6 September 2022 – Notes

Resources

Meeting Notes

Attendees

Chair

Adam Stewart (AS), Senior Insight, Involvement and Engagement Advisor for the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in Leeds

Attending

Nine PPG members were in attendance at the meeting. Practices and Primary Care Networks (PCNs) represented were:

• Alwoodley Medical Centre, Central North PCN
• Burton Croft Surgery, Woodsley and Holt Park PCN
• Chevin Medical Practice, Otley PCN
• City View Medical Practice, Beeston PCN
• Crossley Street Surgery, Wetherby PCN
• Garforth Medical Practice, LS25 / 26 PCN
• Moorfield House / New Cross Surgery, LS25 / 26 PCN
• Oulton Surgery, LS25 / 26 PCN
• West Leeds Family Practice, West Leeds PCN

For more information on PCNs and to find your practice’s network, please visit: https://www.leedsgpconfederation.org.uk/about-us/our-practices/

Updates from the ICB in Leeds

Moving from NHS Leeds CCG to the ICB in Leeds

AS provided a brief update to the group about the move from the NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group to the NHS West Yorskhire ICB. This is a result of the Health and Care Act (2022) coming into law from 1 July 2022.

People who previously worked for NHS Leeds CCG now work for the NHS West Yorkshire ICB at a Leeds ‘place’ level, what we refer to as the ICB in Leeds. The ICB in Leeds is part of the Leeds Health and Care Partnership. You can find out more here: https://www.healthandcareleeds.org/ (please note that the Leeds HCP website replaces the previous NHS Leeds CCG website).

AS encouraged attendees to visit the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership website to find out more: https://www.westyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk/about-west-yorkshire-integrated-care-board

Journey to PPG Awareness Week 2023

AS provided a brief update on the project that was discussed in more detail in the previous support group meeting (26 May 2022). AS informed the group that the pilot to further engage PPGs and practices, including a single survey for feedback was being developed and close to starting. AS will be contacting the network soon to recruit to working group to help take this work forward.

Members noted the importance of bringing the practices along with this work and ensuring that updates were provided via the Primary Care bulletin as well as opportunities for them to get involved.

NHS Futures, PPG Energisers and Inclusion Health Tool

AS shared an update following his attendance at a PPG related online event. In that event were several items that PPGs and their members might find useful:

• FutureNHS platform
  • FutureNHS is a collaboration platform that empowers everyone working in health and social care to safely connect, share and learn across boundaries.
  • FutureNHS is safe, easy to use and supports a growing network of people who want to connect with others to accelerate their work. Members of the platform can join or create workspaces and communities to connect with others, learn and share.
  • At the event, AS queried if this platform is open to PPG members and it was confirmed that you can sign-up without needing an ‘@nhs.net’ email address. PPG members may want to consider signing up using their forthcoming PPG email address.
  • For more information and how to sign up to FutureNHS please see the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/futurenhs-platform/
• PPG Energisers
  • NHS England is supporting the PPG Energisers’ Group, which brings together people who are excited about the potential positive impact of working with communities at a primary care level.
  • The meetings are monthly for an hour and you can drop in and out. You will have opportunities to learn from attendees from other areas of the country on what their PPG and primary care engagement work looks like, and to share your own good practice.
  • There will also be opportunities to help shape how NHS England supports PPGs.
  • For more information, please contact Bethany Golding at [email protected]
• Inclusion Health Toolkit
  • The Inclusion Health Toolkit is an online tool that can help Primary Care Networks (PCNs) assess it’s engagement with inclusion health groups. These are the groups identified as experiencing the worst health inequalities in the UK (health inequalities are a key priority for the NHS to address).
  • The tool consists of five section and takes around 10 minutes to complete.
  • Following completion, you will be provided with a unique and tailored guide which will help your PCN to embed action on tackling health inequalities into its everyday activiies.
  • Find the tool here: https://www.inclusion-health.org/pcn/

PPG Emails

AS gave an update on the progress of the PPG Emails project. Following the successful pilot and feedback learned from that, the PPG Email Setup Guide has been updated and is now ready to rollout to all practice. An update will be going out in the primary care bulletin this week (likely 8 September 2022) and AS will then be in direct contact with practice manager’s from each practice about setting up.

Members briefly discussed the project and Burton Croft shared their experiences of being part of the pilot and the general positive thoughts towards it and what it can bring to the group and practice.

It was requested that any communication to practice staff is clear that ownership of the email is shared by a nominated patient PPG member and a nominated member of staff from the practice.

A contact list of ‘live’ PPG emails can be found on the Leeds Health and Care Partnership website here: https://www.healthandcareleeds.org/have-your-say/shape-the-future/find-out-about-other-involvement-work/ppg/ppg-emails/

Cancer SMART talk

Stewart Manning, PPG Chair at Alwoodley Medical Centre, delivered a presentation and talk on cancer and his work supporting the Yorkshire Cancer Community charity (https://yorkshirecancercommunity.co.uk/).

He is hoping to offer his services to practices and PPGs in Leeds to deliver the talk and inspire groups to nominate ‘PPG Cancer Champions’ who can support their local area to be more aware of cancer, its symptoms, prevention methods and how to get support from health and care services.

You can view the presentation slides on the Leeds Health and Care Partnership website with these notes here: https://www.healthandcareleeds.org/have-your-say/shape-the-future/find-out-about-other-involvement-work/ppg/ppg-network/meeting-6-9-2022/

For anyone interested in contacting Stewart about the Cancer SMART talk and Cancer Champions, please email: [email protected]

Peer support

Each PPG Network support group meeting has time allocated to it for attendees to share ideas, challenges and offer support to fellow PPG members. There is no agenda for this section, unless there is a request to discuss a particular subject, either during the meeting or ahead of the meeting taking place.

• Impact of COVID-19 on PPGs
  • The group briefly discussed the status of PPGs in Leeds and what the ‘ruling’ was on PPGs when the pandemic hit.
  • It was discussed that there was guidance sent out to practices saying that they could not meet in public but this did not mean PPGs couldn’t meet. However, the make-up of groups and priorities around delivering primary care services in this new world meant that a number of PPGs were unable to continue.
  • It was noted that some groups that were well-established were able to carry on and met on Zoom or Microsoft Teams to carry out their business. When social distancing and lockdowns eased, they were able to support the practice with vaccine clinics and communicating with patients via newsletters.
  • Because of the impact of the pandemic, many groups have stalled or are struggling to get going. AS noted that the ICB in Leeds is looking to support primary care services with increasing involvement and collecting regular patient experience, with supporting PPGs being one of these areas of support.
• Where to get support for PPGs
  • The group discussed where support can be found to help establish and reconnect with its PPG.
  • One suggestion was to visit the Leeds Health and Care Partnership to find the PPG Toolkit, a resource co-produced with PPGs, practices and PCNs to support PPGs in Leeds. It has a number of editable templates too. It can be found here: https://www.healthandcareleeds.org/have-your-say/shape-the-future/find-out-about-other-involvement-work/ppg/resources/
  • Another helpful resource that was identified was the National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP). A wealth of tools, guidance and resources can be found here: https://napp.org.uk/
  • If practices or PPGs are struggling or would like some advice / guidance, they can contact the Insight, Communications and Involvement team at the ICB in Leeds to discuss support needs. You can contact the team by emailing [email protected] or by calling 0113 221 7723.
• Promotion
  • The group discussed methods and ideas for promoting the PPG and PPG related projects.
  • There was a discsusion around GDPR and how this can create barriers to communicating with patients.
  • PPG members cannot gain access to any contact information of anyone who has not agreed to have their information shared with the group.
    • A potential objective of the group might be to create it’s own mailing list (perhaps using the PPG email address when it goes out).
    • If the practice has received consent to be contacted about updates then the practice is able to contact them to direct to the PPG or initiative. This is depending on the practice being able to facilitate it (considering time and resource) – PPGs and practices should work together to come to a plan / solution.
    • The group discussed the potential within having flyers / leaflets available in appointments for relevant staff members to signpost to when appropriate.
    • The group discussed the PPG and practice hosting ‘open days’ where people in the area are invited to come along and learn more about a particular subject, ask questions and sign-up to the PPG or other activity. This can help create a diaglogue and ongoing conversation with the practice.
    • Go to where people are, don’t expect them to come to you. The practice should be able to give you a breakdown of the patient population, or tell you who represents what communities. You can also visit the Fingertips website for a practice or health topic profile: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/
• Practice developments
  • Crossley Street Surgery in Wetherby told us about a new project they starting to shadow the reception team. They plan to write up what they hear and share what a ‘day in the life’ of a reception team looks like at the moment.
  • Garforth Medical Practice told us about a new noticeboard they have set up. The plan is for it to be a community noticeboard.
  • A member from West Leeds Family Practice PPG runs a diabetes support group and is hoping to improve attendance and sign-up.

Date of next meeting

Friday 16 December 2022, 10am – 12pm

This will be a ‘hybrid meeting’, held in Meeting Room 4 at WIRA House, Leeds, LS16 6EB, and via Zoom (online).

Please contact [email protected] or call 0113 221 7723 for any questions or to confirm attendance at the next meeting.

Please note there are only 11 available spaces to attend in person. There is free parking on site (on a first come first served basis).