Patient Participation Group

This section of the website is managed by members of the Patient Participation Group, and all content is submitted by the group.

What is a Patient Participation Group (PPG)?

Peel House Medical Practice PPG is made up of a group of volunteer patients, the Senior Practice Manager, members of staff and GPs, who meet on a quarterly basis. As patients, our primary role is to work in partnership with the Practice staff to help bring an understanding of services from a patient perspective. We also get involved in helping to give patients a say in the way services are delivered to best meet their needs through discussions and carrying out surveys with other patients, as well as sharing our own experiences.

At the meetings information about performance and challenges are openly shared with patient members, giving us a great opportunity to confidently discuss (and where appropriate constructively challenge!) how services are delivered, with the key people who are responsible for those services. It also gives us the opportunity to better understand the wider context that the Practice has to work within, not least with changes to Government policy and funding.

Our PPG was established back in March 2012, and from 1st April 2015 it’s now compulsory for every practice to have a PPG. We’re also a member of the National Association of Patient Participation (NAPP) and are keen to meet and share experiences and information with other local PPGs.

Who are we?

We have several patients who are part of our PPG and we are actively recruiting. Our meetings are made up of the Patient Group, a Senior Manager, staff and GPs.

We want our patient membership to reflect the diversity of the Practice’s patients as much as possible so that different views can be represented, although as we rely on people volunteering to join we’re not quite there yet! At the moment we’re particularly looking for new members from ethnic minorities and young people as those groups’ views are under-represented. If you’re interested in joining please contact Katy Tregartha at the Practice who will be in touch.

What do we do?

As well as attending monthly meetings, we’ve added below some examples of the type of thing we get involved with.

Supporting the development of improvements

We were involved in discussions and carrying out patient surveys which have contributed to some key improvements in service. For example, one of the main issues patients had was getting an appointment. From personal experiences and carrying out patient surveys we knew that the general perception was that you needed to be on the phone or at the reception desk at 8.30am. This was leading to long queues and adding to patient frustrations. Some examples of what the Practice have now put in place are:-

A new online system where patients can make, change or cancel appointments, or order prescriptions – simply register your details at the front desk to get your personal login details
Appointments bookable up to four weeks in advance
Increased the number of appointment hours available by opening on Wednesday afternoons instead of shutting at 1pm
Better use of GP surgery time by offering more telephone consultation appointments for patients who this is more convenient and appropriate for

Through contact statistics and also anecdotally we know that this has eased pressure on the system and also improved patients’ experience of the service. Due to these changes, making an appointment is now easier than ever, so please take a moment to look at the options available to you through other pages on this website.

We’ve seen first-hand that the Practice staff have worked really hard to overcome some of the procedural and system challenges involved in making these improvements, and continue to make customer service and care a high priority.

Supporting Health Awareness activities

Members of the PPG have been involved in planning and delivering activities and events to help raise awareness of health issues. Where possible we try to tie these in with national campaigns, such as Alcohol Awareness Week. During that week we worked alongside staff members to engage patients as they passed through the building’s entrance foyer, helping deliver a serious message through fun activities such as walking a straight line wearing “beer googles” and handing out free unit measuring glasses. To help us prepare for this we were invited to take part in a staff training session where we learned about the misconceptions, hidden dangers and impact that alcohol abuse can result in. In 2023 we are taking part in the Jump and Jab childrens immunisation pilot, gathering feedback from patients.

Healthy Living Festival

Prior to Covid we held 3 annual Healthy Living Festival at Accrington Town Hall. As a PPG we were involved in the planning and organising, as well as attending the event to help set up, provide support for partner organisations, engage customers, serve tea and coffee, and generally promote the work of the PPG. We hope to be able to rec recrate this in the future.

General Patient Engagement

PPG group members will attend special sessions such as Flu Clinics, where we try and have a chat with as many patients as possible to find out what they think of the services and what they think needs to change or improve. We also use opportunities like this to carry out face to face targeted surveys to support the Practice to shape and develop services, as well as raising awareness of the PPG.

PPG Meeting Minutes/Agendas

Minutes of all previous PPG meetings are available in both Waiting areas at Pals.

How to contact us

We’re here to represent Peel House Practice patients, so if there is anything you’d like the PPG to raise on your behalf at meetings or would like to pass on any feedback to us we’d love to hear from you. You can contact us via any of the following:

Email ppg.peelhouse@gmail.com (please note that this is administered by a patient member, not the Practice, and may not be monitored on a daily basis. We will aim to reply as quickly as possible)
Call in to the Practice and leave a message for a member to contact you
Write to us at the Practice address (although this will be opened by a member of staff please be assured that it will be passed on to us)

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