PPG Update.
Once again, another busy few weeks for the PPG!
All the different subgroups that we have, met, discussed and set up plans for the next few months.
The CQC Subgroup gathered on the 13th of April at the medical centre with Doctor Kalra. At this meeting we were introduced to Gloria Middleton & Val Hempsey who, Doctor Kalra said, had been brought in to assist him with the upcoming CQC re-inspection.
Gloria explained that she was acting as a specialist adviser. She gave details of her 40 years as experience in primary care, many of those years as a practice manager. She will be at the medical centre 1 day a week, her priority is to attend to the implementation plan with as much of this being done before CQC visit on 23 April.
Val Hempsey explained that she has experience as a practice manager & that she is taking on the role as temporary Complaints Officer to provide support within the medical centre.
April’s LET’S Talk was held at the cricket club. Once again patients appreciated the contribution of Joanne (practice manager) & Julie (deputy practice manager). Their commitment to Let’s Talk & supporting patients by providing clear explanations & understanding is very welcome. Our guest speaker was Joanne from Willow Burn Hospice as part of the dying matters week.
We agreed that this is certainly a hard subject to talk to family & friends about. It’s important however to try to have these conversations. Joanne spoke about how it would maybe be easier to have these conversations before you became ill & had to have them as emotions are often heightened at this time. She also spoke about not only letting family know what you do want, but it’s also important to let family know what you don’t want as well.
Joanne also brought some gorgeous illustrations along & explained that a children’s book had been commissioned. The name of the book is “Will O’ Burn & the Friends Who Remember”. The book follows Will O’ Burn, a rabbit, who learns about grief through his friends in the garden. The book is launched next month (June). I’m sure we can all agree that this will be such a special tool to help children navigate grief.
May 5th was our first evening PPG meeting. This was held at Willow Burn Hospice. This was designed for people who work during the day & would like to attend a PPG meeting. Doctor Kalra attended where he spoke to the group about his improvement plan & the impending visit from CQC. There were several members from the PPG who asked questions of Doctor Kalra. A point was made about the complaints process & how long these were taking. Questions were also asked around findings of the original CQC report, as this was only the second time that doctor Kalra had met with the PPG since his return in January.
Clearly the on-going issues within the practice have caused some disquiet amongst patients, therefore a decision was taken in which Sue Graham (Chair of the PPG), Colin Stephenson ICB & Doctor Kalra would meet to work out a way forward.
Some up & coming events.
29th May. Let’s Talk. Guest speaker Helen McCree Musical Memories.
8th June. Carers Coffee morning.
26th June Charity pub quiz. Lanchester Cricket Club 7pm (tickets available via our email)
Lanchester Medical Centre PPG website is under construction, but moving forward.
If anyone would like to join our PPG or would like to know any information about anything you see. You can contact us at
webofficelmc@gmail.com
or our Facebook page is Lanchester Medical Centre PPG.
Carer’s Coffee Morning.
Monday 8th June.
This morning we held our annual carer’s coffee morning in conjunction with carer’s week. This was held in the lovely surroundings of Lynwood House. Once again the lovely ladies of the PPG didn’t disappoint in supplying cakes & sweet treats. From 10am there was tea, coffee & lots of lovely sweet goodies were available. Some carer’s & their loved ones already knew each other & enjoyed catching up with each other. We were Joined by a representative Durham County Carer’s Support.
She explained what they could offer carer’s she made sure that everyone was registered with them. She explained that there was a named person for our area who can come out & do home visits. One gentleman hadn’t attend anything like this before, he told me that he’d not realised he’d become a carer “I’m just looking after my wife”. This lovely gentleman left with lots of leaflets & information. Also a contact of a named person who was going to go & visit him & his wife.
These events are so worth while to be able to point people in the direction of where they can access any help that they may need.
Everyone who attended left with lots of information & a little gift.
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