Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership
Dr R. Rajan, Dr S. Narasimhan, Dr E. Sheppard, Dr S. Crowley,
Dr L. Gillespie, Dr J. Andrews, Dr J. Wills, Dr K Naineni

Patient Participation Group 
MINUTES

Thursday 4th December 2025
6.30pm at Newick Health Centre

Present: 	Jackie Wood – Chair (JW)
		Barry Simons – (BS)
		Gab Szekely – (GS)
		Dr Ragu Rajan – Senior Partner  (RR)
		Julie Acey – Practice Manager (JAc)
		Representatives from NHSE App Team

Apologies:	Jan Groom
		Jane Leney
		Mike Gadd
		Becky Dilley
		Colin Webb
		Heather Ward

	Agenda Item		
1	Welcome and Introductions. Review minutes of last meeting

	JW welcomed the group to the meeting, introductions were made and apologies given.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed to be an accurate reflection of the meeting.

BS expressed his dissatisfaction with the merged PPG and spoke about how he feels numbers are too small, hence why there are just 3 members present at this meeting.

JW/RR agreed that perhaps it would be a good time to review to PPG set up, but perhaps at the next meeting with greater representation.

BS went to ask about the PPG Newsletter which doesn’t yet appear to have been created or published.  JAc explained that this was produced by the previous chair and should be part of the role of the committee to decide who is responsible for the creation.  JW agreed to take this away. (a copy of the newsletter once created is to be sent to Lauren Smith at NHSE via JAc)
	
2	NHS App	RR outlined the details of a pilot scheme the practice has been working on in conjunction with NHS England over recent months.  

The pilot, which went live on the day of the meeting, will provide the patient population of Wealden Ridge access to same day urgent access to a GP via the NHS App.

Previously, patients were required to request on the day urgent access either via the reception team or a QR code obtained from the practice website.  This pilot will now allow patients to access the provider of this service (Visiba Care) directly from the homepage of their NHS App.  Following completion of the request by the patient, the request is forwarded electronically to the duty doctor at the practice and the appropriate action taken, ie: same day appointment at any of the 4 sites or an appointment a day or two ahead depending on the clinical need.

This of course will free up the reception team and the phone lines to attend to patients who do not have access to a smart device, also whilst giving patients with access to a smart device a more streamlined route to access on the day assessment.

The practice is encouraging all patients who are able to, to sign up to the NHS App to enable a more convenient access point to the practice.

The practice stressed that this service is for on the day urgent access, appointments for reviews, follow up and all non-urgent appointments are still available to book ahead, on-line via the NHS App or Patient Access, or via the reception team.

The NHS App team have been present in the practices this week talking to patients to understand their views and experiences.  This is in addition to a similar fact finding exercise earlier in the Summer, a further visit by NHSE will be planned for the Spring to again talk to patients to gain an insight into their experience.

This pilot is expected to be rolled out across all practices in the future.	
2	Practice update
AI triage in Primary Care
Change of main site	JAc advised of changes to the practice workforce:
•	Dr Sherlock has commenced her maternity leave.  Her clinical sessions are being covered by two regular locums
•	Dr Hannah Barnard (former trainee with the practice) is joining as a sessional GP with effect from January. Dr Barnard will be based at the Newick/Chailey site

Friends and Family test results for November showed another positive month with 94% patients rating our service either good or very good.

The committee and colleagues from NHSE suggested that a comparison of results is made following go-live of the NHS App/same day access. ACTION: JAc/SL

Change to main practice site
JAc/RR advised the committee that the Integrated Care Board (ICB/NHS Sussex) has confirmed approval of the application for Newick to become the main practice site of Wealden Ridge.  This decision was taken as the senior management team are located at the Newick site.

Patient DNA Figures
Figures for the recent months are reported as follows:
	
GP hrs lost	
Nursing hrs lost	

Sept 2025	
19.66	
24.83	

Oct 2025	
26.17	
42.67	

Nov 2025	
19	
34.5	

The committee spoke about ways in which these numbers can be reduced, including:
•	Same day reminder text
•	Option to text “cancel” upon receipt of reminder
ACTION: practice to review text messaging options	
3	The new GP contract	BS presented a very concise breakdown of the NHS 10 year plan to go into the PPG Newsletter once created.
	
5	Vaccination policy going forward	BS raised this agenda item on behalf of CW, regarding the reduction of the flu vaccination this current season and patients affected by this.

RR/JAc explained that in the previous two years the practice has experienced a financial loss due to the low uptake of vaccination and to avoid wastage reduced the order for this year.  However, it was accepted that in sending the bulk of invitations by text message meant that a number of patients in the upper age bracket had not managed to secure a vaccine at the practice, the practice apologised for this oversight, and offered assurances that the process will be reviewed for next year.	
6	AOB

	JW raised the subject of a directory of services in the local communities for clinician as well as patient awareness.  Discussion was had around the role of the social prescribers in the practice who JAc agreed to put in touch with JW. ACTION: JAc

It was also noted that there doesn’t appear to be mention of the social prescribers on the practice website. ACTION: JAc/SL	
7	Date of next meeting	Thursday 5th March 6.30pm Heathfield Surgery