The aim of the group is to promote co-operation between the Practice and Patients to the benefit of both. Membership of the group is open and free to all registered patients.

The PPG can help communicate with the practice with ideas to improve services by identifying changes that the practice may not have considered, allowing resources to be used more effectively and efficiently.

We are using a more innovative and flexible approach to encourage certain patient groups to participate or access care and we hope our new group will take into account any cultural, socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. It will enable our practice to ensure that the membership of its PPG is representative of the registered population, and that feedback about our service is meaningful and reflects all patients. The PPG act as ‘Ambassadors’ seeking out patient feedback and actively helping them access support.

One example of how a PPG has helped patients:-

• A GP practice worked alongside the PPG to develop health promotion events for patients, including topics such as dementia, medicines management, common childhood illnesses and prostate cancer. This resulted in patients presenting themselves for screening, and in one instance, a diagnosis being made.

We will be holding regular meetings here at the practice and would welcome any patients wishing to join the PPG. If you are interested in joining and would like to contribute in helping to make changes to our processes and systems, please click the PPG consent below. We will be in touch once we have arranged the first meeting.

If you would like to speak to us about joining the PPG please call the surgery on 01204 462200 or call in to the surgery and ask for either Diane Sumner or Nicola Payne to answer any questions you may have.

To be successful, a patient group must be fully representative of all members of the Practice patient list so if you are interested in joining we'd love to hear from you.

Click on the link below to read our Terms of Reference: