Garswood Patient Group - Your Group, Your Voice

The surgery has an active patient group which meets twice a year in June and December.  We consult with our patient group about the way we deliver our services and over the years the group has contributed significantly to the introduction of a number of positive changes for the practice.  We are also members of the National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P). N.A.P.P. regularly publish e-bulletins and newsletters which you can access via their website www.napp.org.uk

Everyone is welcome at our meetings. The date of the next meeting will be posted here when confirmed.

Please note: The Patient Group Meeting is not a forum for individuals to raise personal issues. The comments, concerns and complaints procedure should be used in such instances.

The minutes of our patient group meetings can be accessed by visiting the links below (in reverse chronological order):

4 July 2012
7 December 2011
29 June 2011
1 December 2010
2 June 2010
18 December 2009
18 August 2009
16 April 2008

Some of the more recent changes your patient group has been, or will be, involved in are:

• We have recently implemented an easy to operate self check-in system which allows patients to book in for their appointment without needing to speak to a receptionist. This helped to alleviate queues at the reception desk and is proving popular with patients.

• We have simplified our patient questionnaire which can be completed on-line. Paper copies of the questionnaire are also available in the waiting room. The Patient Questionnaire will be run throughout the year and the results will presented at the patient group meetings. Any comments, suggestions and ideas are discussed and may be used to drive service changes .

• We have recently changed our practice clinical system to EMIS Web. This new system offers the facility to text patients when they have booked an appointment, It is also possible to remind patients when their appointment is due, send individual or group messages to patients to contact us or send out information about special clinics (eg, flu clinics). We have been offered the opportunity to have a free trial of the system during Oct - Dec 2012. If it proves a popular service we will discuss it with the group with a view to purchasing it as a permanent facility.

If you would like to be involved in helping us to shape our services to meet the needs of our patients please tell the receptionist and we will ensure you receive an invitation to our next meeting. Alternatively, you can download (Word document - download and print PDF alternative) and complete a form to register your interest in joining the group. Please return your completed form to us by handing it in at reception, posting it via internal or external mail or e-mail it to us at garswood.surgery@hsthpct.nhs.uk

Garswood Patient Survey for the period July - November 2012 (inclusive)

We now offer the opportunity for patients to access our patient survey all year round.

It is available on our website for completion online and paper copies are also available at reception.

During the period Jul - Nov 2012 we received 190 completed surveys and we wish to thank all who took the time and trouble to respond.

The results were collated, analysed and graphed and presented to our patient group at a meeting held on 5 December 2012.

To view the results of our survey please click here

We have disregarded any positive comments to the questions and only presented those comments where patients disagreed or strongly disagreed to the various statements. Overall the group felt the survey results were very positive.

We discussed our systems and processes in regard to how we organise our meet and greet, telephone answering and appointments services. The patient group did not believe that we needed to review our systems in response to the survey, It was accepted that there would always be pressure periods when there is higher demand for appointments, unavoidable delays in telephone response times and queues at the reception desk - particularly at times of staff or doctor shortages, higher incidents of viral illnesses, etc.

Overall the group felt the practice manages its resources well and that we provide a high quality, responsive service for our 4000+ patients.

We will however consider the responses, look at common themes and where possible try to address some of these.

For example, we can report already that the car park is scheduled to be re-marked and extra signage added to indicate and enforce no parking/ disabled parking areas.

In an effort to improve confidentiality our landlord has agreed to the installation of a rope and post queuing system in the waiting area to help with problems of confidentiality at the front desk.

We will continue to consider ways in which we can improve our service. Please remember that you can complete the survey more than once.