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Patient Group
Our Patient Group (PG) meets to provide a forum for discussion about the practice.
Welcome from the Woodlands’ Patient Group Chair, Keith Allen
Every registered patient of the Woodlands’ Practice is entitled to belong to its Patient Group (PG). Our message is: “Patients and Practice, working in Partnership.” We exist to help improve services for patients.
Patient Group Committee Members:
- Lay members: Keith Allen (Chair), Wendy Price (Vice-Chair), Flavia Leslie, Kevin Fitzgerald, Barbara Capps, Mary Harrison, Jim Sayers, Gaynor Thomas, Valerie Thwaites, Geraldine Gadsby
- Practice members: Dr Helen Miles (Practice Partner representative), Kathryn Hall (Practice Manager) and Caroline Bodinham (Assistant Practice Manager)
Joining the Patient Group (PG):
If you would like to be kept informed about the work of our Patient Group, please let us know via this form. We will add a code to your record to ensure that you receive regular communication from the Patient Group and the Practice. If you no longer wish to hear from us, please use this form and ask us to remove that code from your record.
Further information
Patient Group Constitution
Overall mission: Patients and Practice, working in Partnership
Membership:
- Membership of the Patient Group is free, voluntary, unpaid and open to all Patients of the Woodlands Medical Centre
- The business of the PPG is conducted by a Committee comprising up to 10 Patients, plus the Practice Manager and a Practice Partner
The PPG Committee aims to:
- give voice to Patients’ interests
- act as a critical friend to the Practice
- help with communication to Patients from the Practice
Committee meetings will:
- normally be four times a year, plus an AGM before the end of June
- be managed by a Chair and Vice-Chair selected from the patient-members, with support from the Practice Manager, who acts as Secretary and Treasurer
- produce minutes that will be published on the Practice website
The PPG Committee will:
- endeavour to understand the general concerns and needs of the wider patient group
- work with the Practice to identify potential improvements in its service
- work with the Practice to organise health-focussed events
- endeavour to keep Patients informed on key issues
The PPG Committee will not:
- provide medical advice to patients
- deal with personal/medical issues
- address individual patient complaints
Additional practical information:
- All patients of Woodlands may request that their names be added to the mailing list for the wider Patient Group. These people will be emailed with information on surveys and events, and with copies of newsletters.
- In addition to the quarterly PPG Committee meetings, the Committee will conduct much of its business via email. Committee members who are unable to attend regularly may be asked to vacate their positions on the Committee.
- When there are vacancies on the Committee, the wider Patient Group will be contacted in order to identify new possible members.
- The quorum for Committee meetings is at least one of the Practice Manager and a Practice Partner, the Chair or Vice-Chair and at least 2 other members.
- The PPG Committee holds a small discretionary fund for activities that support the overall mission.
- Advance notice of the AGM will be sent to the wider Patient Group at least 4 weeks before the meeting.
- Extraordinary General Meetings may be called at the discretion of the Committee or upon receipt of written requests from 10 Patients. At least 2 weeks’ notice will be given of an EGM.
- Patients who wish their names to be withdrawn from the wider Patient Group should contact the Practice
Latest PPG Meeting Minutes
Thursday 16th April 2026
Attendees
- Present: Flavia Lesley (Chair), Wendy Price (Vice-Chair) Kevin Fitzgerald, Barbara Capps, Mary Harrison, Valerie Thwaites, Geraldine Gadsby, Keith Allen
- Apologies: Jim Sayers, Gaynor Thomas
Minutes from last meeting and matters arising from those minutes
The minutes from the previous meeting in January were approved.
The session for helping people get online with the NHS App at the Community Café on Friday 13th February with Aston online went ahead as planned, but sadly no one attended the session.
The committee asked about the plans to hold a scam awareness session with support from Age UK. KH explained that she had been liaising with the contact at Age UK but had not yet managed to firm up a date for a session.
The committee considered other options for education events for patients. Dr Wilson is still intending to hold a session for older patients who are thinking about end of life planning but we do not have a confirmed date. Dr Lazz is also keen to hold an education session on a suitable topic. It was suggested that pre-diabetes might be a useful subject. Other suggestions were prostate cancer awareness and also how to give CPR. We discussed the difficulties in securing attendance at the meetings and also how best to find out what sessions would be useful for patients. KH suggested that when we invite people to the planned education meeting, we could try and ask for a RSVP and also suggested times and topics to understand what might suit patients best.
Action: KH to liaise with Dr Lazz about pre-diabetes education session.
Practice Update:
Development at Great Western Park
KH explained that a new developer called Henley Medical has been appointed and work is continuing on the project. The previous design team will be moving across to the new developer and planning permission has already been granted so it should allow us to proceed without needing to go back and do everything again. There is currently an indicative completion date of November 2028.
Staffing including doctors, nurses and admin staff
- Doctors: The practice is currently advertising for 2 GPs. One is to support the growth in list size and the other is due to an existing doctor relocating for family reasons.
- Nursing: The practice is also advertising for another practice nurse in order to support the wider nursing team with capacity and also to enable the practice to support the nurse associate team to undertake further training and study to become fully fledged nurses.
- Administrative Staff: The admin team is fully staffed at the moment which is great news. KH explained that she is looking at a different model for staffing to support notes summarising for new patient records. When patients move to the practice, their notes will either transfer electronically or they will arrive as a large pile of paper which needs to be reviewed to identify key information such as immunisations and important health conditions or surgical procedures, so these can be coded on the new record. The practice has had a lot of success with recruiting sixth form students who are considering studying medicine to undertake the notes summarizing role on a parttime basis. However, the volume of records has increased and the student staffing is not keeping pace with the workload. KH also explained that she encourages the students to prioritise their studies so during exam season, there are less hours to cover the workload. Some of the existing reception team are keen to take on some additional hours and responsibility so they are training up on notes summarising.
Dr Leach has recently left the practice. One new doctor, Dr Anna Magnusson, has been recruited. The practice has recently advertised for another doctor and interviews are underway. Dr Pathinayake is unfortunately still off sick. There is some locum support from Dr Rachel Whitefield.
Patient list size
The practice list size is currently just over 19,000 patients.
Healthcare Assistants
Two new HCAs have been recruited to help maintain capacity for blood tests, annual health reviews, and other tests and injections. They are due to start at the beginning of November.
Appointment System
The committee reported that they are generally finding the appointment system is working well. VT was concerned that older patients might be struggling with the online form and expressed concern about how long it is available in the mornings. KH explained that they always allow for some capacity each day to support patients who may be a bit older or struggling with the online form and for these patients, the reception team will complete a form on their behalf.
If the practice has a lot of successful signposting for patients to other services or matters are resolved without the need for an appointment, we will consider reopening the medical form to allow additional patient requests to be put through safely. However, if there are just a few spaces left, we will keep those for urgent queries that usually come through over the phone.
KH explained that signposting patients to use 111 is a legitimate service to use when the practice is busy and they are set up to provide 24/7 clinical triage for patients. 111 also have access to some dedicated appointments in the practice for patients who are urgent for that day but don’t need to go to A&E.
Any Other Business
Members of the committee provided some feedback that it might be helpful to have more exit signs in the building, and also some pictorial signs for the stairs. They also advised that they had received feedback to say it is difficult for patients to identify when their clinic room is located upstairs. Although this is shown on a TV screen behind reception, the screen is difficult to see due to being partially obscured by the reception desk screen and it is also difficult to check if there is a queue of patients waiting to speak to the receptionist. KH explained that the screen had been erected during covid, but that the staff have felt quite threatened at times and therefore asked to keep it in place. KH advised that she will discuss this at the next reception team meeting and also consider some other options to improve the visibility for identification of where the clinic room is.
We discussed a potential date for the AGM. KH agreed to check with the Civic Hall about the possibility of the 17th or 18th June. FL said that she had been chair for 5 years and was very happy if someone else would like to step forward and take a turn.
Date and Time of Next Meeting
Thursday 11th June at 10:30am at Woodlands Medical Centre.