Invitation to meet Melbourne Grove patient group

[Melbourne Patients]

Dear Bloggers of Melbourne Grove Practice

We are very sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced and heartened to hear from others of the good things we are doing.

We want to get things right all the time and we can only do so with your help. So we want to hear from you directly.

We are holding a Patient Involvement meeting at the practice on Thursday 19th March between 5pm-6pm anybody registered with us is welcome to attend.

We became involved because we use Melbourne Grove and we want to make sure it offers the very best to us, our families and neighbours.

If you cannot attend on this date don't worry. Just drop us an email at [email protected] and we will contact you. Please note that we are unable to respond to an online debate.

Best wishes,

Martin and Dora

Co-Chairs of MG Patient Involvement Group

[cate]

Martin and Dora,

Why do you have an NHS email address if you are patients?

[Domitianus]

Cate asks a very pertinent question. I am sure there is an innocent answer but I would very much like to hear it.

[paulino]

if you look closely at the email address you will see that the phrase SOUthwark Primary Care Trust aligns nicely with it...

[Vik]

We are very sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced and heartened to hear from others of the good things we are doing.

We want to get things right all the time and we can only do so with your help. So we want to hear from you directly.

Who is this 'we' of which you speak??

[Gimme]

It's not rocket science. The patient involvement group is run by the practice itself.

Or am I the only one who is thinking that this is totally obvious....

Do you really think patients would set up an involvement group for a medical practice?

This isn't a village where there's only one medical practice.

If you don't like it complain. If your complaints fall on deaf ears, leave for another practice.

If you are desperate to stay but change things, go along to the patient involvement group run by the practice.

[Siduhe]

I have no inside knowledge, but I'm not that surprised the patient group has an NHS email. Under the new GMS contract, the practice is supposed to have a patient group and the feedback from this group forms part of its performance assessment and is supposed to be independently monitored by the NHS. There is a patient group in Islington which has a similar email address, so I would guess these are set up automatically where required.

I also took the reference to "and heartened to hear from others of the good things we are doing" to be to the refs to the patient group in the other thread, not the practice itself. Given what's been posted elsewhere, I understand the concerns, but as someone else said - if people feel this strongly about it, shouldn't they be trying to engage with the practice via the patient group? If you go to a patient group meeting, sound off about the practice and nothing ever gets reported back - then there's a pretty clear answer for you, but how do you know until you've tried?

[Health Involvement]

If anybody would like to know more about patient involvement in GP surgeries in Southwark, the Public Involvement Team would be very pleased to hear from you - not just at this practice, but if you are registered as a patient anywhere in Southwark.

I have been involved in supporting this particular group to set up, and can reassure everyone here that this is a genuine patient group, led by genuine patients. There are several other similar patient groups across Southwark. If you get in touch with them as they have suggested I'm sure they would be very pleased to tell you about themselves and the group.

It is not uncommon for Patient Groups to have an email account set up for them, especially where there are co-chairs and so that the email can remain even when people move on from the patient group - as I would not recommend that people volunteering in this way give out their personal emails on a public forum. Patient groups work WITH the practice in partnership to address concerns and issues, and that benefits both the patients (who are more likely to receive a service that better meets their needs) and the practice (who have less complaints and higher levels of patient satisfaction).

Please do get in touch with me, or my colleagues Catherine Flynn & Nick Harris if you want to know anything more about public involvement. Our latest 'Involving People' newsletter features an article encouraging people to get more involved with their GP practice, so please let us know if you would like a copy.

Keri Lewis

Patient & Public Involvement Facilitator

NHS Southwark

[email protected]

020 3299 6444

www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk/get_involved

[cate]

When was this patient group formed and are you the only chairs? Were the patients in Melbourne Grove written to? Is this the first meeting? Thanks.

[PeckhamRose]

See, this is interesting given there are so many complaints about this practice.

cate's questions are right and fair and do not seem to have been answered.

I am on a Patient Feedback group at Nunhead Surgery. I have never met any others from there and to my knowledge there are no meetings. I am asked my opinions on things like the newsletter and how the surgery is run. And the team of doctors and reception and support staff really do listen and discuss problems. I do not have (nor need) an NHS email address. The Nunhead Surgery (the one privately owned and with an 020 number) doesn't need these PR gimmicks.

(Note to self: erase this message if I get bought by Nunhead Surgery!)

[SteveT]

It is glaringly obvious that 80% of the reception staff should be removed, and be replaced by well mannered individuals.

Most of the problems would be sorted, although not all.

[cate]

MG needs more doctors instead of more nurse practioners. That was obviously a cost cutting exercise. Nurses are cheaper than docs, simple.

[EDL]

MGMP also needs more midwives or a longer antenatal clinic on a Wednesday. My midwife Nicky has been absolutely fantastic. However, after my 34 week check up, when trying to book an appointment for week 38, I was told there were no more appointments available and I would have to see a GP. Other times when I have called three weeks in advance, I've been told that the 'books aren't open' for taking appointments yet. Every time I deal with appointment booking, it's a 'luck of the draw' experience.

I am going to try using the MG patient group email address to feed back my experiences.