Helsby and Elton Patient Participation Group

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 8th November 2022


Apologies were received from Helen Plant, Paul Newbrook, Jeanette Fletcher,Jenny Lloyd.

Present
John Gresty
John Dearden
Lesley Gardner
Brian Yorke
Heather Llewellyn
Ian Fletcher
Janet Newbrook
Gill Swash
Peter Rolfe
Heather Kendrick

The minutes of the meeting held on 11th October were agreed

Matters arising
Nil

Chairs Report
 
Good evening and welcome. Good to see you all again. My activity as PPG Chair during the last month has been limited. I’ve attended meetings at Elton regarding both the Healthy Elton event and of course the Covid and Flu jabs session in the Elton Community Centre. Both events went successfully to plan. My other involvement has been with the Care Community and specifically with the preparation and launch of the “Memory Cafe” in Frodsham. I am advised that this was also a success and will be operational every Wednesday. Included in this Care Community work has been the agreement and setting up a Board of members to operate a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). An application for its creation has been submitted to the Charity Commission.
The final activity as Chair has been helping out at the Covid and Flu jabs session at Helsby Community centre last week which was also successfully completed.

Membership Secretary Report
In view of Helens apologies there was nil to report .LG asked if we had heard from Frodsham PPG as to whether the joint FB page will continue.JG advised this remains an outstanding matter.

Practice Managers Report
Dr Martin retiring on 30/11/2022. Dr Sam Edge has commenced as a salaried GP. Flu and covid clinics have been successful this year and thanks for the help and support from the PPG . Further sessions will be held , but these will be ad hoc within the Practice .
380. over 65 health checks have recently been completed
Enhanced access- Saturday access is being held in Helsby at the moment and has been welcomed by the patients This is not an acute service – acute care/ is still being directed to the out of hours service.
There is still some issue with access to the dressings clinic and this is being addressed by the commissioners of the service
Service development – looking to develop sexual heath and cervical screening during enhanced service hours.
JG mentioned that Comfy Corner might be able to assist at weekends .
JD enquired as to who would be the senior partner in the Practice in view of Dr Martins retirement and it was noted that Dr Gregson has taken on this role .

Teledermatology- the Practice have signed up to a pilot to look at an alternative means of accessing dermatology services .

All staff are now required to undertake mandatory training in Autism and Learning Disabilities

LG asked if the current telephone triage system will continue as the PPG are trying to identify the best time ( largest footfall) to set up visiting services to the Comfy Corner.Comfy Corner was a concept pre covid and now looking at a possible 10.30 to noon . Brian will ask the staff to look at footfall within the last 2-3 weeks to see what the afternoon trend is .

Telephone calls from Helsby and Elton Practice .
JD commented on occasions when prebooked telephone appointments were not received at home although notes on the patient record indicated that a call was attempted and message left .JN also commented that this had happened to her and HL mentioned that a colleague of hers had indicated the same .. Brian took details, will investigate and respond.

Care Community Steering Group
Very interesting meeting
Bringing people together chaired by Iris Keating is now going to meet every 2 months . Bee Friends now moving their service to Parish Hall in Frodsham and will be open every Thursday from 10-noon.
Peer bereavement Training – update from Kay Foster .The group has had 2 meetings to date and it is hoped STAR training will commence in November and complete in December . Then hopefully will look to setting up a support group early 2023 – currently thinking about locations and venues .
Hormones in Harmony continues monthly in Elton

Mental Wellbeing and Dementia Group chaired by Becky Rowland
Memory Café going well.There will be no café on 30th November due to a church
Community Warmth Project – now has over 100 knitters making hats, scarves,blankets .2 packs will be available at Helsby Library
Mental Health Alliance – supporting the mental health priorities of the area and Becky has signed up to this group .
CIO. Now agreed a Board of Trustees/ roles and responsibilities , and the application was submitted to the Charity Commission last week
Discussions still continues re The Hive . The next steering group meeting scheduled for 1st December will be a face to face meeting and The Hive will be on the Agenda
Brian asked whether the Care Community was as proactive / forward thinking and successful as other Care Communities.JG responded that the PPG chairs have discussed this very topic at their own steering group and it would seem that our steering group is ahead in many areas.

Main Street Memory Café
All volunteers are DBS checked and have undertaken safeguarding training .
Flyers were distributed.
An 8 week activity programme is running together with invited speakers every 4 weeks .It is essentially a drop in café and there is no need to join in the activities if the visitors would rather have a quiet cuppa .
The Alzheimers Society run a “singing for the brain” on Tuesday afternoon and lesley thinks that attendance at this requires a referral.

Comfy Corner
The internal works have been undertaken – the walls painted a soft grey and the planters and trellis installed .Its all beginning to take shape
JG and Brian will talk with the web service provider to ensure we have an IT link . LG will invite relevant organisations to hold sessions and will act as the contact point for patients wanting a 1:1 with the visiting organisations .LG will develop a protocol

AOB
GS asked if we knew how Live Well was running and how Andy Lavender was . LG will endeavour to find out

Date and time of next meeting

6 pm on Tuesday 13th December .Old Bank Tea Room Helsby.
Coffee and mince pies will be available . JG will present Diane with her Christmas gift as a thank you from the PPG