PPG Minutes

• Date: 15th January 2024 at 6:30pm
• Location: Lambourn Surgery

Present

• Alan Breadmore (Chairman)
• Peter Cox (Secretary)
• Liz Cox
• Mary Wilson
• Geoff Fowler
• Karen Sperrey
• Claire Hill
• Bridget Jones (Lambourn PC)
• Louise Murray-Clarke (Surgery)
• Graham Jones (Lambourn Pharmacy)
• Dr Sarah Stallabrass (Surgery)

Apologies

• Julie Mintern
• Gillian Greenham
• Lucy Hall

A letter of resignation had been received from Jane Turton and the Chairman had responded thanking her for her years of service representing the people of Great Shefford.

Chairmans Report

The Chairman opened his report by thanking the members of the PPG for their support and to the partners for their trust in the PPG. The good working relationship with the Surgery was a feature which was not observed by all members of the Patient Panel at meetings he had attended.

As regards membership, the PPG currently has 13 active members (now 12 with Jane’s resignation), up from last year which had been boosted by a recruitment campaign earlier in the year. Particular thanks go to Mary who drove this and of course to our new members. Thanks were made to the ex officio members, Liz and Geoff as members of the Amenities Fund and to Peter as Secretary. The Virtual PG has 13 members, static (plus one) whilst the Volunteer bank has 23 members, static, although there is a core of about 6 who are most active.

The activities of the PPG have been traditional quarterly meetings, to discuss the matters of the day which have now returned to being face to face. The PPG have supported two series of Vaccination Clinics in the Spring and Autumn along with members of our volunteer group. We provided support to the Surgery during the transition to the new triage and appointments service, including a series of communications entitled “The Future of Primary Care in the Lambourn Valley”, which was well received. We have published six newsletters this year, down on last year perhaps due to not so much news but also resources.

As Chairman Alan has; generally liaised with the Surgery, edited the newsletters, managed the provision of volunteers for the Vaccination Clinics and attended eight Patient Panel and other Berkshire West meetings on behalf of the PPG. In the latter meetings there has been a focus on the BOB (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire) ICB (Integrated Care Board) where there are 150 GP surgeries providing Primary Care. It was noted that Berkshire West were well ahead on the national “Recovery Plan” for Primary Care especially regarding digital telephony and using digital tools for patient access.

Alan encouraged PPG members to continue to support our surgery in every way possible, similarly Alan urged the surgery to ask for more so that we can broaden our activities to support both the surgery and our community.

The new digital telephony seems to work well, but once again this perhaps needs explaining more, so that we can instil trust.

e-consult works but in Alan’s opinion is very clunky (and perhaps this is also reflected in the telephone service). On behalf of the PPG, Alan would welcome the opportunity for us to help the surgery fine tune it, in particular in the areas of routine appointments, follow up appointments and general follow up communication.

As Alan had now resolved some of his constraints on local activities, he would be prepared to stand again as Chairman provided that there was help to share the load. He asked for members to consider taking a specific role within the PPG either as an officer or with a particular task.

AGM

Election of officers to serve a 2 year period 

• Chairperson – Alan Breadmore proposed by Peter and seconded by Bridget
• Vice Chairperson – there were no nominations
• Secretary – Peter Cox nominated by Alan and seconded by Mary.

The above posts were accepted and passed unanimously.

Review the membership in order to maintain and active and representative group.

The constitution allowed for up to 15 members and at present there are 12 with 2 expressions of interest. There may be a case to have a specific representative for young families.

Appoint/reappoint Ex Officio members

The following were approved;

• Representative of Lambourn Parish Council – Bridget Jones
• Representative of the Benefice of Lambourn Valley – Julie Mintern
• Representative of Lambourn Pharmacy – Graham Jones

There was no active representative of the Racing Industry and Bridget will enquire amongst the parish councillors if there was a suitable person to take on the role.

Appoint/reappoint Patient Trustees to Lambourn Surgery Amenities Fund

Agreed as; Geoff Fowler as Chair and Liz Cox as Treasurer.

(Post meeting, Louise had corrected this by reporting the Dr Stallabrass was the Chair as appointed by the Surgery whilst Geoff was a Trustee)

Minutes of The Meeting 9th October 2023

The minutes were approved.

Matters Arising

There were none which were not covered by the Agenda.

Discussion Topic

Surgery

i) Update on new website and appointments

Louise reported on the reduction in waiting times for appointments as a result of the new e-consult and digital phone processes. What was a 3 to 4 weeks wait was down to 1 week.

There were 3 levels of appointments where 1 was acute and seen the same day, 2 was can’t wait for 3 weeks and 3 was awaiting the availability of documents. There was now an option of asking for a F2F meeting and for a specific Doctor of preference.

Routine prescriptions were best done via the NHS App but were still available via Airmid and/or the Surgery website. It was agreed that maybe there could be an opportunity to have an open session in the Lambourn Library to explain to patients how Information Technology can be best used.

Action: Louise and Alan to consider the possibility of holding an information session in the Lambourn library

ii) Update on vaccinations

The second session of combined flu/covid vaccinations resulted in a final total for the under 65s of 666 flu and 60 Covid. The figures over the two sessions (and including those done at the Pharmacy and elsewhere) equate to 86% having the flu vaccination and 83% for Covid vaccinations.

Karen asked about the shingles vaccination. Louise replied that the requirement is slightly complicated and that the request is raised by the Surgery. For the pneumonia vaccination this is a one off and offered after the patient is aged 65.

iii) Public Health Issues

Alan asked if there was any evidence of public health issues as a result of the sewage flow from various manhole covers in the area and covering pedestrian pathways. Sarah replied that none had been evident at the Surgery. 

Lambourn Surgery Amenities Fund (LSAF)

The Feno machine for checking a patient for asthma was being used with good results.

The Surgery have a dermatoscope machine for checking moles but is not so reliable and it would be desirable to have a second machine which will cost around £300.

A suggestion was made regarding having the water machine in the waiting room re-installed.

Louise replied that it had been a problem with the misuse of the previous unit by children and she would not be in favour of it being reinstated.

A question was asked as to whether there could be a note on the blood pressure measuring machine to say it was funded by the LSAF?

Action: Surgery to attach a notice noting the LSAF funding for the machine with possibly a QR link for optional funding.

Pharmacy

Graham had booked for a Covid vaccine session on the meeting night but it had been cancelled due to a lack of clients. He had submitted a report which is provided below in italics. Additional information was given as shown.

Pharmacy First

Late last year the NHS announced that the Pharmacy First scheme would be starting in this year. This has been a very compressed timescale as we endeavour to be ready before February.

Pharmacy First will allow community pharmacy to treat certain conditions to reduce pressures on urgent care and GPs. The conditions are:

1. Urinary tract infections in women
2. Impetigo
3. Infected insect bites
4. Sinusitis
5. Sore Throats
6. Acute Otitis media

We are currently implementing the treatment pathways and PGDs to offer the service. Referral to the service can be from the 111 service, 999 service, GP and self referral.

The service is due to start on the 1st February. He noted that all those seen who are patients of the Surgery will have a report on their issues and treatment sent back to the Surgery.

Flu and Covid Clinics

We are continuing to act as a covid vaccination centre until the end of January. We understand we are now the only service still offering covid jabs in West Berks. We will be running a couple of evening walk in clinics which I will advertise through social media.

The next vaccination session will be at the end of April with the service ending at the end of June. Graham reminded the PPG that the Covid vaccination is only for those aged 75 and over or who have a weakened immune system.

Pressures

Due to a number of reasons (mostly financial) Community Pharmacy is in a state of flux. Boots has significantly reduced its estate with a number of sales and closures across the country. Lloyds no longer exists with all pharmacies either closed or sold. This inevitably has a big impact on other pharmacies with extra workload being absorbed. We are confident we can handle the local pressures and have been able to adapt to the new environment.

Harv

Harv is currently off on paternity leave. He became a dad for the second time just before Christmas.

Peter asked for his comments on the TV programme on Pharmacy provision where it was illustrated that at times Pharmacies have to dispense drugs at a loss. Graham explained that the drug tariffs supplied through the NHS vary monthly and at times it can create difficulties. 

AOB

Louise informed the meeting that the Surgery had received “Veteran friendly” accreditation which can be used by anybody who has served in the armed forces. The extra service provided by the Surgery includes family members.

Next Meeting

It was proposed that the next meetings will be F2F on Mondays, 15th April, 8th July and 14th October.

The meeting closed at 7:50pm

Peter Cox
Secretary Lambourn PPG
19th February 2024