What is a PPG?
Joining our Surgery’s patient participation group offers a valuable opportunity to engage with your healthcare community. It allows you to voice your opinions, share experiences, and contribute to improving services.
By participating, you can help us to shape the way care is delivered, ensuring it meets the needs of patients. Additionally, it provides a crucial sense of connection with other patients and staff, creating a collaborative environment focused on enhancing overall health and well-being. Your voice matters.
Patient participation is
Patients working with a practice to:
- contribute to the continuous improvement of services ensuring practices are more responsive to the needs and wishes of patients at their GP Practice.
- foster improved communication between the practice and its patients;
- help patients to take more responsibility for their health; and
- provide practical support and help to implement change.
- make a positive difference to both patients and the practice by expressing opinions on behalf of patients regarding their GP Practice policies.
Stratton medical centre PPG group determines its own activities according to the needs of the community and the practice itself.
Beyond Stratton Medical Centre we provide a patient voice to the local Primary Care Network which develops services for our five local practices.
PPGs work by building a relationship between the practice and its patients that breaks down barriers and shares information.
PPGs can develop to influence the wider NHS, most notably the decisions that are made on behalf of patients about the services that are to be available to them.
Patient participation is not a forum for complaints
Clear ground rules are upheld to ensure that PPG members do not use the PPG as a vehicle to resolve their own personal issues (however PPGs often lead to a reduction in the number of complaints overall)
The benefits of a PPG
Good for patients because:
- Patients will be more responsible for and take an active interest in their own health.
- Patients will have a better understanding and knowledge of the practice and its staff and how it must operate within the structure of the NHS.
- All sections of the community will be enabled to get involved through virtual PPGs which use email networks and online surveys
- Patients will be actively involved in developing arrangements for their primary healthcare before decisions are made.
- Patients benefit from improved communication and relationships with staff.
- Patients will have a forum for positive ideas and voicing concerns.
- PPGs can offer some peer support to patients in managing their conditions, making healthy choices and accessing information
Good for GPs and practice staff because
- PPGs assist GPs and the practice team to develop an equal partnership with patients and an increased understanding of patients’ priorities, needs, wishes and perspectives.
- PPGs help GPs and their staff to communicate accurately and honestly with their patient population, ensuring there is regular two-way dialogue and feedback between them.
- Through virtual PPGs, GP’s and staff can connect with a wide diversity of their patients, particularly from minority communities and those whose voices are seldom heard.
PPGs are an additional resource for the practice raising awareness of and signposting wider services, promoting health and well-being choices, providing practical help in administering specific campaigns.
- PPGs can encourage more self-care for minor ailments empowering patients and the public to use services more effectively and appropriately
- GPs and their staff will be able to plan services jointly with patients in order to increase their effectiveness and target resources more effectively
- PPGs can take pressure off practices by helping patients with non-medical and social care issues.
- The practice will be able to get help from patients in meeting national targets and objectives such as the CQC Essential Standards, patient involvement in Revalidation of doctors and the implementation of national programmes such as Patient Online.
- The practice will have a forum to voice concerns, ideas and suggestions to patients.
- PPGs help ensure shared decision-making with patients and with the wider community about key health matters, reflecting patient needs locally.
- Practices will get closer to the community for whom they care.
Good for the community because
- Patients will have an organisation through which they can identify needs and priorities.
- Patients will be able to get an idea of what is needed to improve healthcare, and make sure that the patient view is always represented.
- Patients will maintain an open two-way dialogue with GPs and other healthcare professionals.
- Patients will be able to have a say in shaping local services through local PPG networks feeding into commissioning arrangements
- Patients will have opportunities to become involved in other community initiatives focused on local health care provision e.g. PCN’s and Local Healthwatch
