Purpose

The purpose of the Patient Participation Group (PPG) is to establish a system of communication with all registered patients in the practice, so that their views and concerns are fed back into the practice. The Group will be responsible for communicating news and information from the practice to patients.

The PPG will feedback relevant concerns/issues/good practice to the PPG Network, Richmond Clinical Commissioning Group and other bodies when appropriate such as Healthwatch Richmond and CQC.

The decisions made by the PPG will be owned by the group rather than an individual.

Key Tasks and Objectives

The key tasks and objectives are to:

• Contribute to practice decision making and consult on service development and provision
• Provide feedback on patient’s needs, concerns, interests and challenge the practice constructively whenever necessary.
• Serve as a ‘sounding board’ for dealing with concerns and criticisms about the practice – represent patients as well as enabling them to understand the practice’s point of view
• Provide a means for patients to make positive suggestions about the practice and their own healthcare
• Help develop the practice survey and review/discuss the results of any practice surveys and help to develop an action plan as required.

Membership

Membership of the group is voluntary and open to all patients registered at the practice; however there should ideally be a good demographic spread to represent the practice population.

The group will elect a Chair, who should be a patient registered at the practice. The practice administrator will act as Secretary and will take the minutes which will be circulated to all members and made available to any patients on request.

The meetings will be attended by the practice administrator and at least one GP. Other members of the practice team may be invited to attend to discuss specific issues.

The meeting will be held when four or more members of the group excluding the designate manager and GP are in attendance.

You can become a member of our PPG by completing our online form.

Frequency of Meetings

The group will meet at least four times each year, but there are plans to establish an on-line forum for the exchange of views and information outside of these meetings.

Additional meetings could be arranged as and when necessary.

Review of Terms of Reference

The terms of reference will be reviewed on an annual basis.