Martin Smethers
Member of
The Fordingbridge Surgery
Patient Participation Group

The Fordingbridge Surgery
• Rural Practice on the edge of the New
Forest with several outlying villages
• Some 12,400 patients on the patient list
• 10 GP’s
• 2 Nurse Practioners
• 6 Nurses

Aims
• Unless you have the Practice staff, Doctors,
Nurses and admin on side, then you are on
a hiding to nothing
• The Practice and the PPG work in
harmony, rather like a marriage
• Openness is essential
• We are lucky in this respect

Aims
• The PPG are not there to resolve individual
complaints, the Practice have procedures
in place for this
• We are not going to change the World
rather …
• We are there to help the Practice to make
the best of the resources they have
available to them for the benefit of all the
patients

The PPG in Fordingbridge
• Formed in 2011
• Virtual membership has increased from
181 in the first year to 688 currently
• Executive Steering Group consisting of 6
patients, 2 GPs, the Practice Manager and
her PA, meet every 4 - 6 weeks

Executive Steering Group
• Good leadership
• Keep number small and workable, large
numbers are not essential, but quality is in
order to complete tasks
• Leave meetings with defined objectives
agreed and progress them

Communications
• Virtual members are contacted on a regular
basis, others by email or post
• Newsletter twice a year
• Shorter Bulletins twice a year in between
• 2 Public Health meetings a year, covering
topical subjects, a Q&A session, where
patients can “have their say”
• Membership leaflet explaining what the PPG
is, what we do and how. Also included in new
patients packs

Communications
• Insertions in Local parish magazines
• Posters around the town and villages
• Videos on the media boards in the surgery
waiting rooms
• We always ask for feedback and comments
to be forthcoming
• An Annual Survey. This year we handed
out 1,000 and received back 643, a 64%
return.