PATIENT PARTNERSHIP GROUP
Minutes of Meeting
3rd August 2026
- Present: JM, BD, MF,YT, and JC Apologies: SL, MB, CB, SF, JmG, AG/DOD,IA, BH
- Minutes of last meeting June 22nd 26 approved
3. Matters Arising
PPG paused to remember JG, our previous chair, long-time member of the PPG and patient and friend of the MHC. All acknowledged her commitment to helping the practice improve care for patients, making sure the patient voice was heard and always considered. She will be sadly missed by all.
JC explained that on the 25th May each year we have a remembrance event where staff stop to remember all MHC patients and staff who have died. We do it on this day as it is the birthday of a young patient who died from cancer and he used to bring fun to his day by wearing odd socks. Staff gather and wear odd socks. (we then take a photo and send a’ in memory card’ to his mum which she so appreciates). Next year we will wear very/extra bright odd socks, and perhaps a dash of bright red lipstick in memory of JG.
4.CORA Health Dan Bourke, operations manager and Sarah Wilson, senior clinical deliver manager, attended in response to a complaint PPG submitted to the ICB commissioners.
JM welcomed Dan and Sarah and thanked them for attending. JM explained that at all stakeholder events MHC PPG have attended patients raise concerns about CORA Health. Many MHC PPG members have concerns about services received to date. Rather than constantly grumble with no outcome MHC PPG wrote the complaint in the hope of some improvements to the service.
Dan presented a slide show to describe the CORA MSK service and various pathways. Q &A session followed
Dan confirmed that the PurePhysio service, which is the physios MHC can book directly into, based in GP surgeries at MHC/local to MHC are not part of the CORA service. This system works well because the physios are based at and work alongside the GP team and we can control bookings directly from our system. Feedback from patients on this service is always very good.
Q-JC described a frustration for staff when patients are sent a link to an appointment by text and a discharge text the same day discharging them back to their GP. Also many patients are away when the text arrives and when they call 2 weeks later they are told to go back to their GP. This creates a lot of work for the GP and admin team.
A-Dan confirmed that once patients are referred the referral stays open for 6 months and they can call and book an appointment at any time within the 6 months. If patients have self-referred and are discharged for not responding the call centre team should help them re refer should a patient call them to do so (because they already have key information re self referring is easier).
Q-YT asked if they can make the forms the patient needs to complete easier and less confusing. Can patients opt out of having to include information used for research? If so it appears as if you need to complete the answers for research to continue. Does anyone read the information provided because the clinician you see does not seem to know any of it.
- Dan confirmed that patients can opt out of the research questions and they can make sure its clearer that the patient aware this does not mean you cannot continue with the questionnaire. CORA will look at the questionnaire to make sure it is clear and user friendly and Dan confirmed the clinicians do read the information
Q– YT asked why do weget contacted by CORA through different address/contact forms and please don’t say appointment if the consultation will be by telephone-please say telephone appointment
- Dan said he will take back the comment about making sure people understand the difference between telephone and face to face appointments. CORA do send patients texts and emails and this may be from different email addresses –one is a link to exercises from a therapist and one is from the central booking team. The only address CORA should write from is the CORA main address. Details are on their website
Q- MF asked why do CORA provide pain relief services when there are excellent pain relief services in hospital. Why do GPs have to provide the pathway for referral to pain management.
- Sarah said that hospital pain relief is more specialised/intense and the majority of patients can be managed successfully in the community, particularly when this is not because of a permanent/long term condition. Patients are referred to CORA ( reference Dan’s slide show of pathways) for an assessment and then they decide which service is more suitable for the patient. They can refer into the hospital pain service from the onset or anytime during treatment. She acknowledges this can cause a short delay but important patients referred to the right place at the right time in their treatment journey.
Q- MF asked why when patients are referred for pain management does it take so long to get a response- otherwise we don’t know what’s happening and can holding letters have better information on what getting a holding letter means
- Sarah said this was something they can certainly look at
MF said MHC were excellent operationally and CORA would do well to learn from them.
Q- BD asked why he was sent to a service so far away. He was able to attend but many patients cant.
- Dan said premises locally is an issue but they do try to offer a service as close to the patients home address as possible.
Q- BD said when patients are asked to come back for follow up there are never appointments available. Why can the therapist not book a follow up appt himself (JC described follow up system@ MHC) YT mentioned the cancellation of clinics also case delays
A – Dan said this is something they are looking at currently. They are looking at creating cancellation clinics which are put on for cancelled patients to book into
Judith thanked Dan/Sarah for attending, Dan will send JC the slides and JC will send examples to Dan so he can use real cases to review. Action JC/Dan
5. Practice update given by JC
5.1 Staff update. F2 Drs Abbeykeith and Ghavin have now left MHC. They were engaged, proactive and excellent clinically. Both were very popular and PPG confirmed how excellent their experience was when seeing them. Hopefully being at MHC has encouraged them to consider general practice. Dr Prem, new F2, starts mid-august.
5.2 Complaint. A recent patients DNA resulted in 5 GP interactions, including a 111 call and a report to MHC from an out of hours service that the patient needed medical care which they were unable to access because MHC had no appts for 5 weeks-which was untrue. JC called the patient and explained this is not an appropriate use of GP time, and that having to wait for an apt for 5 weeks was untrue and reminded them to cancel unwanted appointments in future. The patient said JC was rude and condescending when she called. JC responded with an apology if this was the case as this was not the intention, but that she had a responsibility to explain to the patient the outcome of their actions. The patient remains unhappy with JC approach and refuses to accept her apology.
While PPG would like to think JC learns from this in regards to her approach and are pleased to note she apologised if she had been rude, they feel that the patient is responsible for failing to attend the appointment and the inappropriate time used by the actions that followed. They confirmed they had never experienced a 5 week wait for an appointment.
5.3 Services MHC patients can self-refer into is going to a be a page on our website. This will contain all information on MSK and minor eye self-referrals for example. We hope to create a handout for patients at the same time. PPG ask that this is clearly labelled ‘self-referrals’ so it is easy for patients to find and understand. Action JC
5.4. IPSOS Morai NHS National Patient Survey- PPG were sent the link so they could see the results which were very good. The practice score above national averages in all areas.
PPG noted the high scores for satisfaction with reception/access and improved scores on patients confidence and trust in the clinicians they see. The staff team are reviewing all the results and coming up with an action plans on how we can do better which we will discuss with PPG at our next meeting. https://gp-patient.co.uk/patientexperience/results?code=E87737
5.5 Friend and Family results in June – feedback was very good. One really useful comment from a patient has created a lot of discussion at the surgery. The GPs are discussing the’ one problem per appointment’ rule and the use of AI to create consultation notes.
JC explained so far the GPs are overwhelmingly in favour of not using AI transcribe services to capture a consultation and only 1 GP has a note on the door of ‘1 problem per appointment’ which she uses only if the patient is taking far too long or asking for administrative work to be discussed (forms etc). GPs are debating the 1 problem per apt rule and how they manage themselves-asking patients to list concerns so they can agree together what can/cannot be dealt with.
Some time ago PPG did work on helping patients prepare and get the most out of their consultation. JC will circulate pre the next meeting to see if PPG can create a helpful tip guide.
Action JC
6. Stakeholders
JM chaired the first meeting of the PCN PPG on 7.7.2026, 3 practices attended. JM was the only patient as other practices sent managers. Cavendish is to host the next meeting and the topic will be PCN level events. JM will also feedback on our CORA Health meeting. We are waiting for CHC to send us an invitation for the next meeting date.
7. Immunisations plan: to discuss at next meeting.
8.Event Planning and delivering MHC strategy
JC described a PCN event MHC will host which will offer NHS digital information support, cancer women’s self-testing & general screening advice and general access and services information. The homeless population are particularly catered for by being offered a free lunch and sim cards. The event is staffed by MHC, specialist nurses from the Great Chapel Street Team and NHS app ambassadors from across the North of the West End and Marylebone PCN.
Newsletter- Start to prepare the autumn/winter newsletter in august. Items to include:
Vaccination-including Flu Interactions with medication-risks vs benefits
Recording consultations Risks of over-the-counter medications like vitamins
Referrals and expectations NHS London care record/NHS app
Reception–introduce staff AccuRx –new system
Self-referral services PPG information
Action PPG to send JC items to include. JM to send her welcome and something on CORA Health’s attendance.
9. AOB Nil raised
Future meetings
14th Sept, 26th Oct and 7th Dec 2026
Practice website address: www.marylebonehealthcentre.co.uk
NHS North West London ICB