PPG Committee Meeting - 19 January 2023

• Present: Flavia Leslie (FL), chair, Kevin Fitzgerald (KF), Babs Capps (BC), Wendy Price (WP), Mary Harrison (MH)
• Practice staff: Dr Lucy Wilson (LW); Kathryn Hall (KH) Practice Manager; Caroline Bodinham (CB) assistant Practice Manager

1. Apologies: Sam Buckley (SB); Dermott Paddon (DP); Gaynor Thomas (GT) 
2. Minutes: Minutes of the last PPG committee meeting were approved
3. Matters arising: There were no matters arising
4. Report from the Chair:  
   FL: Access to emergency medication seems to be an issue. FL was contacted about a terminally ill elderly woman who was having difficulty getting through on the phone to get her medication very urgently. Do more patients need a reserve in hand?  This elderly woman had recurrent urinary tract infections and needed a prescription Christmas Eve.
   
   KH responded saying that although at Woodlands, Christmas Eve tends to be quiet, patients still need to ensure they have enough prescription medicines to last through the holiday period. 
   One of the telephone options gets you straight through to the prescription queries line, but there is also a form on the website to allow people to raise prescription requests for repeat prescription as well. People are asked to be proactive and to allow seven days for a prescription to be processed. However, if you have genuinely run out, in the case of an emergency, you can get an emergency prescription from your regular pharmacy or 111 who will send a prescription somewhere else to be picked up.
    
5. Treasure’s Report: There was no Treasurers Report  
6. Update from Practice:  
   a.    Staffing 
   i.    Doctor capacity has been fluid with leavers and starters, but has improved since the previous meeting. The Nursing capacity has also improved, but the training requirements of several months has hindered their immediate effectiveness.
   b.    Practice Premises
   i.    Redecorating has continued and the waiting room and all of the clinic rooms upstairs and downstairs have been repainted. Plastic guards have now been put around the beds and chairs to protect the paint.  We have a new handyman who comes every Tuesday morning and is very efficient and he has really helped to improve the look of the practice.  
   ii.    Sam, our gardener has made some real improvements to the entrance area to the practice.  She was given around 200 bulbs by Notcutts which have been planted in all available spare soil and will hopefully look lovely in the spring.  
   iii.    The practice has implemented the national standards for cleaning and is auditing the practice on a monthly basis.  The score is currently around 96/97% which is very positive and reflects the hard work of the clinical staff but also the high standards of the cleaners.  
7. Estates and Estates strategy:
   GWP development - Slow progress is being made. The land has to transfer from the builders to the Council, and then it would be for the Council to sublet to the NHS. 
   The new structure of the NHS would potentially allow the commissioners to either own the premises or to hold the lease for a privately funded build.  This might help move things forward as Woodlands is unable to fund the building directly.  Due to the delays, we have suggested the idea of a portacabin on the Woodlands site.  This is currently being explored but may be difficult to achieve due to it needing to be sited on Community Hospital land.   
8. PPG constitution: The draft constitution has been issued for comment. Once agreed, the draft will be posted on the website nearer the time of the AGM for people to look at it in advance of attending.
9. A.O.B. No other business was discussed.
10. Date of Next Meeting: 11:00am Thursday 20th April 2023 at Woodlands (as later agreed)