Minutes of Prices Mill PPG Meeting 18th June 2018

1. Present Marilyn Miles, Richard Easthope, Betty and Paul Young, Dr. Meikle, Sally Millett, Laura Smith (Community Well Being Agent), Sarah Eccleshall covering for Suzi Colley.

2. Apologies for absence Suzi Colley, Norman Kay.

3. Minutes of last meeting on 5th March accepted without corrections.

4. Matters arising not covered by the Agenda:

1. Town Meeting was held 28th April and the PPG shared a table with the NHP and dementia friendly Nailsworth group. There was a lot of interest in the three groups. There were lots of people who visited the marquee in the bus station and it is hoped that the town council will arrange for a similar event next year and hopefully a larger marquee.

2. Carers Event. This was held on 14th June between 1 and 3 to which patients who are known to be carers were invited to the practice for refreshments and a general chat. There were information leaflets giving information on support groups, contacts and some professional supporters- Angela King attended representing Laura Smith – on site to offer help if needed. Two members of the PPG attended – Sally Millett and Marilyn Miles. It was a very welcoming event and felt to be successful. Marilyn wondered whether it would be possible with the Nailsworth Carers group which is quite small to combine with Prices Mill’s carers and then to invite Una Bailey from the Coventry building society to come and give a talk about fraud prevention. The Coventry is reluctant to go to a small group but combining the two and may be
contacting others in the community may make it viable to run this event.

5. Dementia Friendly Practice It is thought there may still be a few recommendations from the audit that Sally Millett and Marilyn Miles did last summer that needed to be completed. The practice was asked to check what else still needed to be done. The first Dementia Friendly walk at Ruskin Mill was held on Wednesday 13th June. Dr Ros Mulhall was one of the leaders/organizers of this. Paul and Betty Young said one of the residents of Woodchester Valley village had attended with her husband who is in a wheelchair. She was impressed with care and compassion that was offered to them on the walk and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were a few problems with the ordering of drinks etc. at the cafe but this will hopefully be sorted out for the next visit in July. We were impressed that Ruskin Mill took the trouble to reserve some parking spaces for us which made a trouble-free start to the event.

6. Closure of Lloyds Pharmacy in Mill Yard The response from NHS England received in April was discussed This was as a result of the letter sent by Marilyn following our last meeting. We feel that although it explains the process by which pharmacy licenses are granted or rescinded it did not really address the limited service now available in Nailsworth for the dispensing of prescriptions.

We agreed that Marilyn would write to NHS England again to check whether there are any rules or guidelines about the distance apart any pharmacy should be and how they relate to the local populations. In terms of chemist availability over bank holiday periods – it was agreed that the practice could put on the website which chemists are open and the times. There can be a problem with the availability of the drugs needed. Dr. Meikle had needed to go to Gloucester to get a controlled drug for her father. Paul said he had found the 111 service helpful in knowing where chemists were open on bank holiday and they tended to be in Supermarkets.

We also agreed that Marilyn would write to the other PPG’s in the cluster summarising the response from NHS England about dispensing pharmacies and licenses and ask what experience they have had in relation to their patients accessing Lloyds chemist for dispensing medicines. The reason for this is to see whether it is a function of the way that Lloyds corporately manage their pharmacy service or whether it is specific to Nailsworth. If it is the latter, then we could then go back and talk to the manager at Old Market branch.

Dispensing practices would not be covered by this request as they are different to those GP practices who happen to have a dispensing chemist on the practices. Dr Meikle said some years ago this had been explored for Prices Mill in some depth but in the end, it was not possible to proceed and now there is no space to have such a chemist.

The closure of Mill Yard chemist has put tremendous pressure on the one remaining in town. They no longer do automatic forwarding of prescriptions and patients need to be aware of the need to give reasonable time for the prescriptions to be received and processed. Online prescriptions service is a valuable way of achieving repeat prescriptions and any chemist in the area can be nominated.

7. Laura Smith introduced herself and the community well- being service. Her patch covers the local cluster (Minchinhampton, Chalford (Frithwood) Painswick and Prices Mill). There is more than one community well-being agent for these four practices. She gave us a couple of examples of cases she has successfully worked on and also handed out leaflets which we agree to display in the surgery Town Information Centre and The Arkell Centre also Woodchester Valley Village. Laura said the GPs at Prices Mill refer to the service on a regular basis.

8. Other changes. Improved access to GPs. The surgery is now open on two Saturday mornings a month and also on a Thursday evening from 16:00 to 20:00. The four practices in the cluster work together and appointments can be made with other surgeries who will have access to the patients’ records. Despite concerns mentioned at the PPG cluster meeting in May that the long waiting list for appointments at Painswick might overwhelm the new improved access system, this has no proved to be the case.

9. Any other business: Paul Young mentioned that he had heard that one practice PPG, he thought maybe Frithwood, was organizing a healthy lifestyles evening and wondered if this would be a good idea for Prices Mill Surgery. The NHP has not itself organised many evening talks for some years. It was agreed that Clare Janik the new chair of NHP be asked to speak to Suzie Colley to see if the practice and the NHP might be able to work together on such an event.

10. Date of the next meeting: Wednesday October the 10th, 12:30 at Prices Mill Surgery.

Sally Millett Secretary