Patient Participation Group

We are a newly formed Patient Participation Group serving the three surgeries of Lakeside St Neots - Cedar House, Eaton Socon and Dumbelton.

We meet regularly with Lakeside staff and provide feedback to the practice with the aim of improving the patient experience.

We  encourage patients from all ages and background to join us so that our diverse population is fully represented. 

To join our PPG please complete our online form or pick up a paper application from the surgery

Latest Minutes

Meeting Monday 17 March 2025 at 6pm

2. Questions submitted in advance of meeting:

• PSA Tests: There has been a lot of publicity nationally and indeed on your own facebook page but please can you clarify the practice policy to requests for PSA test - e.g. are you making it too difficult for men over 50 without symptoms to request one?

Answer: Dr Chetty explained that if someone requests a PSA test he would explain the benefits and drawbacks of the test (eg false positives/negatives) and would investigate medical reasons for possible symptoms eg prostatitis. If the patient still wished to go ahead he would agree to the PSA test.  However further hospital tests could be required following the test and there is currently a capacity issue for such test (scans, biopsies etc).  

If a patient is unhappy with what they are told by a GP, they can request a second opinion by booking another appointment.  The PSA test alone is not suitable for a general screening programme but when a new test becomes available, this will be promoted.

• SystemOnline - This still has the "book an appointment" option and patients can look at the next 3 weeks and see no appointments . Is it possible to hide/disable or make it clearer on SystemOnline that it cannot be used to book appointments (and  add a message about Anima)?

Answer: The Book Appointment facility is part of the general facilities of the TPP SystemOnline website and the Practice cannot disable it. However there is a line of text on the Book appointment page that the practice can control and this has been changed to say “To book an appointment with the practice please use Anima”

The Lakeside website page - Online Services will also be updated to remove the reference to booking appointments.

• Future Appointment visibility - we have seen reports of future appointments not being visible in Systemonline or NHS App.  One was for a GP phone call (in response to an Anima case) and the second was for RSV vaccination

Answer: Dr Chetty believes that vaccination appointments are visible, unless recently booked.  All other appointments should show, apart from same day telephone calls as a result of Anima requests

• Anima Blood Tests : Please clarify why Anima lets you request a blood test but you just end up being messaged that you need  to phone to make an appointment ? (Does this "waste" 1 of the Anima cases for that day?

Answer: Dr Chetty confirmed that in future, Reception will call the patient to book an appointment instead of sending a text.

• Please can the practice confirm current staff names and could names, photos and any speciality be on display in the waiting rooms?

Answer: This has been discussed with clinical staff and most are in agreement to have their photo displayed.  

In regard to GP specialities, these are as follows:

• Drs Murphy and McCarthy – HRT
• Dr Menozzi – Dermatology and minor surgery
• Dr Mountis – Dermatology
• Dr Chetty – Allergy
• Dr Baxter – Diabetes

Dr Chetty confirmed that Reception are not always able to book appointments with GP’s according to speciality due to working hours and patterns.

• Improving DNA: Can a Yes/No response be requested in appointment text messages appointments asking patients to confirm (like hospitals use)

Answer: Dr Chetty confirmed that texts confirming appointments include a link to cancel the appointment.  However this appears at the end of the text so patients need to scroll to see it.  The PPG would prefer this to be near the beginning of the message.
Jonathan will download recent DNA stats to distribute to the group.

• New GP Contract: Do you have any initial ideas on how you will meet the new requirement to be able to allow online booking of appointments during working hours from October - e.g. will this just be Anima kept open up to 5pm or will a radical change be needed (e.g. total triage as discussed before 

Answer: The practice is waiting for more details from the DOH.  It may mean using the Total Triage system where a clinician triages every request to ensure it is booked with the correct clinician.  It is unlikely that patients will be able to choose and book their own appointments online.
PPG confirmed that the current longer opening hours for Anima is working better for patients and Google and social media ratings for the practice are improving

3. AOB

a) Power of Attorney – communications

Dr McCarthy explained that a POA for Health and Care is only valid when a person loses capacity.  However loss of capacity can be difficult to determine and needs to be reassessed regularly.  A clinician will always try to involve the patient in important decisions about their health.  

A POA document should be registered with the practice by taking the documents to Reception.

Any patient can authorise the practice to involve another individual in their healthcare by putting the request in writing to the practice.  This will then be noted on the system.

b) PPG funds 

c) Dr Murphy is looking at options for children’s equipment at all 3 sites and will advise costs

d) Reinstate book sales in all surgeries as discussed in January

Practice is waiting for bookshelves to be delivered and fitted

e) NHS Lung Cancer Screening programme

The Hunts Post had an article about this new programme recently, however it isn’t available in St Neots currently.  Dr McCarthy confirmed that information about patients’ health risks eg smoking is noted when a patient first registers, however this may not necessarily include details of close relatives which could affect risk.

f) Diabetic reviews

The practice is gradually moving to review dates which match patients’ birthday which may account for some delays in reviews.  Patients are being informed if the delay is more than a couple of months late.

Fasting blood tests are no longer required as it has been found that triglyceride levels are not influenced by recent diet.

Eventually all annual reviews will move to birthday months.

g) Statistics – Appointments/phones etc

Jonathan distributed graphs showing stats for GP face to face appointments per month and all appointments per 1000 patients.

PPG is disappointed to hear that some patients are still queuing outside surgeries by 8.00am in order to get appointments – 14 were queuing outside Eaton Socon this morning.

There are still queues on the phones first thing and sometimes all appointments are gone by 8.05am.  Patients who cannot physically travel to a surgery or use Anima, should speak to Reception on the phone and request a triage phone call.

Dr Chetty confirmed that in the event of an emergency, paramedics have a separate phone number to contact the surgery.

It was noted that Reception staff are still not always telling patients who their appointment is with unless prompted.

h) New PPG Posters

New posters were distributed to the committee which now include QR code for link to the PPG Facebook group.  These will be distributed in pharmacies, supermarkets and other local venues.  They have been laminated and put up in all 3 surgeries.

i) Meeting dates for the rest of the year

The PPG would ideally like to agree joint meeting dates for the remainder of 2025 so that committee meetings can be fixed to enable meeting agenda to be sent to staff at least a week before.

Dr Chetty agreed next meeting for 19th May at 6pm.  He will look to provide future dates.