Patient Participation Group

Our Patient Participation Group (PPG) meets to provide a forum for discussion about the practice.

Terms of Reference

The PPG provides a forum for patients registered with the practice to provide a patient perspective on the services provided by the practice, to support the practice and to influence local healthcare provision.

Objectives:

• Provide a link between the staff of the practice and its registered patients
• Provide feedback on patients’ needs, concerns and interests, and constructive challenge to the practice.
• Provide a link with other community representative groups
• Share good practice and ideas aimed at improving the quality of care provided.
• Provide input to communications from the practice to ensure that they are clear and comprehensible
• Provide a sounding board for any proposals for major changes to the service.

Membership:

• The PPG will consist of up to 20 members who must be registered patients of the practice, including one or two members of the practice staff.
• The Group will nominate a chair, vice-chair and secretary annually in April.
• Members will serve for three years and may be re-elected.
• Patients who would like to serve on the Group should notify the secretary, who will submit their name to the Group for approval if there is a current vacancy. If there is no current vacancy , and if they are approved for membership, they will remain on a reserve list and will be automatically elected when the next vacancy occurs.

Meetings and Code of Conduct:

• The PPG will meet at least six times a year.
• The quorum for a meeting is five patient representatives and one practice representative
• The minutes of the PPG meetings will be posted on the practice website.
• The Chair will produce a short annual review of the work of the PPG which must be approved by the Group before it is posted on the website
• PPG members are expected to respect other members and their contributions, to participate in discussions in an open and constructive manner, to respect the confidentiality of specified topics and issues, and to declare any conflicts of interest relating to items discussed by the Group. ( If members are uncertain about potential conflicts of interest, they should declare them and seek guidance)

Please note: PPG members must not claim to represent the practice to the public or the media.