Patients matter	January 2014
Welcome to the latest edition of Cannington Health Centre’s patient newsletter

Your health centre has a clean bill of health
On 5 November, the health centre underwent an inspection by the CQC (Care Quality Commission).  Contrary to recent publicity, not all the GP practices selected for inspection were considered to be at high risk.  Some, including ourselves, were just selected as part of the routine programme.  Two inspectors spent the day at the practice talking to patients and staff and generally observing the practice.  They assessed us against six standards of care and found us to be fully compliant.  If you would like to read the full report, go to www.cqc.org and follow the links or look at the copy in the waiting room.

Flu Immunisation programme
No major flu outbreak so far this winter but it could still happen.
We do still have vaccine available for those who are eligible. Contact reception to book an appointment.

Shingles vaccination programme
This year saw the start of a national programme which will eventually offer a one-off shingles vaccination to everyone at the age of 70.  In this first year it was offered to anyone aged 70 or 79 on 1 September 2013.
Unfortunately the programme has been dogged by confusion and shortage of vaccine and we will not be promoting it again until we can be sure of the reliability of supplies.

Care.data
Another source of confusion, for GP staff as well as patients.  There have been headlines in the national press about the government extracting data from patient health records and selling it on.  Not surprisingly this has worried 

patients and some have started to enquire about opting out.  The government is planning to deliver an explanatory leaflet to every household during January 2014.  

It is already clear to us that there is confusion between the new Care.data programme and the existing Summary Care Record (SCR).  

The SCR has been running in Somerset for several years now.  Your demographic details (name, address, NHS number etc.) and some basic health information - just your medication and any allergies you may have - are held electronically on what is known as the NHS Spine and can be accessed by anyone within the health service who has a secure smart card and sufficient permissions.  The aim of the SCR is to be able to share information held on GP records with other health providers such as the out of hours services and hospitals. If for instance you were admitted in an emergency the hospital would, with your consent, be able to get your current medication from the NHS Spine.  SCR information is not passed on outside the health service.  Most people are happy with this system because of the limited amount of information held and the fact that it could directly benefit their personal health care but you can choose to opt out if you wish.

Care.data is a different system.  The data extraction system that already exists in hospitals is being extended to GP records. Information from all NHS contacts will be amalgamated with the aim of providing a better understanding of how the health service as a whole performs for patients as well as helping medical research.  
The extraction does include some identifying information so that data from different sources about the same patient can be linked together.  The data are then made anonymous and aggregated for publication or ‘pseudonymised’ and scrambled for approved organisations (such as research charities).  The government say that there will be no commercial sale of identifiable data and that there never has been but they do want specialist organisations to have access to relevant anonymous data for research and the improvement of service.
Everyone will have their own opinion about this.  GP surgeries are legally obliged to allow the data extraction but individual patients can opt out.
Recently we have received a few requests to opt out of the SCR where we suspect that people really want to opt out of Care.data.  

If you are thinking about opting out of one or both systems please ask for our form.  Make sure you tick the right boxes to be clear about your intentions.

On-line patient group
Patients are central to everything we do and for many years we have long had a patient participation group to help keep us on our toes.  Members of the group act as ‘critical friends’ to the practice and more recently have become involved in health developments in the wider community when patient views are important.  This group provides a communication channel for patients who have an interest in our health centre services and local health issues.

Sue Whytock, chair of our patient participation group (PPG) has been working hard to increase membership of our on-line patient group and thanks to her efforts we have reached over 100 members.  Our new target is 150 by 31.3.14.
Sue writes:

The PPG for many years has been a 'critical friend' to the practice and now we are trying to become a more representative group.
A key initiative this quarter has been encouraging patients to join the Online Patient Group. If you have an email address, please join as it helps the Practice if they can seek your opinion on matters of interest to you and other patients. Pick up a form or register via the website 
www.cannington.gpsurgery.net
Once registered you will get the Practice Newsletter and other useful information by email.
If you are concerned about privacy of your contact details we can reassure you that the practice will not share your details with anyone, including any PPG member, without your explicit consent.

These last few months have seen PPG members attending the new Bridgwater Hospital planning events and helping with a Somerset wide initiative on patient input on the Management of Diabetes. 
We have also been working with the practice on the content of this year’s patient survey.  The practice is always grateful to those patients who take the time and trouble to complete the various questionnaires that come out.  This year’s survey will be available on-line as well as a paper version and we are hoping for a record response.

In the next few months we are planning to revamp the Patient Section of the Cannington Health Centre website so that in future you will be able to see in advance what we will be discussing with the practice and the outcomes. We also hope to set up an on line suggestion box.  If you already have some ideas, please speak to Moira Allen, the practice manager or email ppg@canningtonhc.nhs.uk
  
A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL FROM CANNINGTON HEALTH CENTRE