PPG: Meeting Minutes 25th October 2023

 

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  • Date: 25th October 2023
  • Time: 3pm via Teams
  • Attendees: Adrienne Banks (AB), Dr Shahnaz Camatchee (SC) Hurley, Dr George Zumbadze (GZ) Hurley, John Rokos (JR), Ingrid Babcock (IB), Louise Regan (LR), Patricia Idusogie (PI) PM Hurley, Patrick Maher (PM), Mary Weaving (MW) (acting Chair), Gary Beard (GB) Hurley, Sheila Connellan (SC) Hurley 
    Unless otherwise stated, attendees are PPG members
 

Agenda Items

Welcome & Apologies: (EM)

MW welcomed all to the meeting.  Apologies were received, Fran Wilson, Ashok, and Sue Hunter.

Approval of Minutes of the last meeting 

The previous meeting minutes for the September 27th meeting were discussed and agreed. There were not many people in attendance due to the problem with Teams.

Practice Report

  • We have a new salaried GP joining the team on November 27th, 2023.  Dr Ferduche Miah will be working 4 sessions, Monday and Tuesday. We are excited that she is joining the team, she was introduced to us by Dr Geroge.
  • Next year in March we would also have trainee GPs coming on board. Dr George is a trainer. We are hoping that the trainee GPs will stay on with us after they have completed their training, apparently this tends to happen when trainee GPs train at a surgery.  We are looking at two to three GP trainees joining us.
  • On October 14th, we had two Flu clinics, the clinics were very well attended. This was scheduled to increase uptake, anyone could prebook themselves or walk in for the flu vaccine. We are planning to have another flu clinic on a Saturday before the end of November. Flu vaccinations taken at the local pharmacy will be in your records.  LR asked if there was a demand to do the COVID vaccine in the surgery. PI stated we were given the option to offer the COVID vaccine on site due to cold chain process of handling the vaccine we declined the offer.
  • We plan to have another Cancer Awareness event in the Spring.
  • Phone Calls - Our percentage of calls answered in the month of October was 78.5% which is highest it has ever been. The reception staff are working hard to ensure that they pick the calls. We have also made some changes to the phone menu. Since the uptake for smears and child immunisation is low, we have moved the options so that patients needing these services can book easily. Secondly, child immunisation and smear appointments can be booked online. 

Wellbeing Clinic by Dr Camatchee

Dr Camatchee is one of our long-term Locum GPs. Dr Camatchee has been with us over 18 months and she is the person who put together the garden in balcony upstairs. This garden is enjoyed by all staff and there is a place to sit and admire the garden in the summer.

Dr Camatchee mentioned to those present, that Christine the Social Prescriber and herself put the garden project. Dr Camatchee stated that the garden has been a great impact on the well-being of the staff, as many staff are using the space for lunch and breaks.  Dr Camatchee has been promoting gardening to improve wellbeing in the community especially with the onset of COVID 19 and the increase of mental health issues. The government has now recognised that nature green project gardening is highly beneficial for mental and physical wellbeing of the community and patients. Dr Camatchee appeared on BBCs Two’s Gardener’s World twice. See the links below if you would like to watch the BBC2 piece on garden and Dr Camatchee’s article.

The link also takes you to Gardener’s world. Dr Camatchee published an article on GP online as well.

Dr Camatchee stated that her next project is to open a wellbeing clinic in Staunton, and she believes it will be beneficial to be done outdoors. She said that we have the space for the garden as the car park is not utilised due to arch at the gate which only allows for small vehicles.  She said that funding was needed for a project like this.  Dr Camatchee is looking for local funding.  She also explained that permission would be needed from the landlord and from Hurley management.  Dr Camatchee said that she is having conversations with Hurley management.  The wellbeing project will be for patients. Dr Camatchee also suggested that in the short term perhaps an indoor wellbeing gathering could take place such as a coffee morning, knitting or handicraft activities, though again this would be subject to space and agreement with the landlord and Hurley management.

Dr Camatchee also mentioned that the Advance Nurse was applying for the scholarship program which gives £5000 to five nurses every year for garden projects which is funded by the Queen’s Nursing institute. The deadline for the application is the 31st of October.  You could really see how passionate Dr Camatchee is about gardening, so she is going to take the responsibility of moving it forward.

AOB

N/A

Next meetings

December 6th, 2023 at 3pm via ZOOM