Welcome to our August Virtual Patient Reference Group Newsletter.
PRG Meeting June 2023
Our Patient Reference Group met recently at the surgery. A number of issues were discussed, including news about the care home in Copthorne, what the practice is doing to support GP appointment availability, and introducing some of our new digital initiatives. You can read a full copy of the minutes here.
Staff News
Dr Joanna Wykes returned from maternity leave on 11th August. We are pleased to welcome her back to the surgery.
We have also recently welcomed four new trainees to the surgery, who are working with the support and supervision of our partners and salaried GPs. The trainees are fully qualified doctors who are on placement with us to gain experience in a GP surgery setting, and they have settled in very well already.
National Patient Survey
The NHS annual survey results are out! Poundhill Medical Group has fared well, as you can see from the results below
| Question | Poundhill Medical Group | National Average |
| Good overall experience of this practice | 87% | 71% |
| Helpfulness of receptionists | 93% | 82% |
| Easy to get through to by phone | 72% | 50% |
| Healthcare professional was good at listening to the patient | 96% | 85% |
| Patient had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional | 99% | 93% |
| Patient's needs were met | 94% | 91% |
Thank you to everyone who responded to this survey. We are very pleased that 87% of our patients had a good overall experience of our practice, and we appreciate those who took the time to let us know where we're doing well, and where we can improve our services for our patients.
We are planning to look at these along with our in-house survey and our monthly Friends and Family results to look at areas where we can help improve the experience that our patients have when they need us. To view the full results, visit the GP Patient Survey website.
Flu clinics
The NHS in England has asked GP surgeries to start giving adult flu vaccines slightly later this year, to make sure that eligible patients receive the best protection through to January when the peak of flu and COVID season is expected to be. We will be inviting patients in this order, as set by NHS England:
- September: 2-3 year old children (primary school children should receive their vaccines through school)
- Starting October 2nd: Residents and staff in care homes
- Starting October 7th: All other eligible adults
We will also be providing COVID-19 booster vaccinations at the same time as flu vaccinations for adults, to avoid you needing to come for multiple appointments and make sure you have the best protection for the winter.
You can find out more about the flu vaccination programme on the NHS website.
New functions on the NHS App
Starting from September, we will be able to send you some messages directly via the NHS App. Download the NHS App and turn on notifications to receive your messages in the app.
This will not exclude anyone who does not have the internet or cannot download the NHS App for another reason, as any messages which can't get through on the App will automatically come through as a normal SMS text message.
Many thanks for reading, and we'll be back with another update in a couple of months.