Patient Participation Group

About the Patient Group

What is the role of the patient participation group?

At its simplest, patient participation refers to patients who wish to take a more active interest in developing local healthcare services. Most Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) operate within GP practices or health centres. We are a newly established group who are beginning to make progress as we establish the areas of concern for patients and the areas which we can influence.

The idea is for patients and staffs to work together to share ideas to help patients to take more responsibility for their own health and help to improve the services offered at the Practice. It gives patients a say in how services are planned, developed and evaluated, by developing a good working relationship with the practice staff and GPs. The PPGs will seek to improve communications through the practice website along with the use of notice boards and direct communications within the Surgeries e.g. articles in the patient newsletters.

More about what a PPG can try to do

• Assist in communicating to patients how recent changes to NHS will affect services provided
• Let the practice staff know more about the level and standard of service they provide from a patient perspective
• Help the practice decide on overall service priorities
• Help patients understand more about their medical condition/problems including talks on individual topics, e.g. Diabetes and Heart Disease
• Help provide information on help available and support groups and networks
• Help improve the experience of attending the Surgery

Who will be on the PPG?

Initially there will be a GP, Mr Sham Noor (Practice Manager) plus patients drawn from across the surgeries.

This is flexible and can be adapted as the group gets more established and needs emerge.

What the PPG is not about

We will not deal with personal medical issues or individual patient complaints as there is already a well established procedure to deal with these.

How do patients communicate with the PPG?

• We have a Practice email address 
• So you can contact us electronically
• You can write to Sham Noor at the practice address
• You can also join our Virtual Patient Participation Group

How will I get feedback from the PPG?

• Information will be available in the waiting room at the surgery
• Information will be available on the practice website
• If you provide us with your email address and mobile telephone number we will add you to our contact list and we will contact you by email or SMS message.

Getting involved

To some people this will seem rather daunting. But rest assured that PPGs across the country, run by patients, are doing these things and making a real difference. Choose the level of involvement that suits you best, whether as a committee member or just helping out once in a while. It is all voluntary and every contribution is valued.

So it's back to you

The PPGs will only work well if patients communicate with us.

We already have ideas but we need your input & support.