Bottisham PPG

02/01/2012

News from Bottisham Patient Participation Group

This is a busy time for all the staff at the Bottisham Practice, holidays not withstanding. Apart from colds, flu and all the usual ailments of winter, the staff have been collecting and collating returns to the annual questionnaire seeking your views as patients about the Practice’s performance. The Practice will discuss the results with the Bottisham PPG Committee at a meeting in January. This will consider the findings and possible changes in patient provision and the delivery of services. These conclusions will provide the basis for an agreed action plan to be implemented through 2012.

The Practice staff have also been busy preparing to upgrade their clinical IT system. It would help the staff enormously if in January all patients let them have their mobile numbers so that the Practice can text confirmation of appointments, reminders and blood test results. You will be able to do this either on the Practice website or by filling in a form at Reception. The new system will go live on Monday 23 January. As this will be new for everyone, it may take a little longer to process requests. So please be patient. In particular in the week before the system goes live the Dispensary will be unable to handle repeat prescriptions, so please order them before Friday 13 January or after Friday 20 January. Nor will the Practice be able to offer pre-bookable appointments between 13 and 27 January. All appointments in that period will have to be booked on the day.

Your PPG Committee will be represented at a meeting in early January between NHS Cambridgeshire and all the Cambridgeshire PPGs. This will discuss the proposed changes to Cambridgeshire Mental Health Services described in the last edition of this magazine. This is an important issue likely to be of concern to ever more of us. There is evidence that mental health problems increase during periods of economic difficulty; and over the next 20 years dementia cases in Cambridgeshire are expected to double.

The PPG Committee is also planning a meeting at which Dr Jonathan Higham and some of his colleagues will talk about the Practice, how it works and the many services it provides, the skills and interests of its members, and how those skills can best be applied to look after you and your families. This meeting will be with the Committee, with the intention that there will be a similar meeting open to all interested patients later in the year.

The PPG Committee wishes you all the very best for 2012.

Bottisham PPG Committee