Patient Participation Group Support

This section is based on, or adapted from, Healthwatch Reading’s 2019 toolkit.

PPGs often tell us they would like to increase their membership. You can read how two PPGs successfully did this on our website (Haddenham PPG and Amersham Health Centre PPG).

We’ve also heard from Shelly and Diane about why they joined their PPG.

From our survey we know that PPGs use a variety of ways to recruit members.

Posters, leaflets and using new patient registration were the most common. Other approaches include:

• newsletters
• face to face
• five PPGs use the practice website
• the waiting room TV screen.

Handy Hints for PPG promotion

Letting people know about your PPG

Using Social Media to promote your PPG

Producing posters and leaflets to promote your PPG

Promoting the PPG on the practice website

Holding a PPG promotion event

This section is based on, or adapted from, Healthwatch Reading’s 2019 toolkit.

It may be that you’re thinking about what’s right for your PPG or considering new ways to run the group. Perhaps the first step would be to call a meeting of interested patients to talk about what sort of PPG they want and what it should do?

This section gives some hints and tips for setting up and running meetings that might help.

Preparing for the meeting

When and where

Most PPGs meet at their surgery. This usually means it is convenient for people to get to and easily accessible for people with disabilities.

Identify who will chair and take notes for the meeting.

Dates and times of meetings should be advertised well in advance, so people can arrange to be available and have an opportunity to prepare for the meeting.

Ground rules

It may be helpful to agree some ground rules for PPG meetings. This could include the following:

• We recognise that this meeting is not a forum for individual complaints and single issues.
• We aim to start and finish on time and stick to the agenda.
• We aim to avoid disruptions to the meeting including the use of mobile phones.
• We respect all members of the group – all views are valid and will be listened to; one person speaks at a time; questions and contributions are usually directed through the chair of the meeting.
• Silence tends to indicate agreement.
• We recognise that constructive, honest debate is useful.

Terms of Reference

Each PPG should prepare and agree a simple constitution or ‘terms of reference’. This should be reviewed regularly and made available to new members of the group.

The terms of reference should include an outline of:

• the vision, objectives, the work of the group (what it will do)
• roles and responsibilities within the group and who can take part)
• how the group will work (eg how often it will meet).

There are example terms of reference and templates in several PPGs toolkits. For example, in Healthwatch Reading’s 2019 toolkit.

Confidentiality

The PPG may sometimes discuss confidential GP business (but not confidential patient information). In such cases the practice may ask PPG members to sign a confidentiality agreement. The practice should explain the details and purpose before asking members to sign.

Having a chair

A chair makes a valuable contribution to the group. Where possible the chair should be a patient. A person who is new to this type of role might ask the chair of another PPG to mentor them informally. Or they may find support from someone who has a similar role in another community group.

The agenda

(From Healthwatch Reading’s 2019 toolkit)

The agenda is an important part of the PPG meeting. It sets out what the group will discuss and what actions need to be taken or agreed. A good agenda will keep members interested and support the aims of the meetings.

Preparing the meeting agenda

The minutes

At each meeting someone should make a note of what is discussed and agreed. The PPG may elect a secretary to do this.

Keeping minutes from the meeting

Check what others are doing in your area

• Sign up to our monthly newsletter here to learn more about other PPG activities. It will also give you all latest news about Bucks health and social care services.
• Check the Bucks CCG PPG webpage.
• The Bucks CCG website also gives information on other Bucks health-related topics.

Meet with other PPG members

Bucks CCG is encouraging PPGs to meet with other PPGs in their local area.

GP practices are now grouped into Primary Care Networks (PCNs). See the “Getting involved with the Primary Care Networks in your area” section below.

Benefits of collaboration with other PPGs

Bucks CCG Patient Participation Group Network

As a PPG representative you can join the Bucks CCG Patient Participation Group Network which meets twice a year.

The Network helps the two-way flow of information between the CCG and the wider population. It’s one way for the CCG to let people know about their activities and give news about local health services. It’s also your chance to feed your PPG’s views back to the CCG.

More details about the network are on the Bucks CCG PPG webpage.

Find out what’s going on nationally

National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) members can attend their annual national conference. The website provides details https://www.napp.org.uk/conference.html.

We asked Bucks PPGs what they did in our 2018 survey. We took the list of activities from Healthwatch Reading’s 2019 toolkit.

The top activities that PPGs told us about were:

• providing feedback to the practice about the patient experience
• helping with communication between the practice and the local population
• providing other practical support to the practice
• reviewing the practice website from time to time to ensure that it provides information that patients require and can understand
• contributing if the practice is inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• helping to design and carry out patient surveys, asking for local views about services
• organising health promotion events for patients.

You can read more about some of these activities on our website:

• What you can do for your GP Practice (and what your GP Practice can do for you)
• Setting up and running a pop-up café for the community
• Encouraging people to look after themselves
• Helping patients to get online
• See how one patient group increased their membership through Facebook…
• Patient group improves privacy in GP reception
• The work of PPGs during the Spring 2020 lockdown

We also published a case study:

Getting to know your practice staff

Keep checking back because we’ll be adding new examples as we hear about them.

GP practices are now grouped into Primary Care Networks (PCNs). You can also find out more about PCNs on the Bucks CCG webpage. We know that many PPGs are getting together with others in their area and engaging with their PCN.

This is a great opportunity for PPGs to represent the views of the patients from their surgery and the wider local community as the PCN develops its new services. We’ve written about what a PCN will be offering.

We also have examples of how PPGs are working with PCNs across the county. We have updates on:

• Launch of Dashwood PCN
• Inaugural meeting for South Bucks PCN Patient Participation Group
• Aylesbury Vale South PCN
• PCN-PPG meetings in Aylesbury and Arc Bucks PCNs
• Launch of the Mid Chiltern PCN

And there’s also a blog from North Buckinghamshire Patient Support

The practice manager will be able provide guidance on the collection and storage of contact information and personal details that people are asked to provide when registering their interest to join the PPG.

Social media (such as Twitter and Facebook) can be a great way to share information with PPG members or a wider patient group. It can also help you increase your membership because some people may prefer to engage through social media. We’ve put together some simple guidelines should help to avoid some of the possible pitfalls.

Download the guides below:

Getting started with Mailchimp

Using Facebook Groups & Pages

Using Twitter

• A good place to start is the National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) https://www.napp.org.uk/index.html. A range of materials can be accessed by joining N.A.P.P for an annual fee. Some resources are free https://www.napp.org.uk/healthyppgs.html.
• Healthwatch Reading have also produced a great toolkit. This includes advice and templates for agendas and minutes https://healthwatchreading.co.uk/report/2019-02-01/healthwatch-reading-ppg-toolkit

Other local Healthwatch have also produced helpful guides or toolkits. These include:

• Healthwatch Barnet – http://www.healthwatchbarnet.co.uk/patient-participation
• Brighton and Hove – Patient and Participation Group Toolkit – Step One
• Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Healthwatch Peterborough – http://www.healthwatchcambridgeshire.co.uk/patient-participation-toolkit.