Translate

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

Our Patient Participation Group (PPG) meet every 2 months to provide a forum for discussion about the practice.

About our Patient Participation Group

The PPG meet 2 monthly and hold an Annual General Meeting, which normally occurs in May. Membership is for three years renewable. The Chair is currently Sue Lake who has many years’ experience working within the NHS.

The group comprises the Practice Manager and patients with a broad range of life and work experiences, reflecting many of the diverse needs of the Practice. We aim to develop a positive and constructive relationship between patients, the Practice and the community it serves.

By developing and improving communications between patients and the Practice, the Group provides an avenue for patients’ input into the way facilities and services are planned and executed and to influence those services to better support patient needs.

We provide constructive feedback on patient and community needs, concerns and interests, and support by collecting patient opinions and experiences to help the practice to evaluate its services. The Group has also organised educational events for patients and helped with surveys of patients' satisfaction.

There are no membership requirements except that members must be patients registered with the practice. PPG members should as far as possible, be representative of the practice population and include people from different genders, ages, ethnicities, disabilities and health needs. Membership of the Core Group is limited to 9.

Latest Meeting Minutes

Date: Tuesday 9th September 2025 started at 1pm ended at 2pm
Location: Norman Centre, Public Hall
Present: Chris Kitson (CK); David Forward (DF); Peter Frean (PF); Robert Harland (RH); Sue Lake (SL); Jacqui Ruhlig (JR); Judy Walker (JW); Lynette Oram (LO); Lisa Smallacombe (LS) (Minutes)
Absent: Mark McGlade (MM); Liz Plaatsman (LP); Debbie Mitchell (DM); Julia Vaughan Smith (JVS)

1. Welcome and Apologies

Apologies received from MM, LP, JVS and DM

2. Previous Minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting (1st July) have been circulated to all members and agreed to be a true account of proceedings.

Action update. SL joined Christy Thurlow of the PCN to help with the composition of an information leaflet for patients about use of SystemOne, MyCare and the NHS app. This was issued with the recent PPG Newsletter. The Group valued the input of Christy from the PCN and she has been invited to attend PPG meetings when she is available.

3. Practice Update

LS: With the summer holidays being over and the return of Dr Craven from maternity leave the practice has good staffing levels. However there is the return of some sickness as children bring bugs home from school. Dr Zeshan Griffen (Zee) has joined the practice as registrar and will be with us for the next year.

4. Friends and Family test update

This will be available at the next meeting

5. PPG Member Feedback

PF: positive comments about the newsletter which the group felt was heartwarming. On further discussion about the Newsletter it was agreed that too many are being printed and that the A5 ones were difficult to read. RH commented that it was difficulty to differentiate between the previous and new newsletter as they look very similar being of the same colour. It was agreed that alternate colours or may be 3 different colours as there are 3 newsletters a year, would be useful. LS will look into ordering some coloured paper for the next newsletter.

LO: provided positive feedback regarding the callback system and that her call was answered efficiently. She has encouraged patients to use this and this was agreed by the group. This was agreed by the board and CK also feels that the calls are answered quickly in the morning despite your number in the queue indicating that there are quite a number of people ahead of you.

LO has also been showing patients how to view their test results etc online with positive results and this should also be encouraged by the group. RH brought up that seeing ‘abnormal but expected’, is confusing and can cause worry. LO and several other members thought that there was a note added by the GP to say not action required. SL will liaise with the surgery to see if there can be any change to this message to make it less worrying.

CK: praised the call back system and a member of the reception team who was very welcoming on the front desk. LS asked for permission to feed this back to the team member which was given, several PPG members have also found this person to be particularly helpful.

6. Patient Talk: Room 17 at Seachange has been booked for 7 October 2025 at 6pm and will seat 45. Tickets are available from the reception desk. Discuss advertising and logistics

LS advised that so far 26 tickets have been issued. RH asked if members should get a ticket however it was agreed that there would be enough room for members to attend this event without the need for a ticket and so enable the maximum number of the public to attend.

SL praised the use of the room at Seachange as a good venue for talks owing to the set up of the room and accessibility. Mark from Seachange will arrange the chairs and leave a trolley for dishes that will need to be returned to reception/kitchen at the end of the meeting. When members of the public arrive, they will be able to buy refreshments as required from the café which will be open from 5pm. Mark will also set up the large TV screen.

Things to Organise/think about:

Advertise, SL will liaise with DM/LS re printing posters but please will PPG members advise SL in the next few days of the number of posters they need for the areas they plan to put them up.
Volunteers from the board to man the door for tickets, names to SL please
Parking should be straight forward
There will be no interval at the request of Dr Dyer
SL will arrange for PPG information to be readily available to promote the group and try to recruit new members.

It is expected that this will be a popular event, the topic being dizziness and falls. LO asked if there was an age range for this. SL stated there was no age range but this does tend to effect the older generation more frequently.

7. Any Other Business

SL: On the 15th October 5.30pm. Seachange will be hosting a drink and nibbles session for Budleigh Connected. This is for all groups who provide support to the residents of Budleigh. SL has been invited but not sure she is able to make it. LO and JW will attend this on behalf of the PPG. They will need to be there at 5pm for 5.30pm start.

SL: raised and issue that has been brought to her attention with the EDCC Red Button Service (Home Safeguard). The out of hours service is administered by call handlers who are not based in the local area. Concerns arise from being taken to A&E unnecessarily and, if the person is taken to A&E, not having time to gather sufficient warm clothing, handbags/wallets, hearing aids and walking aids. In addition, people are unaware that they will need £40.00 for a taxi home if they are discharged from A&E. There is also confusion over the process used to contact family or friends who are listed as first contacts for this service. SL is trying to contact the manager of this service and arrange for them to attend to a PPG Meeting to talk about how the service is run and discuss potential problems. CK has volunteered to try and help contact this person as well.

CK: raised the issue of the change in phone lines (the removal of copper wire and move to digital) and appealed to the group that they may need to help patients with this change as it is not straight forward. SK also advised that Seachange is running information sessions for local residents, as are various other local charities.

8. Next meeting:

Tuesday 4 November 2025.

Further Information

Latest Newsletter

See our latest newsletter

Committee Members

Chair Person

Sue Lake

Vice Chair Person

David Forward

Members

Peter Frean
Robert Harland
Chris Kitson
Mark McGlade
Deborah Mitchell (Secretary, Practice Manager)
Lynette Oram
Liz Plaatsman
Jacqui Ruhlig
Julia Vaughan-Smith
Judy Wright

Contact the PPG

Patient Participation Group
Budleigh Salterton Medical Centre
1 The Lawn
Budleigh Salterton
Devon
EX9 6LS

Patient Group post-box in the Medical Centre.

Constitution

Name: Budleigh Salterton Medical Centre Patient Group
Association: The Group will maintain regular communications with both local and national organisations as appropriate.

Objectives of the Patient Group

1. Communication

Members of The Group should act as a two-way communication channel between the Practice and the community in order to help patients use facilities to the best advantage and the Practice to implement policies influenced by representative patient views. The Group is not a complaints processing organisation.

The Group may from time to time conduct surveys in conjunction with the Practice.
The Group will produce a regular newsletter to keep patients informed and made aware of health news concerning patients and the Practice
The Group will encourage patients to put ideas and questions to the Practice and for the Practice to respond in a reasonable manner

2. Community 'Needs'

The Group will have a role in assisting in any assessment of community ‘needs’ to help the Practice improve its service.
The Group will develop and promote ways for patients to help one another in times of medical need and to develop a community spirit amongst patients.
The Group will actively assist the Practice and the Woodbury, Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton (WEB) locality commissioning group to assess patient needs in the community so as to ensure that appropriate resources may be applied locally to changing needs and requirements.
The Group will be informed of the general practice policies relating to the Locality Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to which the Practice belongs. The Group will express opinions on these policies on behalf of the patients. The Practice will give appropriate consideration to these opinions within their CCG.

3. Health Education

The Group will work with the Practice to encourage health education needs in the community in order for the Practice to provide appropriate and useful community health education meetings.
The Group will help patients become more informed and educated about their health and healthcare, by providing means for the effective dissemination of health and care information of all kinds.

4. Membership

Membership and election to the group shall be open and free to all patients and staff of the Practice.

5. Annual General Meeting (AGM)

A meeting open to all patients shall be held annually. Notice of the day, time and place will be given via notice boards and Practice Newsletter. At least fourteen days’ notice of the meeting and venue will be given.
The Committee chair or his/her appropriate substitute shall present at each AGM a report on the activities of the Group and its own proceedings during the previous year with a statement of accounts (if applicable) and proposed future plans and developments and will conduct an election to fill the vacancies on the Group’s committee. If there are more than three nominations a paper ballot will be held for Practice patients in attendance.

Constitution and conduct of the committee

The business of the Group will be conducted by a committee of elected and co-opted members and non-voting representatives of the practice including whenever possible a partnership doctor.
The committee will comprise nine members who shall be patients of the practice, at least two of whom shall be non-residents of Budleigh Salterton and shall be appointed by nomination to and election by the patients present at the annual meeting of the patients of the practice. In the event that not all nine members are appointed at the AGM, the Committee may co-opt additional members at the earliest convenience.
An elected member shall serve for three years and to ensure the continuity of the committee three of the members will be elected each year to the vacancies caused by the time limit.
The committee may co-opt additional members for specific purposes or to fill a vacancy.
A quorum for decisions at a meeting shall consist of four voting members plus one of the officers.
The Committee shall meet at least four times a year and be responsible for organising and calling the AGM of patients.
At the first meeting of the Committee after the patients’ AGM they may appoint a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Secretary for the ensuing year. The Secretary may or may not be an elected member of the committee.