Davenport House PPG
Roger Gedye, Chair of the Davenport House PPG in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, talks about the group's work to connect the practice with its patients, and provide patients with advice on a range of health issues.
Putting communication at its heart
The Davenport House PPG was set up in 1993, by the senior partner and a small group of patients of the practice. According to Roger, from the outset the main role of the group has been communication - improving communication between the patients and the practice, acting as a representative of the wider patient population, and providing the local community with useful and timely health information and advice.
Creating a membership scheme
To achieve its aim of regular communication with the wider patient population, the PPG publishes a regular newsletter, providing patient members with information on issues affecting the practice and upcoming PPG initiatives, as well as articles written by the practice doctors and other health specialists on a range of health issues.
Patients are invited to pay a small subscription fee of £10 per family per year in order to fund the activities of the patient group. About 20% of the practice population sign up to the membership scheme, and their subscription fees fund the quarterly newsletter and a range of health education events for the local community, as well as making a small contribution towards improvements at the surgery. Patient confidentiality makes it difficult to promote and extend the membership scheme, since the PPG cannot access the names and addresses of patients who are non-members. Reaching out to the wider patient community of the practice is an ongoing challenge: a challenge which may partly be met by the development of a suitable website.
Strengthening the website
The PPG has been working to develop its website, to make it more useful and interactive for patients. The aim of the new site, which is scheduled for launch by Christmas 2009, is to provide both those already signed up to the PPG membership scheme, and the wider patient population, with a range of useful, relevant and regularly updated information on the work of the PPG and practice. The new site will feature a 'Have Your Say' section, which will allow registered members to record their comments and answers to questions on a series of topical health issues. A summary of each online discussion will be published later on the site and in the newsletter.
Health education
One of the main areas of activity undertaken by the PPG is health education. Four open events are run each year, focused on a range of common health issues. The events take place on a weekday evening at a local conference centre, and feature talks from GPs within the practice, from outside specialists such as hospital consultants and social care providers, and from representatives of the NHS.
The most recent event focused on children's medicine and on health and safety within the home. The event was introduced by a practice GP and featured talks from two paediatricians and an allergy specialist, with a demonstration of resuscitation by a member of the St John's Ambulance; stalls were set out for attendees to find out about the work of local family support groups. The event was publicised to members via the Newsletter, and to the wider community through the local nursery and primary school system.
In addition to these larger scale events, the PPG runs a programme of smaller, invitation meetings at the surgery, each with a maximum of 30 attendees. These events are an opportunity for more in depth discussion of specific health conditions between doctors and interested patients; examples include prostate problems, back pain, respiratory disorders and the management of stress.
Building trust
A key aim for the PPG is to build stronger, more honest relationships between the doctors and the patient population: creating a supportive environment in which everyone understands that they are working together for the good of both practice and patients.
As part of their work on this, the PPG recently hosted an 'Any Health Questions?' event, similar in format to the BBC's 'Question Time', with all the doctors in the practice on the panel. Despite some initial nervousness on the part of the panel, the event was a success and, according to Roger, took communication between the GPs and patients to a new level.
Roger feels that a strong sense of collaboration and mutual respect has been created between the PPG and the practice. A practice partner and a practice manager attend PPG meetings, the results of practice surveys are discussed and action plans agreed. Doctors and the patient group work together for mutual benefit.