Patient Representative Group Meeting Minutes – Thursday 10th June 2021

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Thursday 10th June 2021

 

Present: Lorraine Crossley –Close, Danny Conroy, Jonathan Scott, Tony Hudson, Bronwen Osborne, Sandra Kay and Judith Nicol.

  1. Apologies: Gerda Southwell,  Andrea Tuohy and  Jill Noble

 

  1. The minutes were approved.
  2. Matters Arising – No matters arising
  3. Correspondence
  4. Covid and Surgery Update
    • Vaccinations are tailing off slightly and Morecambe Bay Trust reports there have been 225,000 1st vaccinations and 165,000 2nd
    • Invites have gone out to the 25 – 40 year olds. There is a clinic running at Lunesdale this Saturday for Pfizer.  We have 230 vaccines and the cohort between the 3 practices is around 500 patients but we only had 112 people respond.  Patients could have gone to other hubs.
    • At the RLI (Royal Lancaster Infirmary) last week there were 7 in hospital ward beds and this week there are 3. 1 in intensive care and last week there were 2.  Currently 1 patient on a ventilator.  0 on oxygen with only 1 last week.  3 discharges this week and 4 the previous week.
    • There has been a slight increase in positive cases especially in Lancaster with a smaller increase in the South Lakes area.
    • The MBHT (Morecambe Bay Hospital Trust) has put out a new helpline for hospital appointments. The new line is for current patients waiting for an appointment and they can ring the number if they want to discuss cancellations or reassurance on when they are going to be seen etc.  the new number is 01539 716998 and you select option 2 or you can email patientchoice@mbht.nhs.uk
    • The changes proposed to Lancashire and Morecambe Bay is currently very vague and there is very little information out there. There has been a lot of documentation (emailed to the group) but very difficult to summarise so if anybody has any questions or queries then get in touch with Jonathan and he will pass the questions on.   Generally the services will stay the same so Bentham practice will have patient s with services from Lancashire and North Yorkshire.  The ultimate goal is that all our health services will be provided by the same organisation that provides these services to the South Lakes area but that will not be happening for at least 12 months if we are lucky.
    • The concern over the National Data Opt Out which has been on the media recently has caused a lot of concern and a huge increase in calls to the surgery.
    • All contact with nurses is now face to face and this is increasing with doctors as well.

 

  • The extended access service is now running with every 3rd Saturday held at Bentham. It is an expensive service to run so we need to fill as many of those appointments as we can or we could lose it.  We need to advertise this service and posters will be placed around the area and hopefully we can advertise in the local magazines/newsletters.
  • Another service called the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service is just getting off the ground and through that the patient can call the practice and they are asked a number of questions and then it can be decided whether they need to see a doctor or they could speak to the community pharmacist.
  • The practice is spending a lot of time on the PCN (Primary Care Network) but Bentham patients will see a benefit in the coming years. The purpose of the PCN is to get a better relationship and provision of services between the 3 local practices – Bentham, Sedbergh and Lunesdale.  There is a lot of pressure and support from NHS England for the PCN.
  • Staffing:
    • Janet Dobson (reception/admin) has left.
    • Leila and Louise have started in reception/admin.
    • 2 ST3 (final year before becoming a GP) have left
    • 1 or 2 more ST3 before August.
    • 2 more doctors as occasional locums.
  1. Lorraine
    • Lorraine confirmed that all the meetings she has had with the CCG and Trust about the changes to Lancashire and Morecambe Bay are definitely up in the air. Apparently it appears to be exclusively a paper exercise at present.
    • Concern was expressed that patients need to be reassured about appointment dates for hospital and dates need to be clarified.
    • Probably better to have the next meeting via Zoom which will probably be in September. Lorraine and Danny to contact members and decide mid-August when the next meeting will be.  It was suggested that more people might attend a meeting if it was face to face.
  2. Items for next Agenda – to Danny 1 week before the next meeting please.

 

Next meeting will be in September and Lorraine/Danny will be in contact to pick a suitable date.