Patient Participation Group (PPG)
We continue to work with the surgery to improve the service and our latest update is below. We also want to take this opportunity to reassure you that there is no truth to the current rumour; there are no plans to close Frampton Surgery.
Please get in touch if you have any feedback on services and we will continue to represent you. You can email myppg@framptononsevern.com in confidence, or call Ali on 741988, or Jane on 740964.
Direct from the surgery …
Face-to-face appointments:
With the easing of restrictions nationally, we are looking at changing things again at the surgery to improve our patients’ experience. However, we must balance this with our responsibility towards our more vulnerable patients. Covid hasn’t gone away and we need to be mindful that we have a duty to protect all our patients, including the most at risk. We have turned on the check-in screen again, located in the lobby in front of reception. If you have an appointment at the surgery, you can mark yourself as ‘arrived’ on the check-in screen and save waiting in the queue, if you are comfortable to do so. We still ask that you wear your mask to the surgery unless exempt and there is hand gel and spare masks at the front desk. We are still operating a one-way system through the surgery to minimise traffic at the front. Thank you for your cooperation with this.
We are offering some routine face to face GP appointments which can be booked up to 4 weeks in advance. They are staggered to prevent overcrowding in the waiting room. Urgent, same day appointments are being triaged first. Reception is trained in Information Governance and Patient Confidentiality. We ask Receptionists to get an indication of the problem as it helps the Clinicians to triage and deal with the most urgent priorities first.
Prescriptions: Dispensary is as busy as ever. Collection of prescriptions is still via front desk at present.
Practice nurse: We have recently recruited a new Practice Nurse, Pam Klus, following the retirement of Alison Shaw. Pam has come from community nursing and has lots of experience in wound care and management.
Demand: Whilst the waiting room may look serene, the workload has never been higher. Nationally, demand for GP appointments is up 31% since pre-pandemic. The reasons are multi-faceted and include the roll out of the Covid vaccine and delays to hospital treatment, leaving patients needing more input from us as they wait for longer periods of time for their treatment. Some demand is coming from an increase in the complexity of patient conditions due to the pandemic and ongoing effects of the virus, including Long Covid.
Covid vaccinations: We continue to work with our other Partners in the Severn Health Primary Care Network to deliver the Covid vaccine rollout. We are still waiting to hear from the Government, JCVI and NHS England about this year’s Flu programme and Covid booster roll out. We will continue to work at Beeches Green with our other Partners in this next phase and will contact all eligible patients as soon as we have more information.
Shingles vaccinations: Shingles vaccines – shingles vaccines are available for anyone aged 70 and remains available to patients until their 80th birthday. If you would like to have the shingles vaccine, please phone reception on 01452 740213 to arrange an appointment.
Feedback: We acknowledge that we do not always get things right, and as such, I would encourage anyone who has not been satisfied with the service they have received to contact us via email – frampton.surgery@nhs.net or letter, addressing it to the Practice Manager. We welcome all forms of feedback (including the positive!). Feedback is useful as it helps us to address issues that may not be working well. However, recently we have seen a lot of comments of dissatisfaction on Facebook. Whilst I can appreciate people’s frustration, particularly when things haven’t gone well, I would encourage you to contact us direct – or your Patient Participation Group – so we can properly deal with your concern. Posting comments on Facebook can have a demoralising effect on staff, particularly when they are personal. Following the death of Caroline Flack, the #bekind was trending on Twitter.
I can assure everyone that we are working hard to continue to provide and improve the service at Frampton.
Wishing you all well for the Autumn.
Claire Farragher, Strategy Manager
Frampton & Stonehouse Practice Group