The Gloucestershire PPG Network is organised by Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

It is designed to provide a space for PPG members to share their experiences with one another in order for each PPG to learn and continue to provide an effective role in their practice. NHS Gloucestershire CCG involves PPG members in it’s engagement work, provides support to PPG’s on an individual basis and also provides opportunities for PPG’s to learn and develop. In addition NHS Gloucestershire CCG hosts a network meeting quarterly which is held at Churchdown Community Centre. Meetings are usually 10am – 12.30pm.

In light of ongoing developments in relation to COVID-19 and the updated government advice, we have taken the decision to postpone all of our face-to-face engagement activity until the end of April 2020. Our Information Bus is therefore now “off the road” and any network meetings set-up by the team will be rearranged – please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. We will continue to review the situation over the coming weeks and advise you of any further action as appropriate.

PPG News

We will be regularly keeping you up to date with local healthcare news with our new PPG newsletter and sharing your local PPG news. We would like to hear your thoughts on a name for the newsletter, suggestions of items you’d like to see in future editions or if you have any news you’d like to share. You can contact us by emailing glccg.participation@nhs.net or text/ WhatsApp 07342 093777.

[nhs-accordion name=”PPG news – 1st April 2020″]

Welcome to our first edition of PPG News!

During these difficult times, we are very conscious that many of you will be self-isolating and potentially feeling a little disconnected from what is going on in your local healthcare services. With this in mind, we thought you might find it helpful to receive a regular update from us which highlights the latest developments and provides information that you can share with your networks, family and friends. If you have any suggestions, or information that you would like us to include in future editions, please email us at GLCCG.participation@nhs.net

Stay safe and well.

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Gloucestershire NHS news

[nhs-accordion name=”Community Hubs established to support patients”]

A number of ‘community hubs’ have been set up in health centres and surgeries across the county to support patients who need face to face medical support and may have possible symptoms of coronavirus. Read more here. You can also watch a short video with Jeremy Welch explaining what the hubs are for and how they are run.

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[nhs-accordion name=”Temporary changes to Minor Illness and Injury Units”]

Some temporary changes to Gloucestershire’s Minor Injury and Illness Units (MIIUs) have been announced in order to strengthen staffing at a smaller number of sites. Read more about temporary MIU changes.

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[nhs-accordion name=”Changes to hospital services”]

Our hospitals have changed the way they are delivering their services in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak including increased use of technology and telephone appointments, prioritising urgent and emergency operations and restricting visiting. Further information is available here.

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[nhs-accordion name=”COVID-19 Information – available in other formats”]

The NHS Gloucestershire CCG website provides a range of information about COVID-19 including information in other languages and formats, such as Easy Read. Some of this information is provided at a national level, whilst other documents have been translated specifically for the CCG. These can all be viewed here.

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Other community information

[nhs-accordion name=”Gloucestershire Community Hub”]

This hub has been established in collaboration with all local councils, police and healthcare services.

We know that there is already a lot of great community support happening across the county and in many areas neighbours are organising themselves locally to offer their help to those who need it.

We are conscious that not everyone has these local connections so we have created this community help hub to match local people who need help, with others who can provide the help they need.

You can use this link to offer help, register yourself or a neighbour who needs help, or sign up a local business who can support others during this time.

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[nhs-accordion name=”Message from Gloucestershire Carers Hub”]

We understand that this is a worrying time for carers and, as such, are doing all we can to support carers through this situation.

Most of our communication channels remain open, though for the safety of carers and our staff, we are no longer providing face to face services. We are still available to offer support to carers during our normal opening hours (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, but we will keep this under review and amend as appropriate) including information, advice and guidance over the phone and through our website, email and social media. Please do keep checking our website and social media for up to date information. The latest information from the government relevant for carers can be found here.

At times like this contingency planning is at the forefront of our mind. Therefore, if you would like to talk about what might happen if you or your cared for becomes ill, please do phone. Whilst we may not be able to process registrations for the Carers Emergency Scheme as normal, we will continue to start the registration process for any carer who wishes to do so. We would request that carers are mindful that the registration processes may take longer than usually expected. It is really helpful to talk through emergency planning, even if you do not formally wish to register with the Carers Emergency Scheme. Information regarding the local Carers Emergency Scheme is available here.

We recognise that this is an increasingly isolating time for carers and we want to assure carers in Gloucestershire that we are here if you want to talk to someone. We will also be providing outreach calls to carers known to us, to offer emotional support, information, advice and guidance, as well as a conversation about contingency plans.

Of further interest may be the ‘Jointly App’ which is supported by Carers UK. The app is available free of charge to all carers registered with the Gloucestershire Carers Hub. The app is there to support you with your caring role, and you can allow multiple individuals to log in and update information. The app can act as a live record of what is happening with the person you care for including appointments, updating medical details and medication.

If you are a carer, please get in touch. If you know someone who is a carer, please look out for them at this time:

Phone: 0300 111 9000
Web: www.gloucestershirecarershub.co.uk
Email: carers@peopleplus.co.uk
Facebook: @Gloucestershirecarershub
Twitter: @GCarersHub
Instagram: Gloucestershire_Carers_Hub

For Young Carers, please contact Gloucestershire Young Carers Tel: 01452 733060

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[nhs-accordion name=”Age Uk”]

Age UK Gloucestershire has had to reconfigure the way we deliver support to Gloucestershire’s older people.

They are currently providing support in 3 main ways:

Supporting Older People to resolve specific issues:

  • Our Help Team is available Monday – Friday 9am – 4pm to help older people resolve specific problems. We have up to date information about local resources and support. Call us on 01452 422660 to access the Help Team, or email essentialinfo@ageukgloucestershire.org.uk to let us know about essential services you are offering locally.
  • Our Out of Hospital Team continues to support older people recently discharged from hospital who need guidance to stay well at home through in depth welfare calls.

Supporting Older People to stay connected:

  • We recognise that social isolation and the associated wellbeing issues are a real and serious issue for older people. We have set up a new Freephone telephone number for people who are alone and who want to have a friendly conversation with a staff member or volunteer. Call us on 0800 2980579, Monday – Friday 9am – 4pm
  • Look out for our Greet Your Street Campaign. We are encouraging everyone to make a cup of tea, open your windows or front door and Greet Your Street at 11am every day. Wave, smile, say hello to your neighbours, share a joke, reassurance and stay connected, just remember to stay at least 2 metres apart.
  • We are compiling tips from our Older People’s Springboard Groups about how to stay connected, including virtual ‘Get Connected’ workshops and one-to-one telephone support to help older people make the most of the resources and social opportunities access to technology can offer. Call 07511 223995 to find out more.

Support for Communities who want to help:

  • Signposting individuals to existing local groups, and central hub resources.
  • Support and advice for local community groups to support older people safely and effectively.

Please share with your colleagues, teams and please do signpost older people you are working with (or know personally) to our website www.ageuk.org.uk/gloucestershire.

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News from local PPGs

[nhs-accordion name=” Gloucester PPG supports digital champions”]

Aspen Medical Centre and their PPG have been working with NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to help their patients navigate the digital world of health care. Aspen Medical Practice and their PPG recognise the benefits to patients of being able to access NHS information and other services online. They have also identified that some of their patients may need a little support in order to realise these benefits. As such are working with their PPG and NHS Gloucestershire CCG to establish a People’s Digital Champions Group.

Image of the digital champions at Aspen

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[nhs-accordion name=” NAPP conference comes to Gloucestershire”]

On Saturday June 15th the National Association of Patient Participation (NAPP) held their annual conference in Gloucestershire. As the conference was on our doorstep, NHS Gloucestershire CCG offered to support local PPG’s financially to be able to attend this event as well as exhibiting their work with PPG’s in Gloucestershire. 11 PPG’s sent representatives and one PPG member has kindly provided a summary of their key outcomes of attending the conference:

  • Opportunity to network with other PPGs and some Practice Managers to enable learning from each other, including how they strengthen their PPGs and engage with patients for example surgery ‘meet & greet’
  • Lots of ideas about how other successful PPGs work, including their CCG engagement; how these ideas benefit their practices and their patients
  • Conversely, problems that PPGs encounter and suggestions about how to overcome these; realising mutual issues and that your PPG isn’t alone!
  • Hearing from excellent speakers about national issues, pitched at an appropriate level for PPGs
  • PPG soapbox: short presentations by PPGs about an issue they wish to highlight
  • It was both very well organised and attended
  • Some practices send delegates to the conference every year to ensure their PPGs are well informed and get the chance to network with others

As a result of some of this learning, NHS Gloucestershire CCG will be putting together a resource pack for PPG’s to be able to download and localise to them including poster templates, meeting notices, newsletters and pull up banners.

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[nhs-accordion name=”PPG Network Meetings” ]

Image of PPG meeting

The next PPG Network meeting is scheduled to be held on:

Friday 17th July 2020
10:00 – 12:30
Churchdown Community Centre. Directions can be found here.

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[nhs-accordion name=”2020 – Meeting Papers and post meeting summaries” ]

Friday 14th February 2020

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[nhs-accordion name=” 2019 – Meeting Papers” ]

Friday 22nd November 2019

Friday 11th October 2019 (Extraordinary Meeting – Fit for the Future Engagement 2019)

Friday 16th August 2019

 

Friday 17 May 2019

Friday 8 February 2019

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[nhs-accordion name=” 2018 – Meeting Papers ” ]

September 2018

June 2018

February 2018

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[nhs-accordion name=” 2017 – Meeting Papers” ]

November 2017

July 2017

April 2017

January 2017 –

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Useful Resources

Following feedback from our PPG Network members we have developed some guidance and templates for PPG’s in Gloucestershire to use.