PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP PPG

Our most recent meeting was held on 13th september at 6pm. The agenda included the election of Chair (Mark Jepson) and Vice Chair (Helen Rose) and a discussion on how we were planning / running our flu and covid clinics this year. We also shared our new newsletter with the group and discussed what we felt was appropriate to publish. We are also hoping the local magazines Spotlight, Felixstowe Flyer and the Felixstowe Society newsletter will allow us some space to try and let our Patients know the benefits of using the E-Consult service. We are focussing on the following campaigns; Stoptober, Alcohol Free October, National Cholesterol Month and Menopause Awareness this month. There will be displays in the waiting rooms with information surrounding these with information for Patients to use. If you would like to have a copy of the minutes or would like to join us for the next meeting in January 2023 please contact [email protected]

During our meeting on 11th April 2022 at 6.30pm we were lucky enough to have a presentation from ID Medical, a new service running from the Surgery which provides minor operations for all patients over 16 years of age who are in the Ipswich and East Suffolk locality. We discussed the dementia and disability assessments which have recently been carried out at the Surgery and the changes that have been implemented following this. Our new website was discussed and feedback was requested from the PPG. We shared feedback about the Level Two Youth Project who have recently been providing a service to young people based at the Surgery with their youth bus. We also agreed that our next health campaigns within the surgery would be focussing on “stress awareness” and “on your feet Britain” for April and “National walking month” and “Sun awareness week” for May. If you would like to have a copy of the minutes or would like to join us for the next meeting on the 13th September please contact [email protected].

We held our last meeting on the 13th September 2022 at 6pm. We shared the details of our flu campaign that was starting late September. Our first few clinics were held on Saturdays and we managed to vaccinate 1600 patients each week. Each patient was allocated 3 minutes per appointment which meant “all hands on deck” and help from our loyal volunteers and staff. We continued to vaccinate our patients and patients from Martlesham and the Birches with Covid vaccine throughout these clinics. We had great support from local support groups who were able to engage with patients. Our chairperson Mark Jepson created the first edition of the PPG newsletter. We discussed our monthly campaigns for the new year and decided what we felt was appropriate for our patients. Dr Feltwell shared the outcome of a recent patient survey and explained the results. We all feel that we need to share information about the E-Consult system which is available to patients. Various suggestions were made about how we could do this.

The PPG met up on 16th January 2022 at 6pm.The group discussed how we can share our newsletter to a wider audience. We have decided to share it to all of the staff throughout the surgery and displayed on the PPG noticeboard. Mark Jepson (chair) shared information of ‘warm rooms’ for patients to visit for free food and warmth locally. We discussed that sharing how the staff structure at The Grove would be interesting / helpful for patients and how best to access its resources. We talked out our E-Consult service and the feedback from patients was at a 90% satisfaction rate and how call handling was managed at busy periods of the day. Mark Jepson and Aimee Wiseman shared information on a new project for staff and patients at the Grove. They have arranged for a micro plot at Cowpasture Allotments to be available for patients to improve their mental health, help get them back into gentle exercise and to address social isolation. The surgery are hoping to tie this project together with the help of their Social Prescriber. We decided on our next monthly health campaigns and possible public events with guest speakers. This will be explored later in the year. Beth Rendell our Practice Paramedic explained to the group how her role worked at the surgery and what her role and responsibilities were on a daily basis.

The PPG met again at 6.30pm on 15th May 2023. The team from ID Medical provided an update of what the service provides to all patients in Felixstowe and surrounding areas. Wendy Chard from Home Instead provided an insight to what support there is for patients and families of patients who are living with Dementia. Wendy was truly inspiring and is extremely passionate about helping people. She has amazing ideas and plans locally which the Grove Surgery and PPG are more than happy to support. The Grove allotment project, managed by Mark Jepson and Ruth Lewis has made huge progress in a short space of time. We are looking forward to reaping the rewards of all the hard work that has gone into making the allotment a success but a clear plan of how it is going to be managed is needed. A meeting to discuss this is being planned as we speak. A recent patient survey has been collated and the results shared with the ICB (Integrated Care Board) as to what patients in Felixstowe feel they are lacking. Thank you to the joined up efforts of the local PPG groups for managing this. A copy of the full minutes of the meeting is available.

Our next meeting is planned for 11th September. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to join us.