Kincora Patient Action Committee

Patient Participation Group

Latest Meeting Minutes

Date:

6pm to 7pm on 21st Friday at Kincora Doctors Surgery

Meeting Details:

• Date: 21.06.2024
• Time: 6:00pm -7:00pm
• Duration: Approximately 1hr
• Location: Microsoft Teams

Attendees

Patient Panel

Surgery Staff:

• Practice Manager
• Administrator
• Senior GP

Agenda

• Staff update
• Primary Care Network team & Confederation update
• PATCHs and NHS App Online service
• Vaccinations - Flu and COVID19 Boosters
• New Telephone system to be installed

Minutes of the meeting

1. Staff update

Alpna Chavda has recently joined Kincora Doctors Surgery in the role of Practice Manager, where she will be supporting the effective management of the practice.

Our practice team comprises the following dedicated professionals:

General Practitioners (GPs):

• Dr. Kavitha Goud has recently become a part of our team and will be available on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings to attend to patients' medical needs.
• Dr. A N Goud is available to see patients on Monday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons.

Locum Doctors:

In addition to our regular GPs, we also have three locum doctors who provide coverage for the clinics as needed.

Health Care Assistants (HCAs):

We have two experienced HCAs available to provide healthcare services on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Nursing Staff:

Practice nurse available on Monday & Thursday (9am to 2pm)

ANP: Tuesday (9:30am to 1:30pm) & Friday (3:30pm to 6:30pm)

Currently, our nursing team consists of one highly skilled practice nurse and an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP), both of whom are dedicated to providing high-quality care to our patients.

Reception and Administration:

The front office is managed by a team of four part-time receptionists and one administrator who ensure the smooth functioning of the practice. Furthermore, we are excited to announce that a new reception staff member will be joining us in July, further enhancing our patient services.

Phlebotomy Services:

Wednesday & Thursday (9am to 4:30pm)

We are fortunate to have a dedicated phlebotomist available to assist with blood collection and testing, ensuring that our patients have access to important diagnostics as part of their care.

ECG and Blood pressure motoring service is now from the practice. We are able to do ECG and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring service.

Discuss the patient survey

The practice overall experience is 63% compared to national average of 71%.

The full results can be viewed here

2. Primary Care Network team & Confederation update

Kincora is a member of the HH Collaborative, a network of healthcare providers dedicated to delivering exceptional patient care. Together, our collaborative has earned recognition for its exemplary contributions to healthcare excellence in the Hillingdon area.

Comprising 8 GP practices, HH Collaborative was established to enhance healthcare services in the Hayes and Harlington area. Our network works closely with various healthcare providers, such as community pharmacists, the community mental health team, and the Hillingdon Council to promote health initiatives.

Additionally, our workforce includes a diverse range of healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, first contact physiotherapists, health and wellbeing coaches, social and link workers, paramedics, dietitians, podiatrists, MSK ultrasound specialists, ANP nurses for same-day urgent care, and care coordinators. This strategic approach enables us to cater to the comprehensive healthcare needs of our patients and provide personalized care.

a) PCN Network team roles Social Prescriber, Clinical Pharmacist, Physiotherapist

Overall aim is most likely to become one centre with access to all the facilities. The PCN have started employing people who are able to offer common services.

Social Prescriber

They have employed a Social Prescriber who works with around 8 practices in the local area. Their role is to connect people to activates, groups and services in the community to meet the  practical, social and emotional need Social prescribing links people to a wide range of community groups and services such as art, dance, singing, walking groups and gardening clubs for social support and to improve wellbeing.

They also have links to debt counselling service, housing and other agencies Social prescribing link workers play a key role in delivering social prescribing by giving people time, focusing on ‘what matters to me’ and taking a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing in order to connect them to appropriate community groups and services.

Clinical Pharmacist

The PCN has also employed Clinical Pharmacist. The main focus is supporting patients with learning disabilities and severe mental illnesses, long term condition reviews (diabetes, asthma) They provide education reviews and a thorough consultation regarding side effects etc.

First contact physiotherapist and MSK Physiotherapist

The PCN has also employed an in house First contact physiotherapist and MSK Physiotherapist. He comes in every Thursday and Friday. This is working well and patients often comment how useful this is. It  aves patients travelling to hospital for appointment also the waiting time is less we can usually offer an appointment within two weeks.

b) Confederation provides the Out of Hours Services

They offer GP appointments either face to face appointments or telephone consultation between 8am to 8pm every day of the week.

Also they offer Specialist Nurse Clinics etc. The nurses run specific clinics like asthma review, diabetes foot check, cervical screening etc. This is very popular for the patients that go to work and unable to attend appointments on Monday to Friday between 8.30am ad 6.30pm. We find the women prefer to go for their smear test at the extended hours hub which offers late evenings and weekend appointments.

The practice nurse mainly focuses on immunisations, dressings and health checks and travel vaccinations.

3. PATCHs and NHS App Online service

PATCHS on line service launched from 1st July 2022

Patches is working.

PATCHS was introduced in July 2022.

Patients need to register for PATCHS account via the GP practice website. Patients will be asked the enter email and set a password. Once registered the patient can access PATCHS by clicking the practice website or by opening the PATCHS app on their smartphone. Patient would log in by entering the email address and password. Patient would complete a simple questionnaire to help the GP understand their problem / request.

The questionnaire / request is sent to the GP who responds within 48 hours. The patient would get either online message or booked a telephone consultation or face to face appointment.

The service is used by the younger generation more than the older.

GP`s and Clinicians feels this system is clinically safe. Patients are able to complete the questionnaire in their chosen safe space making it easier to write down their concerns and specify their expectations.

We offer PATCHS appointments, this is more suitable for the younger generation. We find that the older generation still prefer making appt via the telephone. We still offer telephone and face to face appts.

4. Vaccinations – Flu and COVID19 Boosters

Flu Vaccinations

The flu clinics start from 2nd October and appointments will be available until March 2025. Text message will be sent out to eligible patients. With the Accriz text messaging service we were able to send out batch  message to patients and they were able to book appt via the message. This worked really well. We are planning for Saturday walk-in clinics.

COVID19 Booster

All housebound patients will be given the booster vaccination by the Confed roaming team of nurses. They will contact each patient directly and book an appt for home visit.

All other eligible patients have to log on the NHS COVID boosters portal and book appointment. Patients can select where to go

5. New Telephone system to be installed

New telephone system X-ON /Surgery connect

The new telephone system went live August 2022, almost been two year. Some of the good features on this new telephone system are:

• Informs the patient the number in the queue they are, whilst waiting in the queue.
• If the patient is 4th in the queue the phone system will give the patient the option of call back which allows the patient the option to select a call back without having to wait in the queue.

We have a had positive feedback from patients about this.

Miscellaneous

Suggestion by PPG Group: To encourage patients to join PPG group, can the practice add something on the practice website?

Currently on the practice website there is a section where the patients can complete the form and submit to join the PPG Group. We also have posters in the patient waiting room to promote new members.

Action: Send out text message to patients to promote PPG group.

Next meeting TBC: December to be confirmed

Closure of Meeting: Thank you everyone for your involvement and commitment to improving services