SPRING HILL MEDICAL CENTRE
Arley, Nr. Coventry, CV7 8FD  Telephone 01676 540395/54086  Fax  01676 540760
Drs T D Dickson, L A Cragg, R S Zurob

Local Patient Participation Report 2011/12

Spring Hill Medical Centre is a semi-rural teaching practice, covering Fillongley, Arley, Galley Common and all of the Nuneaton area, with a 10,000 patient list.    Our practice includes, 3 partners, 2 salaried GP’s, 1 registrar, 4 practice nurses and 1 health care assistant, who are all supported by our receptionist and administration staff.  The practice prides itself on delivering excellent patient care, with continuous focus on quality whilst offering a wide range of enhanced services.  

Established in 2002, our patient participation group (PPG) has been successful in improving patient experience.  The group decided that the minimum requirement of members were 5 (to be quorum).  There is no maximum requirement of members as the PPG welcome any resident wishing to attend the meetings on a co-opted basis.  

At present, there are 17 members, consisting of 4 males and 13 females.  There are 4 members of the practice team who also currently sit on the group.   The group have invested in good communication tools to ensure that it is representative of its registered patients by means of posters and leaflets.

Age Distribution of the PPG:
20-29 yrs	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	80-89	
	1	2	2	7	4	1	

At the meeting held on Monday 26 September 2011, the “Improving the Practice Questionnaire” was presented in draft format with the intension to be adopted by the PPG at Octobers meeting.   At the meeting held October 2011, the PPG reviewed the questionnaire and a discussion was held with a number of amendments suggested.  It was agreed that the final questionnaire would be presented at November’s meeting for approval.  At the meeting held in November 2011, the Practice Manager reported that the practice had agreed to the format of the questionnaire, which would be distributed to patients at the beginning of January 2012.  The PPG agreed the content of the survey with two priorities; Appointment system and telephone system.  

The reception staff handed out the practice questionnaire to patients attending both Spring Hill and Galley Common Medical Centres during the month of January 2012.

Following the survey in January 2012, the results were distributed to the PPG at February’s meeting.  Overall the results were positive with staff performing well, but as previously highlighted at November’s meeting, it was clear that the appointment system and telephone system were priorities and required an action plan in order to address the concerns from patients who had completed the questionnaire.  In light of this, the Practice Manger discussed the action plan to address both priorities which was agreed by the PPG at the meeting held in February 2012.  

Spring Hill Medical Centre Patient Survey Results

	No experience	Poor/Fair	Good/Very Good/Excellent	
Access to a Doctor or Nurse	
Qu 1. Speed at which the telephone was answered	5%	29%	66%	
Qu 2. Speed Transferred
	33%	26%	41%	
Qu 3. Length of time waited 
	5%	35%	60%	
Qu 4. Time waited for a Doctor
	14%	34%	52%	
Qu 5. Convenience of Appointment
	0%	23%	77%	
Qu 6. Seeing Doctor of choice
	14%	26%	60%	
Qu 7. Length of time in Reception waiting to check in
	0%	20%	80%	
	No experience	Poor/Fair	Good/Very Good/Excellent	
Qu 8. Length of time waiting to see a Doctor or Nurse
	5%	19%	76%	
Qu 9. Opportunity to speak with a Doctor or Nurse	46%	14%	40%	
Qu 10. Opportunity of obtaining a home visit	61%	8%	31%	
Qu 11. Level of satisfaction with Out of Hours service	51%	14%	35%	
About the Staff	
Qu 1. Information provided by Reception staff
	1%	15%	84%	
Qu 2. Helpfulness of Reception Staff
	1%	14%	85%	
Qu 3. Information provided by other staff
	12%	10%	78%	
Qu 4. Helpfulness of other staff
	11%	17%	73%	
Obtaining Prescriptions	
Qu 1. Prescription ready on time
	19%	15%	66%	
Qu 2. Prescription correctly issued
	15%	13%	72%	
Qu 3. Handling of any queries
	21%	12%	67%	
Obtaining Test Results	
Qu 1. Were you told to contact us for your results?	28%	13%	59%	
Qu 2. Results available when you contacted us?	27%	13%	60%	
Qu 3. Level of satisfaction with the amount of information provided	27%	12%	61%	
Qu 4. Level of satisfaction with the manner in which the result was given	27%	10%	63%	
Overall Satisfaction	

	0%	14%	88%	

Galley Common Medical Centre Patient Survey Results

	No experience 	Poor/Fair 	Good/Very Good/Excellent 	
Access to a Doctor or Nurse	
Qu 1. Speed at which the telephone was answered  	3%	10%	87%	
Qu 2. Speed Transferred
	40%	10%	50%	
Qu 3. Length of time waited
	0%	27%	73%	
Qu 4. Time waited for a Doctor
	17%	17%	66%	
Qu 5. Convenience of Appointment 
	0%	10%	90%	
	No experience 	Poor/Fair 	Good/Very Good/Excellent 	
Qu 7. Length of time in Reception waiting to check in	3%	10%	87%	
Qu 8. Length of time waiting to see a Doctor or Nurse	3%	20%	77%	
Qu 9. Opportunity to speak with a Doctor or Nurse
	50%	5%	45%	
Qu 10. Opportunity of obtaining a home visit 
	63%	7%	30%	
Qu 11. Level of satisfaction with Out of Hours service	50%	13%	37%	
About the Staff	
Qu 1. Information provided by Reception staff
	0%	4%	96%	
Qu 2. Helpfulness of Reception Staff
	0%	4%	96%	
Qu 3. Information provided by other staff
	3%	4%	93%	
Qu 4. Helpfulness of other staff
	7%	4%	89%	
Obtaining Prescriptions	
Qu 1. Prescription ready on time
	21%	10%	69%	
Qu 2. Prescription correctly issued
	14%	10%	76%	
Qu 3. Handling of any queries
	28%	14%	58%	
Obtaining Test Results	
Qu 1. Were you told to contact us for your results?	32%	4%	64%	
Qu 2. Results available when you contacted us?	32%	14%	54%	
Qu 3. Level of satisfaction with the amount of information provided	21%	11%	68%	
Qu 4. Level of satisfaction with the manner in which the result was given	29%	7%	64%	
Overall Satisfaction	
	0%	12%	88%	

The Practice Manager proposed the following action plan to the PPG, which was approved at February’s meeting:

Survey finding	Agreed action	Action by who	Action/ by when	Date completed	
Patients unhappy with appointment system	PM to produce action plan with agreement from PPG	Practice 	1. Analysis will be undertaken via clinical system to ensure that maximum appointments per day are being adhered too and ensure that patients are aware of the extended surgeries three times per week.   2. Communication materials regarding appointments will be distributed around the practice for patient’s information. 
Action to be completed by March 2012
	30 MARCH 2012	
Patients unhappy with telephone system	PM to produce action plan with agreement from PPG	Practice 	1. A survey will be undertaken to ascertain at what times patients ring the surgery for an appointment to understand the busiest times.  The practice will then include this information within the new practice leaflet/website and posters regarding the best time to call for an appointment.  2. Quotations for a new telephone system; to include a patient enabled check-in system rather than waiting at reception for the new medical centre (opening November 2012) are being sort to ensure capacity is fully met going forward. 
Action to be completed by March 2012	30 MARCH 2012	

Spring Hill Medical Centre Opening Hours

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	
8:30 -12:30pm
3:30 - 6:30pm	8:30 -12:30pm
3:30 - 6:30pm	8:30 -12:30pm
3:30 - 6:30pm	8:30 -12:30pm
3:30 - 6:30pm	8:30 -12:30pm
3:30 - 6:30pm 	
Working appointments from 6.30pm three evenings per week.	

Galley Common Medical Centre Opening Hours

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	
8:30 -11:30am
1:30 – 5:00pm	8:30 -11:30am
1:30 – 4:30pm	8:30 -11:30am
1:30 – 4:30pm	8:30 -11:30am
1:30 – 4:30pm	8:30 -11:30am
1:30 – 4:30pm	

Patients can contact the practice via telephone or visit to the surgery.  The practice website can be used to order repeat prescription requests or to inform the practice of a change of address, telephone or mobile numbers.  

Thursday 29 March 2012.