What is a Patient Participation Group (PPG)?
A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group made up of GP Practice patients aged 16 years and over, carers of registered patients and members of the GP Practice staff. From April 2015, the Medical Service Contract requires every GP practice to have a Patient Participation Group.
Wentworth 1 Primary Care Network (PCN) would like to try a slightly different approach whereby all our 7 practices within the network share the same PPG. The aim of this group is to influence the way services are delivered by the Practice. If patients’ group holds meetings at the practice, it is also called the face-to-face PPG.
What do PPG's do?
- Review patients’ surveys such as the Family and Friends Test.
- Listen to patients’ stories and views.
- Explore ideas and suggestions on how to improve patients’ experiences in the GP Practice.
- Discuss with GP Practice staff and agree on an action plan for service improvements.
- Monitor the implementation of the service improvement action plan.
- Run small projects around patients’ education, health promotion, and improvements to GP Practice environment.
What PPGs do not do?
- A PPG meeting is not a forum to raise individual complaints.
- A PPG meeting is not a forum to seek medical advice.
How can you get involved?
Every GP Practice should have a Patient Participation Group. Our Primary Care Network is made up of 7 practices. We are looking for representatives from each of our practices to join together to form a PCN Patient Participation Group to replace the need for individual practice PPG’s. This will only work if we have patients from each of the 7 practices:
- Magna Group (made up of Valley Health Centre, Thrybergh Medical Centre, Highthorn Road Surgery and Wath Medical Centre)
- Crown Street, Swinton
- High Street Surgery
- Parkgate Medical Centre
- Shakespeare Road Medical Centre
- York Road Surgery
- Rawmarsh Health Centre
Usually, to become a PPG member, you will need to fill in a simple form providing your contact details: email address and your phone number. Your personal information should not be shared with anyone beyond the GP Practice or PCN.
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To find out more about joining the Wentworth 1 PCN PPG please contact us on 01709 283826.