PPGs
and are therefore fearful of reaching out and engaging with them. “I did, and sometimes still do feel that some people have unrealistic expectations,” says Starkey. “But I would say that if you are very honest and open with the PPG from the start, so tell them that in an ideal world you would do X, Y and Z but in reality you are confined by resources and time, you all start off on the right foot and can work together with the same kind of confines and boundaries. I think that being transparent about how the practice is operated and commissioned is really important.”
WORK OUT YOUR STRATEGY It would be naive to say that developing a PPG is not a challenge. But once a group is set up, practices can reap the benefits of building a partnership with its patients. For example, Jenny Drew, chair of Stag Medical Practice PPG, identified that the practice was hard to access for people in wheelchairs or those who had difficulties with mobility. “One of the doors was electric while the other was manual. The PPG negotiated with the practice manager and the partners and we have now got that changed. This is a great example of how a PPG can support the patients going into the practice.” Drew adds that this small change has led to more patients getting involved. “They could see that things were being done and so started speaking up.” To set up an effective PPG, practice managers and GPs need to take time to consider what is important to them. One of the main challenges is to ensure that the PPG is inclusive and has a representative membership; inevitably, the people who
Why set up a PPG?
• Improves quality of care • Improves patient satisfaction • Improves health outcomes • Improves compliance with treatment • Improves relationships • Encourages patients to be proactive partners
• Saves time and money
have the time to attend meetings and be involved in the group will be retired people. “It is a challenge to encourage people from different sections of the population to engage for a number of reasons,” said Varah. “For example, from a cultural perspective, communication difficulties or people being too busy.” However, she assures me that there are many ways that practices can ensure they have a representative group. She suggests recruiting group members by holding open meetings that any patient can attend, by contacting patients directly, or by creating an email list of patients willing to give their views electronically.
Starkey adds that her PPG did as much as it could to spread the word. “We attended local fairs and fetes. We even assigned one of the members to be the school liaison PPG member. He went into schools and spoke with GCSE and A-level students and encouraged them to come and sit in a group. This also helped students who were planning to study medicine at university, as they could add it to their application form.”
From experience, excellent practices and PPGs go hand-in-hand
Practice managers should also make sure that members of the PPG have a clear understanding of the purpose and role of the group, and that it is an effective and sustainable operation. “Having a really good strategy before setting up really helped,” says Starkey, whose PPG received NAPP’s PPG of the Year award. “The GPs were behind it from the start, and before setting up the PPG we talked about the partnership and what we thought it could help us with.” Varah added that patients and practices should mutually agree on the PPG’s ‘terms of reference’, which set out what the group will do and ground rules for how meetings will be run. “Together, these agreements will provide a framework within which the group
36 october 2013
Six components of the patient participation DES
1. Develop a structure that gains the views of patients and enables the practice to obtain feedback from the practice population
2. Agree areas of priority with the PPG
3. Collate patient views through the use of a survey
4. Provide the PPG with the opportunity to discuss survey findings and reach an agreement with the PPG on changes to services
5. Agree an action plan with the PPG and seek PPG agreement to implementing changes
6. Publicise any actions to be taken and subsequent achievements
can operate, ensuring effective management of expectations and objectives,” she says. Pat Vinycomb, patient rep from Highcliffe & Mudeford PPG, thinks that it is important to identify patients that are going to bring something to the group. “The stability of the community and people’s interest in health has helped to maintain and develop our PPG. Patients and carers should have a voice in improving health, and it has been about empowering the PPG to be proactive about being a real voice for patients.” Starkey adds that, at her practice, to ensure that she had a strong core group of patients in the PPG, she asked the GPs to suggest some people who they thought would have sensible ideas. “I wrote to these patients and said that their doctor has suggested they might like to be involved in this new project. I think having five or six really helpful, balanced people really stood the group in good stead.” With all this in mind, it is evident that, with a little work, PPGs can bring a lot to a practice so long as some thought is put into it from the start and everyone in the practice gets on board. So what are you waiting for? Make your PPG happen.
management
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