Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

In Spring 2012 the practice has undertaken a Local Patient Survey that seeks the views of patients about key areas of the sevice we deliver; telephone access, reception, communication, consultations, continuity of care and enablement. The full survey results can be found here by clicking here . The report benchmarks our performance against those of other GP practices. We are above the benchmark averaage for all of the questions asked in the survey. The free text comments however are a rich source of information about the quality of the service we provide. In consultation with our Patient Participation Group we have identified three key areas to address over the next 12 months: 0844 telephone number. Despite achieving 13% higher rating for the telephone access questions than other GP practices the use of an 0844 number for the practice still causes concern to some patients. The practice intends to urgently investigate the use of an additional local number in addition to our 0844 number

The law behind the current NHS Changes is still weaving its way through Parliament but where are all the amendments and changes at the moment. The coalition wanted GPs to take responsibility for £60bn of NHS funds - now there will also be hospital consultants and nurses involved. The coalition wanted competition to be extended to more NHS services - now competition will be limited to quality and not price. The coalition wanted reduced bureaucracy and fewer managers - now more managers to look into perceived risks. The coalition wanted an increased role for the private sector - now all providers to be assessed for their suitability to run services. And what is happening locally: The Practice has joined the Wakefield Alliance Clinical Commissioning Group - the group is well established and starting to make changes. Wakefield District PCT has disappeared to be replaced by a cluster of PCTs covering Wakefield, Kirkless and Calderdale. The Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority

Call me shallow, but with a service name like that I could not resist blogging about it. Testing Times is a new free and confidential HIV testing service run by Yorkshire MESMAC. The aim of this service is to increase the uptake of HIV testing and reduce undiagnosed infection and prevention of transmission among men who have sex with other men. The HIV testing results are available in 20 minutes. To book an appointment ring the local Community Development Workers, Terrence Liboma and Mark Tyson on 01924 211 116 or attend their Drop-In sessions on the last Monday of every month, between 10 am and 7 pm at Yorkshire MESMAC, Suite 1, Trinity Buildings, Caldervale Road, WF1 5PE.

The Practice has for many years sought the view of our patients about the service that we provide and areas where we might improve. We have used the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ) in the past and are now using it again. We first used it in 2004 as a patient questionnaire that was required by the Quality and Outcomes Framework - click here for further details about the Quality and Outcomes Framework . In 2008 GPAQ was replaced by the national GP Patient Survey run by IPSOS MORI. As part of contractual changes in April 2011 we are now back to using GPAQ again to seek patients views. We are doing this in conjunction with our Patient Participation Group and are going to use the results from the questionnaire to highlight areas that need improving. GPAQ asks about receptionists, appointments, opening times, communication with doctors and nurses, continuity of care and enablement. We need at least 30 per clinician for the questionnaire to make statistical sense. We