12 years of the Balham Park Surgery Patient Liaison Group

Our patient group was initiated in February 2000 but its origins lay in four earlier meetings organised by Natalie Goldsmid-Whyte, then Practice Manager, who recognised the value of patient involvement. It was always her intention that any group should be patient led and following the formation of an ad hoc committee in September 1999, a more formal organisation was set up.

The fundamental aims were

• To provide an information service which would give patients better access to the services they need and
• To increase patient involvement and interest in working collaboratively to improve primary healthcare and good health.

From the start it was the intention to communicate with and involve as many patients as possible. BPSPLG’s membership is now “opt in” for new patients. We currently have 3000+ members most of whom receive the regular BPSPLG newsletters and notifications of special events by email with the rest by normal post. Newsletters are also distributed via the surgery and can be read on this site.

The BPSPLG Notice board prominently positioned in the waiting area in the surgery displays the committee contact list and current notices. Anyone wanting to get in touch with BPSPLG can leave a note for the committee at Reception-we have our own mailbox which is checked regularly.

What We Do Now

From the beginning we have held monthly meetings which are open to any patient to attend although there has always been a nucleus group of “committee members” who attend regularly and carry out the administrative duties involved in running the group.

These meetings are also attended by a Clinician, the Managing Partner and staff members, demonstrating it truly is a liaison group.

We have Strategic Objectives which underpin our annual action plans. These are currently being reviewed by the committee with a view to revising them following a workshop in March this year. These were addressed at the November 2010 meeting. The 2011 AGM took place on 11th May.

We hold an Annual Open Meeting at which we report on the previous year’s activities, seek patient views on revised objectives and ideas for the coming year and usually invite a guest speaker alongside clinical representatives from the surgery. These have included amongst others our local MPs, both Sadiq Khan and his predecessor Tom Cox, Melba Wilson, a former Chair of Wandsworth Primary Care Trust and James Cousins, a former Chair of Wandsworth Overview and Scrutiny Committee who in 2005 presented the Royal College of General Practitioners Quality Award to the Practice. Our most recent Annual Meeting occurred in May 2010.

In recent years we have taken an active part in a variety of NHS consultations that were held both local to Wandsworth as well as national and pan London. Examples include The pre consultation Let’s talk Health in South Wandsworth, the Battersea and North Wandsworth consultation, The Removal of Services from Bolingbroke Hospital, the full South Wandsworth consultation, and Healthcare for London (the Darzi Report Consulting the Capital). In all cases we arranged for representatives from the PCT or St George’s Hospital to make their cases to us at meetings at the surgery.

We have held two to three educational talks a year usually given by Practice Clinicians or Nurses on a wide range of health topics suggested by patients at the Annual Meetings ranging from, for example, complementary therapies to Breast Cancer, Men’s Health to Sensory Deprivation.

We have published 2/3 newsletters per annum covering matters local to the surgery as well as providing coverage of NHS and PCT issues pertinent to us as patients. The content, editing and distribution is undertaken entirely by members of the group.

Notable Achievements

Notable achievements include the 2002 Royal College of General Practitioners Patient Participation Award which enabled us to equip and run yoga classes for patients referred by clinicians. These proved so popular that the classes have continued to the present. Class members now contribute to the cost and classes have expanded to two a week.

Another notable success related to the defence of the early morning and late night surgeries of the Practice in 2005. The Primary Care Trust attempted to remove the funding for that service and the successful outcome of our campaign to preserve it went to the heart of what the Liaison Group could achieve on behalf of all patients. It involved taking the matter amongst others to the Wandsworth Overview and Scrutiny Committee as well as involving local media and BBC London radio and TV.

We also organised and hosted back in 2003 a Patient Participation outreach seminar, with the Primary Care Trust’s backing, for patients and staff from other practices, to share our early experiences of setting up BPSPLG.

Funding

A huge challenge from the start was the funding of our activities. We were launched with £1,000 from the Practice. In subsequent years we obtained grants from the Primary Care Group and its successor the Primary Care Trust, and the Community Empowerment Network. This required considerable effort on our part and we held a workshop in 2006 to share our experience with other recently established patient groups. This led to our successfully fronting an application on the part of four groups to the PCT Charitable Trust Fund.

We are funded currently by a three year recurring grant, approved by the PCT, obtained from the Practice’s Freed Up Resources which should last until 2012. However, there is now uncertainty regarding this grant in view of the impending changes to the PCT and we are still waiting for our 2010 tranche. This may prove to be our next major challenge.

The Future...

BPSPLG has existed through a period of considerable growth by the Practice, especially after its move to the current premises. Our original challenge was to recruit members and, despite the large database, the recruitment of active members is still a major challenge. Active members are essential if we are to achieve the aims which have underpinned our existence as a patient group. Our record over the first decade illustrates what can be achieved and, given all the changes occurring in the provision of health care locally, there is considerable opportunity and indeed need for patient involvement. We are optimistic and look forward to the next decade.

If you are a patient and would like to volunteer to help with things such as minute taking of meetings, preparation of refreshments, envelope stuffing or indeed you would like to just come along to hear what is going on in this practice and the wider NHS, we would love to hear from you.

BPSPLG will be helping the practice plan priorities to conduct a patient survey this year with the aim of gaining a wider viewpoint. Please review this site again for further updates.