Long Bennington Medical Centre PPG

“I have had the privilege to chair our Long Bennington PPG for the last eighteen months, during which time we have seen the group grow and flourish. We now have an established core group of twelve members made up of eight patients of the Medical Centre and three members of the practice staff.  We hold monthly meetings which take place on a Wednesday morning at the Medical Centre. Over this period our members have worked together playing a useful part in supporting the vital work of the medical practice.

Three of our members, supported by our local Co-op received training as ‘walk leaders’ which enabled us to set up local, monthly ‘Wellbeing Walks’.  So far, the interest and support from the local community for this initiative has been excellent with four walks having taken place, with greater numbers joining each month.

Two members of the committee have had DBS checks and completed online training in Safeguarding Adults. Those trained will then be able to support housebound patients in need of a companion and to help reduce isolation by offering home visits.

The group have formed links with two local groups who are able to offer help and support to those in need. The Medical Centre are now working closely with the groups to form a signposting process.

A number of the committee members helped out at the annual Flu clinic and preparations are underway to repeat this again for this year.

Recently, trained members of the committee have been assisting patients in clinic by showing them how to correctly use the equipment in our health kiosk such as taking blood pressure and recording health data.  Further dates have now been planned, to coincide with PPG Awareness week, to carry out further equipment training along with ‘meet and greet’ sessions with patients.

For the upcoming year we would like to build on our successful initiatives and continue to work closely with our practice staff to support our patients within our community. ”

Lisa Smith, PPG Chair

Visit Patient Participation Group – Long Bennington Medical Centre to find out more.

Swineshead Medical Group PPG

“Hi, my name is Ava and I am the new Chair of Swineshead Patient Participation Group. We are a rural practice in Lincolnshire a few miles from Boston. We currently have 8,681 patients who the practice has been serving faithfully for many years.

We have undertaken a successful recruitment campaign recently and had four new members at our recent PPG meeting. I work closely with our Practice Managers and staff at the surgery and we make a great team.

To celebrate PPG Awareness Week, we are actively sending our new PPG leaflet electronically to all our patients, to encourage them where ever they are to attend our bi-monthly meetings in person or on Microsoft Teams. We are a very friendly and encouraging PPG family.

I also represent our surgery PPG on the Boston Primary Care Board, NHS England PPG Champions Group and ICB Countywide PPG Group

Recently, I put together ten PPGs from all over Lincolnshire to help a study on what it is like living in a rural area and how it impacts on health and care. The study was with Lincoln International Institute for Rural Health (LIIHR) at Lincoln University. I helped to lead the Focus Group and we had a half day workshop. I am involved with three other studies where the university welcomes our input and knowledge as PPG members.

This valuable work is at the heart of our rural communities across Lincolnshire and will help to guide services in many ways by speaking to our patients in rural areas to get their voices heard.

The university has welcomed my input since November 2022 and has led to PPG’s having a voice in these studies for the very first time. This is welcomed by the stakeholders who fund the studies across the country including Cancer UK who embrace the knowledge that PPG’s can bring to the table.

We have an exciting year ahead of us, and are open to all the changes and challenges that are before us. Our PPG is going from strength to strength.”

Ava Harding-Bell – Chair, Swineshead Medical Group PPG

Visit Swineshead Medical Group to find out more.

Stamford St Mary’s and Sheepmarket (Lakeside) PPG

Our local PPG was reformed this year under a new chair, Julie Clarke, after a long and difficult period, post-Covid.  Our two surgeries had struggled to recover and were experiencing high numbers of GP retirements and staff turnover. We were subsequently rated poorly by the CQC, leading to a significant number of patients moving to other practices.

We are delighted to have made a positive fresh start with an enthusiastic and experienced group of volunteer patients.

We now meet monthly with both GPs and managers from our Sheep Market and St Mary’s surgeries and we are encouraged by the collaborative way the practice has worked with us and involved us in their decision-making processes.

We represent the issues raised with us and seek constructive dialogue to identify remedial action and service improvements.

We have worked to greatly increase the availability of, and access to appointments, and have significantly reduced the frustration of the dreaded 8am telephone congestion.

We will be holding quarterly open meetings to inform all patients of our work and to offer health and wellbeing information. In June we will focus on the work of Social Prescribers, who offer a holistic approach to addressing issues around chronic conditions such as diabetes.

We are launching a new telephone access line so that patients, who are not comfortable with email and texting, can speak directly to us and tell us their concerns.

The regular drop-in sessions at our surgeries give opportunities to meet members of the PPG, learn what we do and share concerns face to face.

Our mission is to work in partnership with all other local bodies concerned with improving health outcomes, so that patients in Stamford get the best and most effective health services possible.

Stamford St Mary’s and Sheepmarket (Lakeside) PPG

Visit Lakeside Stamford (lakesidehealthcarestamford.co.uk) to find out more.

Gosberton Medical Centre PPG

“The Gosberton Medical Centre PPG have decided to hold an information stand inside the practice waiting area for as much of PPG Awareness Week as possible, we will be using the week as an opportunity to give out our PPG leaflet and membership application form in the hope of strengthening further our numbers.

The PPG has been involved in helping with the organisation of the Covid vaccination days and with the flu jab sessions. As in previous years we have helped to decorate the waiting area at Christmas time and provided presents under the tree for all the young children who came into the building during the festive season.

The PPG was happy to make a grant to support the Bereavement Group that has been set up by Rachel Ingall our Social Prescriber. A further grant has been awarded to support some of the costs of a new Hydrotherapy Group as Rachel had received quite a few requests to establish this. Rachel attends PPG meetings from time to time to advise us of progress on the various help groups she has set up.

We have agreed together with several other local PPGs to produce a short video explaining the value of having a thriving PPG and this should be available for practices to show on waiting room screens sometime in the next few months. The PPG currently has four Officers and five committee members, our Constitution allows for up to 15 members on the Committee, so I hope we may fill some of those vacancies this year.”

Preston Keeling, Chair Gosberton PPG

Visit Gosberton Medical Centre to find out more.