Meeting Notes & Minutes

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

18th April 2023 Via Microsoft Teams

• 12.30pm – 1.30pm with Dr Helen Salisbury and Jon Frank (business manager)

Apologies were received from:

• Barbara P
• Christopher
• Deirdre

Welcome

 Elaine welcomed everyone to the meeting. Wendy was welcomed as a new member of the group. She also thanked everyone for submitting their topics for the agenda.

Matters Arising

There were no matters arising that were not on the agend.

Practice & Health Related Issues

Spring Covid Booster Arrangements

People aged 75 and over and those who are immune-suppressed are now eligible for a ‘spring booster’ against Covid. There are 2 different vaccines – a new Sanofi vaccine for those 75+ and the original Pfizer vaccine for the immune-suppressed. You can find out more on the governemnt's website

The 2 practices in Jericho Health Centre currently have clinics planned for Saturday, 29th April and Saturday, 13th May.  Patients will be invited directly by the practice.  Eligible patients may also receive reminders from the NHS and are able to book elsewhere on-line or via 119.

Jon reported that so far the response has been muted.  

On-line access to medical information and information from hospitals.

On-line access to medical records: We discussed this topic at some length at our previous meeting in November 2022.  At that time the implementation of this was on hold.  Since then, the GPs have been told that from 31 October 2023 patients will have online access to their prospective medical records.  This will include any letters from the hospital.

Dr Salisbury noted that most letters are routinely copied to patients at the same time as being sent to the practice.  If a letter has not been copied to the patient the GP will be asked to review the letter and decide whether there is any reason that it should not be made available to the patient.

She also said that evidence from other countries where on-line access is routine has shown that it has caused very problems.

Delays in information from hospitals:  Some patients have said that following an appointment at the hospital it has taken a long time for letters to be sent to the GPs and/or themselves and that diagnosis and/or treatment has been delayed.

Dr Salisbury said that the situation is incredibly variable and unpredictable.

Barbara L noted that as well as long delays the resulting letter to the GP did not always reflect the conversation with the hospital doctor.

Members of the group also commented on the X-Ray services.  There is a drop-in service at the Churchill Hospital, and a recently opened Oxford Community Diagnostic Centre.  This is a new joint venture with a private provider.  There was praise for both services.

New types of staff – how to better understand their roles

Dr Salisbury explained that new roles were largely funded by the NHS under the ‘Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme’.  The idea is to provide services in addition to GPs or instead of GPs.

At the moment the practice has ½ day per week of Physiotherapy, and Physicians Associate and a Pharmacy Technician.  The Clinical Pharmacist is currently on maternity leave.

It was agreed that we would invite them along to our next meeting.  

ACTION: Elaine and Jon to take forward.

Face Masks – why do we need to wear them in the waiting room?

Dr Salisbury explained that despite the fact that there are no longer official counts of the number of people with covid it has not gone away.  It is estimated that 1:40 people are infected with Covid.  Some patients in the waiting room will be immunocompromised and wearing a mask will reduce their risk.

Botley Road Closure

Patient Experiences

Public Transport now stops on the Osney Bridge stop on Botley Road and those wishing access to town will have to walk on a raised walkway.  Mike suggested that this might be difficult, but feasible for those with crutches or in a wheelchair as they would have to contend with buggies and those pushing bikes.

Wendy noted that she will have to drive to reach the practice.  She has reduced mobility and would not be able to walk the required distance.

Several members of the group have blue badges and felt that many patients with limited disability might have these too.  The 5 blue badge parking spaces outside the Health Centre were useful.

Elaine raised the issue of the lack of parking for those without blue badges and the current cost of parking is £6.60 per hour as being potentially prohibitive.

Practice Views

The practice has a large number of patients in the west of Oxford – as they previously had a branch surgery on the Botley Road.  The practice workload means that GPs are limited in the number of patients who could be visited at home.  They will try and be flexible and meet patient’s need where they can.  

It was agreed that we will review this topic on a regular basis.

Elaine informed the group that there are 2 bus services:

• Botley Road Flyer – operated specifically for the closure on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10am and 1pm (hourly service). Find out how to contact them on the Network Rail website or call 01865 768329 for further information
• Oxfordshire Comet – pre-bookable service run by the County Council – need to register and charges are variable. Find out how to contact them via their website

Maggie suggested that we write to the Council to ask them to take a flexible approach to patients parking in the road at the side-entrance to the surgery.

ACTION:  Elaine/Maggie

Closure of Kennington/Botley surgery

The doctors at the Kennington and Botley surgery have decided to hand back their contract from September 2023.  There have been a number of longstanding issues at the practice, and they have been unable to recruit enough doctors for the 13,400 patients. The timetable and process for resolving the issue is outlined here

In the meantime, a number of patients have decided to change practices.  The practice has had a steady trickle of patients asking to join.  The practice is accepting patients who live in their catchment area, which includes Botley.  Unfortunately, Kennington is not within the catchment area and Dr Salisbury was not sure that any other local practice covered Kennington.

Practice Update

• Dr Alice Young is now on maternity leave.  Locums are covering some of her sessions.
• Dr Healey has left the practice.
• Dr Clare Coggins is to stay on at the practice now that she has completed her training.  She will take over Dr Healey’s patients.
• Dr Richard Erin is a regular locum covering the Wednesday extended hours sessions.
• Alice, Rosie and Hazel have recently joined as new members of the reception team.

Any Other Business

Words of praise:  Michael said that “Joyce and I had received first class care over the past year or so from the nursing team at the Practice, in particular from Antonia and Chrissie.”  Barbara was pleased that Dr Erin was still working at the surgery.

Medication: Roger commented that he recently had the words “take as directed” on some recent medication. He noted that this could be confusing for patient who may not always be sure how and when to take new medication. Dr Salisbury agreed that this was not best practice and said she would raise it at the next practice meeting.

Date of next meeting to be agreed.  End of June 2023 – face to face meeting.