Your Patient Participation Group (PPG)

Who are we?

We are the Rectory Meadow Surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG). If you are registered with the surgery, you are automatically eligible to join.

Our role is to help improve communication between patients and the staff, and to support the surgery in ways that make a real difference - without fundraising. We have built a strong partnership with the Practice, focused on sharing ideas, improving services, and helping patients get the most out of their care.

What we do

We support the Practice and its patients in a number of ways. Our aims include:
- Helping to improve health and wellbeing in the Practice community
- Supporting the flu vaccination clinics with volunteers
- Gathering patient views and feedback to help shape services
- Encouraging local social initiatives, like coffee mornings, to ease loneliness
- Connecting members with useful local support groups
- Sharing news about services provided by the Practice and our wider Primary Care Network (PCN)
- Organising occasional talks on medical topics of interest
- Contributing a regular page to the Practice newsletter
- Working with other PPGs in our local PCN area
- Running an annual patient survey

How we work

Our PPG is run by a committee of patient volunteers. Each person takes on a role to help with different areas of activity.

The committee meets four times a year. After each meeting, we hold an open General Meeting where all PPG members are welcome. At these meetings:
- The Practice Manager gives updates about what is happening at the surgery
- The Committee shares what we have been working on
- Patients can raise issues or suggestions - your voice matters

Once a year we also hold an AGM (Annual General Meeting), where we review the past year and confirm committee roles.

We have a formal Constitution and take data protection seriously. Only your name and email are kept, solely for sending PPG information.

Our current committee roles include

- Chair
- Secretary
- Events (2-3 people)
- Newsletter contributor
- Distribution (2-3 people)
- Membership
- PCN Liaison
- Annual Survey
- Informal Support Groups (all committee members contribute)

Some of our recent activities

- Flu clinics: We help the surgery manage these busy sessions, which many patients say feel like friendly 'drop-in' days with minimal waiting.
- Surveys: Every year we run a patient survey to gather views on services and help the surgery identify what is working and what could be better.
- Events: We organise occasional talks on topics like cancer research, dementia, and other medical issues. Suggestions are always welcome - especially if you know a good speaker!
- Newsletter: We now contribute to the quarterly surgery newsletter. Got something to share? Let us know.

Want to join? It is easy

When you first register with Rectory Meadow Surgery, you can tick a box to join the PPG. All we need is your name and email - nothing more.

Already registered but not yet a member? You can join by filling in a short form at reception or online Invitation to Join PPG.

You do not have to attend meetings or do anything active - just by being on our email list, you will stay in the loop about:
- Events and talks
- Survey opportunities
- News from the Practice and other surgeries in our PCN

If you do want to get involved, even better - we are always happy to welcome new faces.

Why it matters

We are especially keen to hear ideas about informal support groups - like local coffee mornings or meet-ups - for people who may feel isolated, whether they are older, new parents, or just in need of a chat. These small gatherings can make a big difference.

Your voice helps us shape better support for everyone in our community.

You can contact us at

rmspatients@nhs.net

Our Constitution

Constitution