To PPG or not to PPG... That is the question

Written by: C. Burke

When it comes to the PPG there seems to be three separate schools of thought:

1.       Don’t have one, don’t want one

2.       Have one, don’t want one

3.       Have one, and it actually works!

Until recent years I was inclined (like most of my PM colleagues) to attach myself to the second philosophy. We didn’t need to have a PPG according to our contract, however we had one and we would do the minimum amount of work required to keep it going. It’s a hassle, isn’t it? Members of the group thinking that they know better than the people working on the ground, with some members even using the meetings as a platform to discuss their own medical problems with one of the GPs! What a waste of our time, which is already precious…right?

As I say, I used to subscribe to the second school of thought, however about five years ago something changed. I realised that instead of fighting against the PPG, we could work with the group for the benefit of the practice, which is after all, the whole point isn’t it?

Instead of fighting them, or correcting them, we work with our PPG to help them better understand the challenges we face as a team. This work paid off, as during the pandemic we were able to voice our frustrations about patient abuse to the group and have them effectively filter out that message to our wider patient list. The message started to get through, and we found an overwhelming majority of our patients supporting the practice, and I even noticed members of the PPG correcting the assumptions and insults of other, less well-informed patients on social media.

Instead of fighting against and resisting the PPG, they have become an asset to our practice. They have consistently (covid aside) undertaken an annual in-house patient satisfaction survey for our practice, promoted new avenues for contact by our patients and have been instrumental in getting the majority of our patients signed up to online services.

Our practice currently holds one of the highest percentages of patients signed up for online access in our area, and this was extremely helpful when the pandemic hit us and suddenly traffic was being driven online to decrease the footfall in the surgery. Without the work our PPG had done in previous years, the pandemic would have looked a little different for our patients, at least initially.

During the worst moments of Covid, when GP practices were receiving higher levels of abuse than ever before, our PPG organised a meeting with our local MP to ask why the government weren’t doing more to support NHS staff who continued to work and put themselves at risk for the good of the public.

Our PPG fought our corner and led the meeting, explaining to our MP that the way in which our team were being treated was unacceptable, and that perhaps the staff in his own offices could try supporting us rather than slating us all to the public when they called to complain about our surgery being ‘closed’ - which of course it never was.

Whether or not the meeting with the MP resulted in anything tangible or not (big surprise it didn’t) the point remains that our PPG were on our side, they called the meeting and they gave the MP what for.

It was a moment that made me really see and understand that we can work alongside our Patient Participation Groups for the greater good, rather than viewing them as an annoyance or a tick box exercise as so many practices seem to do. It takes time to get to know your group, but if you build a good relationship with them, and take the time to listen to their ideas (which are sometimes very good) you may just find yourself with allies you never knew existed.

Long live the PPG!