MARYLEBONE HEALTH CENTRE
PATIENT PARTNERSHIP GROUP
Minutes of Meeting
22nd June 2026
1. Present: JM, BD, MB,BH,MF,YT,SL and JC Apologies: SF,CB,JG,JmG,AG/DOD
2. Minutes of last meeting May 11th 2026 -approved
3. Matters Arising
Cora Health cancelled attendance and will attend August meeting by zoom–Action JC to send a reminder
4. Practice update
4.1 Staff update
4.1.1 GPs
Dr Alex Telfer replaces Dr Bhudia and starts Thursdays from 24th June.
New funding stream, which enables practices to engage short term GPs will be utilised by MHC.
We have 5 male GPs and 4 female GPs and every day we have a male and female GP working
4.1.2 Reception
Katie due back from maternity leave in 2 weeks, although she has reduced her hours and Bushra, who was her cover, has now left. We have a part time male receptionist called Reda who will be covering Shelan who leaves for maternity leave.
BD felt there seemed to be a quick turnover of receptionists. JC acknowledged it may feel like that but Katie has been with the surgery over 8 years, Rejia, Shelan and Melissa over 3 years. Bushra did 3-year cover for 2 staff maternity leave periods. Reda is now in place to cover Shelan’s leave with a 6-week handover/training period and Vas replaced some of Katie’s hours as she settles back to work. JC reminded PPG that staff take it in turns to work the front desk and the telephones from the back office so patients see a rotation of staff.
4.2 New Service – Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic (CRM)
A new enhanced health check is offered across all North West London practices including MHC. This is a proactive review to identify those at most risk of developing a cardiac, renal/liver or diabetes condition. Those considered high risk, due to having a number of chronic illnesses, are not high risk for these checks as they had medical problems coded; so we are now seeing patients we may not usually be screened.
4.3 Minor injury unit at St Charles
A patients recently attended the minor injury unit at St Charles and was told that St Charles is no longer commissioned as a minor injury service for Westminster residents. PPG were concerned if this was the case. JC heard from Commissioners that the service is still available for Westminster residents and PPG will monitor if more patients return to MHC having been told the same thing.
4.4. Resident Dr strikes
Drs strikes had been planned but the Residents had been told by the BMA they did not need to tell the surgery whether they were striking or not. The surgery took the decision to cancel appointments and then the Residents turned up for work. A doctor was unwell so a combination of changes, reversing changes and clinic cancellations meant multiple changes for some patients who were very understanding and we are pleased that we were able to accommodate all patients within the week.
4.5 AccuRx
This is the system the surgery use to send links for patients to book appointments and send in photos. They offer an ‘e consultation’ system which is replacing PATCHs across Central London Practices. The system allows patients to free text, is not as template and lands straight into the practice system. MHC chose this system rather than PATCHs because it integrates with S1, less risk of missing PATCHs and easier for patients and staff to use. PATCHs will stop working around mid-July and changes will be advertised clearly to patients
4.6 Feedback from recent complaints:
- Px attended hospital post a GP referral and patient understood from discussions with GP that the hospital would not require more tests, which they did, and so patient unhappy. PPG agreed hospitals create treatment/care plans post receipt of the referral, which is out of the scope of the surgery. They suggest GPs explain this to patients who ask what they may expect to avoid misunderstanding.
- Px attended practice expecting blood tests to be performed which were requested by the hospital, and the nurse performed tests expected by the GP/practice. Px was not explicit when she attended and nurse just asked patient to confirm she was here for bloods, patient said yes and allowed tests to be taken and her complaint was she did not give consent for the GP required blood tests only hospital tests. PPG felt patient should have been explicit when she gave consent if she was only happy for certain tests to be performed but suggested staff check ‘so your here for bloods Dr … requested’ as routine which may help future misunderstandings
- Dr wrote Px appeared intoxicated in a patients notes. Px said they was not and GP agreed to add an addendum saying patient disputes and said she wasn’t. PPG discussed importance of the GPs impression of patients when they attend and thought if a GP thought a patient appeared intoxicated it was important they note this, and they noted GP did not say Px was drunk, so this was an impression. Some medical conditions can make Pxs appear intoxicated and it maybe missed if this is not noted.
- Discussion about recent presentation from a patient who developed statin induced neuropathy. JC explained this is a highly unusual side effect and the GPs at MHC had discussed how they might counsel patients on side effects and risks vs benefits when starting new medication so patients can make informed choices. It would not have changed this case but we all recognise the importance of making an informed choice. PPG suggested GPs always send information about new medication when starting so patients can read more about it if they want to.
4.7 Friend and Family results in May
Feedback was very good. To note some patients didn’t tick the box for how likely to recommend so numbers may seem slightly different.41/44 patients were happy with their experience of using the surgery, 33/37 were likely to recommend the surgery to their family and friends. Comments noted to consider which the practice will discuss:
- Reception to tell patients when booking smear tests to make sure the visit is not when they are mensurating.
- Patient wanted a referral to check if she was affected by mould but GP prescribed anti-allergy medication which the patient wasn’t happy about.
- Px sent to hospital for urology exam and unhappy hospital wanted to perform a camera test.
- Surgery had not read recent updates which resulted in incorrect information in notes (MHC are unable to find out who the patient is)
Previous comments and actions reviewed
- Lift always out of service – Practice met with the landlords whose staff did some maintenance training so they can make small repairs themselves and quarterly maintenance checks by the lift manufacturer
- Patient commented that a GP was poorly prepared pre being seen and unaware of recent hospital reports. Clinicians met to review comment and agreed that it is best practice too look at previous consultations and recent letters for continuity/saves time in consultation and to support safety of Jess’ rule. NHS England » Jess’s Rule: Three strikes and we rethink
5. Stakeholders
BH said she has not heard from Healthwatch for a while and JM said we would invite them to Autumn meeting.
JM chairing PCN PPG first meeting 7.7.2026 only 3 practices PPGs attending.
6. Immunisations plan
SF attended second meeting of MHC imms working group to look at how we communicate and can improve communications about immunisations for adults and children. SF had suggestions for how we could improve the letters we send to make them clearer, informative and encouraging for patients. These are with the practice safeguarding and immunisation lead for approval. We have also looked at how we can improve information on our website and SF is working on this with Leda.
7. Event Planning and delivering MHC strategy
As part of the imms working group there was discussion about peer support and review. MHC held 2 events for mums and children to ‘drop in’ and see a GP/Nurse. We invited all parents and children under 2 but sadly no one attended apart from staff who brought their children in (see our website)
Gill is hosting her tea party on 1st July and JMcG is attending to promote PPG as he is the longest standing member. Patients receive personal invitations and tend to be those we know may feel socially isolated.
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
8. AOB
Nil raised
Future meetings
3rd Aug, 14th Sept, 26th Oct and 7th Dec 2026
Practice website address: www.marylebonehealthcentre.co.uk
NHS North West London ICB
Central London Health Care (GP Federation MHC members of) www.centrallondonhealthcare.co