Patient Participation Group

We want to ensure patients, their families and carers are represented and heard from at all stages of their treatment.

Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are generally made up of a group of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from a practice. PPGs meet on a regular basis to discuss the services on offer, and how improvements can be made for the benefit of patients and the practice.

The beauty of PPGs is that there is no set way in which they work – the aims and work of each group entirely depends on local needs – but they all have the aim of making sure that their practice puts the patient, and improving health, at the heart of everything it does.

In this section of our website you can see what PPGs in Hertfordshire and West Essex have done to diversify the people engaging with practices. In this area, PPGs are called patient groups. You can watch their training videos and download their resources to get ideas and inspiration for your PPG. One of the insights from this project is that patients didn’t really understand the term PPG, so the project team use GP Practice Patient Group instead. The resources on the website use a mixture of PPG and GP Practice Patient Group.

How can I get involved?

There are two levels of involvement: The Core Committee and The Interest Group

The Core Committee: Member meets bi-monthly and it’s members will form working groups to manage projects for the benefit of patients.

The Interest Group: Members agree to being contacted via email by the Core Committee up to five times a year to give their opinion. This could be for example, on Practice opening hours, services offered or even the provision of a possible tea bar at the Practice. There will also be the opportunity to raise issues or queries or get more involved if you would like to.

How to join our PPG meeting

What are the benefits of PPGs?

PPGs are about implementing real, positive change in their communities. Patients have long valued the relationship with their GP and general practice. However the dynamics of this relationship have changed over recent years – patients today rightly want more say in their own healthcare, they are better informed and expect to be treated as whole people, not just as a condition or ailment.

PPGs have an increasingly important role to play in helping to give patients a say in the way services are delivered to best meet their needs, and the needs of the local community.

PPGs can help GPs to develop an equal partnership with their patients. They can help them to communicate accurately and honestly with individual patients, and with the wider community about key health matters. They can also help to reduce costs and improve services by identifying changes that the practice may not have considered, allowing resources to be used more efficiently. What is more, they can develop mutually supportive networks for patients and the practice, outside of individual appointments.

In practice, PPGs can play a number of roles, including:

Advising the practice on the patient perspective
Communicating with the wider patient population
Carrying out surveys/research into the views and experiences of those who use the practice (and their carers)
Influencing the practice or the wider NHS in Richmond to improve commissioning and the provision of services and care

They could also:

Run volunteer services and suppot groups to meet local needs
Fundraise to improve services by the practice
Organise health promotion events
We would value your opinion

If you would like to become a member of our PPG, or have any suggestion or opinions you would like to be taken into consideration on how we might be able to improve our services, please complete the form below and we will get back to you