ASHWELL AND BASSINGBOURN PATIENTS GROUP

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2026

PRESENT: Rachel Capay, Peter Chapman, Bob Davis, Al Jacoutot, Graham Lee, Katie Prince, Ruth ten Hove

APOLOGIES Tessa Cathcart, Jo Coleman, Anna Genda, Dr Fayaz Hasham, Harry King, Wendy Kitchener, Tracey Potter

We were delighted to welcome Nurse Nicola who has replaced Nurse Margaret.

PRACTICE MANAGER'S REPORT

Katie reported that Shalini had left the dispensary. We hope to make a new appointment to that department shortly. There was a discussion about batch prescriptions and ordering via the NHS app.

She alerted us to the fact that an independent firm called Suvera was now responsible for contacting asthma patients for their annual review. This consists of form-filling. If there is a need for further action patients are referred to a GP.

2026 SURVEY

Katie is giving Al access to the data. He will brief the Survey Group  (Al, Graham, Rachel, Peter) at a meeting to be held on Tuesday 22nd September at 10 am.

As a future alternative method, Katie described how it was possible to issue a Friends and Family questionnaire following consultations. This is in operation at present and the comments are mainly positive. This supports experience elsewhere where immediacy of follow-up tended to produce positive comments.

PATIENTS GUIDE TO OUR PRACTICE SERVICES

Rachel is liaising with Katie over the final touches to our document. We hope to have this ready by our next meeting.

DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS FOR OUR PATIENT POPULATION

Many thanks to Anna for searching the NHS website to discover the “Population Age Profile” by sex and age of  patients registered at our practice who number just over 8000. The figures compare our situation with those of our Primary Care Group (Baldock and Letchworth Practices) and nationally. Al was going to see if it was possible to express figures as percentages. We are looking forward to hearing Anna comment on these statistics and to see how we might react.

HUB UPDATE

Ruth reported that the hub was thriving.

She is to arrange to attend a surgery staff meeting to make all colleagues aware of the hub and how it can benefit patients.

She reported back from the last meeting of the E&N Herts PPG Meeting where there was a discussion about ways in which surgeries could interact more proactively with their communities. Our hub is an excellent example of this. But are there other age groups for whom there aren't such opportunities? It was agreed that as a first step this would be discussed at the Ashwell Leaders Forum (at which some 30 voluntary groups are represented) with a view to possibly organising an “Activities Fair” to make people aware of how they might get involved and as a consequence derive physical, social and mental benefits. It was agreed that ideally this would involve organisations from other villages.

“PATIENTS KNOW BEST”

This is a “Personal Health Record Provider” which is referred to on the NHS app which has led to some confusion among patients who are wary about giving personal information to a body they know nothing about. Al has researched this and has discovered that it is a means of finding hospital test results. Addenbrookes' patients have this with the widely used and appreciated “My Chart” facility. Not all hospitals have adopted that so this other platform could be of use.

REPORT BACK FROM THIS WEEK'S Q&A SESSION IN BASSINGBOURN.

Jo, Mads, Louise (from reception) and Peter met members of the over 60s club. The session was lively and mainly positive. Access to Addenbrookes and transport to Ashwell were among the topics. Jo and Mads will look into various patient-specific issues which were raised. This was our second such visit.

Peter reminded the group that during this term we intend to invite the Ashwell School Council to meet at the surgery.

It was agreed that we would organise a Q&A session with the Guilden Morden Men's Club in the near future. Katie to liaise with Bob.

AOB

Enabling greater privacy at Ashwell Reception – THE SURGERY IS STONGLY ADVISED TO REMOVE THE GLASS PARTITION.

There was discussion about how some patients are excluded from IT. How can they be assisted? We now have tablets available in both surgeries with reception staff on hand to help patients make online bookings.

Graham reminded us of the weekly ZOE bulletins which provide  health promoting information.

Rachel raised the question about patients choosing to leave the practice. Do we try and understand why?

Al recommended a free 12 week Joint Pain Relief programme which is available free of charge at the Nuffield Health Centre in Letchworth. It is not a physio programme. It is geared towards making healthy lifestyle changes and getting you started on an activity programme.