
Group feel we need a new entrance, to be linked to the new school access road, and
we will seek funding for this.
3. Sharing the patient record is supported – we will continue to obtain formal
consents.
4. We will continue to provide late night surgeries on Monday (GP and Nurse) and
Thursday (GP only).
5. Our services can be accessed in person, or by phone. We have a comments
facility on our website, and ordering repeat Prescriptions, but not yet online booking
of appointments.
6. Our opening hours are;
Monday 8.00 – 8.00
Tuesday 8.00 – 12.30 (we provide emergency response up to 6.00)
Wednesday 8.00 – 6.00
Thursday 8.00 – 8.00
Friday 8.00 – 6.00
A copy of this report will be supplied to NHS Sheffield and HealthWatch. Publication of the results and practice opening times will include:

Source: http://www.birleyhealthcentre.co.uk/documents/BHC%20patient%20survey%20action%20plan%2011-12.pdf