INFORMAL MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
BLITHEHALE PATIENTS PARTICIPATION GROUP
HELD TODAY WEDNESDAY 17TH OCTOBER 2018 @ 5pm
Hi all. Here’s the latest from the PPG meeting held earlier.
As Bola (the practice manager was slightly delayed in joining us, we started off with a breakdown of just what the in-house social prescriber, Raj Kinder, does. He is a qualified prescriber of medications, and is in the practice twice weekly. He is able to advise anyone in most matters to do with their medication. So if you have any questions about your medications, you will just have to book an appointment with him through reception. (Note: I know he’s good – I asked him to check my meds a while back!)
As there were several new members of the group, we did a quick round of introductions.
The minutes of the previous meeting was approved.
GOOD NEWS:
We looked at the best way to take the group forward into the future, as it is right and proper that the group be run by patients, and not practice administrators, and we finally had volunteers for two of the three executive roles, so commencing at the next meeting we have the following officers:
Ron has been with the PPG ever since the group started, when the practice was still in it’s old building. Over the years Ron has given his all to help the practice and this group. Ron celebrated his 83rd birthday just last week, and brought in two boxes of mixed cream cakes! Many Happy Returns Ron.
Treasurer: Joy Godsell.
Joy is a new addition to the group. At this time, the title of treasurer is largely a paper title, as we don’t actually have any money. Yet.
We are still looking for a patient who would like to take on the role of Secretary. It was agreed that the Practice should take on the role of Secretary for the moment. If you would like to help in this role ,or any other, please use the contact form at the bottom.
We then looked at the possibility of future events. Trying the Death Cafe again, and Joy has volunteered to liaise with them. If you would like us to hold events like the Autism Awarement Day we held, and you have a suitable cause, please let us know by using the contact form below.
Team building at the Blithehale Centre still continues:
Sonia Begum and Mohammed Jamal Hussein have joined the Reception team.
Doctors Amy Banks and Anna Witt are back following maternity leave (congratulations!)
Najia Sultan is on maternity leave.
PPG Flyer
It was suggested that we re-issue the PPG flyer. The master of this is held with Chris, so the practice will follow up on this.
Lea Gratch gave a follow-up on the Health At Every Size, and asked if the practice could endorse this project, along with a document from Huffington Post. There was a heated debate on this matter, which agreed that the Huffingtond Post item could not be given support, but if some copies of the relevent documents were sent to the practice and senior PPG members were able to study them in detail at their ease, there could be a possibility of HAES returning to the agenda at a future time. The problems lie in the difference between giving this project our support and giving it the practice’s endorsement.
It was pointed out that we could really need the larger meeting room for our next meeting due to the increase in numbers attending. This was approved.
Some photos were taken of those attendees who had no objection to being photographed for this blog.
I hope you enjoy this slideshow.
On-Line Prescriptions.
It was pointed out that it would be advantageous to add an ‘Other Item’ option onto the on-line prescription system. This would enable patients to order those items not on the basic repeats list. The practice have said there is a meeting scheduled to deal with problems such as this for on-line ordering. We will update this when we know how things turn out.
Autism Awareness Group
We were informed that the next meeting of the Autism support group in on 24th October at the Whitechapel Idea Store. They run these meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
GATWICK AIRPORT
It was also pointed out that Gatwick airport have a new process to help their staff identify those suffering from disabilities and medical conditions, you can apply on-line for a free pass holder identifying you are in this category.
The next PPG Meeting will be on:
Thursday 13th December at 5.00pm
Please come along and have your say!
NOTE: Outside of the meeting, one of the new members asked me why there was a shortfall in the number of Asian and immigrant members.
I explained that we have had them in the past, and we do keep invitations going out, and that we have always ensured that we do not prevent any patient of the practice from attending these meetings, and we would welcome attendees from every community.