With the raft of changes to GP contracts set to come into force on 1st April, this week’s Practice Index blog looks at changes being made (and some that already have) to the Patient Participation Group Directed Enhanced Service.

What’s happening to this initiative?

Originally introduced to incentivise GP practices to establish patient participation groups (PPGs), the patient participation directed enhanced service will come to a close at the end of March.

Why the change?

This change is aimed at reducing a practice’s bureaucratic workload as all reporting requirements will be withdrawn. Chairman of the GPC, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said: “We had received considerable feedback from practices regarding excessive reporting and monitoring, detracting from the purpose of patient participation.”

What’s happening to the funding?

When the patient participation enhanced service ceases on 31 March 2015 the associated funding will be reinvested in global sum with no out of hours deduction being applied.

Does my practice still need a PPG?

Yes. It will be a contractual requirement for practices to have a PPG and, of course, it is already an expectation for CQC assessments that practices have a PPG. Practices must make reasonable efforts for PPGs to be representative of the practice population. However, as Sheraz Khan, a practice manager at two surgeries in London points out, “The NHS acknowledges that it’s very difficult for groups to be completely representative of all the patients it serves due to various factors. The key here is in the wording – reasonable efforts.”

Can a PPG involve carers?

The practice PPG should be open to the involvement of carers of registered patients but who themselves are not registered patients.

How should we engage with our PPG?

Practices must engage with the PPG including obtaining patient feedback and, where the practice and PPG agree, act on suggestions for improvement. Practices will be required to confirm through the e-declaration that they have fulfilled these requirements. The change will reduce practices’ workload as reporting requirements will be withdrawn.

Does that mean the end to PPG surveys?

The requirement to carry out a local survey as part of the patient participation scheme was removed in April 2014 due to the introduction of the Friends and Family Test. Despite this, many practices continue to conduct unnecessary, time-consuming patient surveys.

Sheraz says: “I know of at least three surgeries who still conduct local surveys, despite the change to conditions, which suggests that it wasn’t communicated clearly enough. Now, practices need to agree with their PPG three priority areas that require change/improvement. Once identified, an action plan needs to be created and feedback provided to the PPG to show how those priority areas are being addressed. It’s much less time-consuming than a survey.”

What reporting requirements are there for patient participation?

There are no prescriptive requirements on how to run a patient participation group, and all reporting requirements have been removed. Practices will only be required to confirm through the e-declaration that they have fulfilled the requirements.

Further changes…

The changes being made to patient participation within practices are just a small part of key changes being made to the England GP contract for 2015-2016. To find out more about the changes, click here to see what the BMA has to say.

Will the closure of the PPG DES really cut workloads? How will you continue to engage with your PPG? Comment below or take it to the forum where your discussions are only seen by other Practice Index members.