Patients' Voice - About Us

About Us

Patient Participation Groups (PPG) in GP surgeries are a national initiative to encourage greater involvement of patients in decisions about healthcare services provided by GP Practices both now and in the future.

The Hall Grove Group Practice has a PPG called Patients' Voice (PV). It is made up of patients and carers from both Hall Grove and Parkway surgeries. PV  members are interested in being consulted on delivery of GP services along with future health initiatives. 

A small number of PV members become part of the PV Steering Group that meet regularly, currently every two weeks, to discuss and act on the many different types of initiatives and issues that impinge on the quality of the healthcare services provided by the Practice. The Practice Manager and a Practice Partner attend our meetings once a month. Approved minutes are published on the Documents page.

The activities of the PV Steering Group are varied and are informed by both local issues and national initiatives such as creation of Primary Care Networks (PCN). We interact with our Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which consults with us and other PPGs for comment and opinion on new healthcare plans.  

Our Objectives

This list is not exhaustive but will give you some idea of the work that we do.

  • Campaigning on local health issues and acting as advocates for the patient body. For example, there is a concern about the lack of access to local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The PV group has been investigating the situation and have been lobbying the local NHS and our MP to try and obtain an improvement to this service.
  • Providing information to patients to support the self-management of their health. This might be in the form of leaflets or information published in the Practice newsletter. Recently we have provided information on resources to support patients who have a new diagnosis of cancer and dementia and we are currently working on information on diabetes.
  • Encouraging a healthy lifestyle among the community. Most recently the group has promoted the various health-supporting activities available including Hertfordshire health walks and Parkruns. We also wish to work with other PPGs to promote a healthier lifestyle.
  • Working with the Practice team to improve the provision of healthcare services to patients. We provide a patient perspective on such matters as: the design of the Practice website, appointment system changes, carer needs and policy changes within the Practice such as prescribing. We report changes in newsletters.
  • Supporting carers. We are currently concerned with helping carers with information and ensuring the surgery provides flexible appointments and health checks so supporting their wellbeing in concert with Carers in
    Herts.