Patient Participation Group

Your PPG is here to make services at Balmore Park surgery better for everyone. Your views and experiences matter – we’re here to represent you.

What is a PPG?

The Patient Participation Group (PPG) is here to make this GP practice work better for everyone. We are a group of Balmore Park Surgery patients. We work with GPs and staff at this practice to improve local services and the quality of care. We aim to:

  • improve communication with patients
  • make sure the practice is accountable and responsive to patient needs
  • promote health and wellbeing

What do PPG members do?

PPG members suggest ideas for improvements. We speak up with any concerns about how services are organised or managed. We’re the voice of all Balmore Park patients, so you can have a say in the way your GP surgery delivers services to meet your needs.

How does the PPG work?

Our PPG includes patients (or carers who use the practice), the GP practice manager, and a GP partner. We meet regularly at the surgery to talk about current issues. We also plan to involve a wider group of patients, using e-mail to share news and ask for their views. The PPG is led by patients, not the doctors or practice manager. Their role is to help and support the PPG, and to work in partnership with the group.

What sort of things does the PPG do for me?

  • We give feedback to the doctors and practice manager about the patient experience, so they can make changes if needed
  • We carry out patient surveys, asking a larger group of patients for their views about services, so we can discuss the results at PPG meetings
  • We help the practice and local people communicate. Our members are involved in neighbourhood groups and their local communities, so they hear what people want and can share information both ways
  • We support the surgery with organising health promotion days and annual flu jab clinics
  • We keep an eye on the practice website to make sure it gives all the up-to-date information that patients need in a way that’s easy to understand
  • We review information about the number of complaints and common complaints made to the surgery. We make sure the practice is paying attention to them (the PPG doesn’t deal with individual patient complaints – these must go through the GP practice’s complaints process)
  • If the practice is inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC – a national inspection agency) the PPG chair and other members are usually asked for their views

How does the PPG include my views?

If you have any general issues you’d like to raise, or suggestions to help us reach and represent patients from our whole community, please get in touch.

Contact

The Chair and secretary of the PPG will read your email. We treat it confidentially: we won’t tell anyone else your name if we discuss your issue at the PPG meeting.

Please note: we don’t deal with clinical issues or individual patient complaints.

Can I become a PPG member?

Yes, please email [email protected]