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Patient Group Meeting Minutes & Reports
Almondsbury & Pilning PPG Autumn Meeting: 13 January 2026
Attendees
Nina Tilton (Chair), Christine Thomas (Secretary), Celia Beales, Tony Croft, Deborah Davies, Michael Farmer, Tony Fennell, Pamela Griffin, Duncan MacAulay, Maria McNally, Fiona Phipps, Leona Roberts, Richard Spence, David Talbot, Paula Miles, Dr Jenny Locke.
Apologies
Helen Sanday (Deputy Chair), John Adams, Sue Cannon, Julie Fennell, Robert Griffin, Susan Hewson, Patricia Hinton, Ann Matthews, David Rayfield, Patricia Rayfield, June Reynolds, Jackie Sanders, Edward Vicary, Paula Vicary
Welcome, apologies, membership changes and ratification of serving chair, deputy chair and secretary
Mike Harrison has resigned from the PPG. Thanks were given to him for his previous contribution.
There has been one expression of interest in joining. He will join at a future date
No one has expressed an interest in the chair, deputy chair and secretary roles. Nina, Helen and Christine will carry on in post for the time being.
Approval of minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Action Plan
The Action Plan was reviewed and updated.
Practice and Hanham Heath updates
As a training practice, we currently have a Foundation Doctor, Dr Lucy Bidwell.
Lucy has access to a GP Supervisor during each clinical session.
Foundation Doctor (F2 Level)
- Role: A doctor in their second year (F2) of the 2-year Foundation Programme.
- GP Placement: Usually undertakes a 4-month placement in General Practice to get a taste of primary care.
- Responsibility: Takes increasing responsibility but still works under significant supervision and isn't expected to do out-of-hours work.
- Goal: Develops core skills for future specialty training, including in GP.
GP Trainee (GPST/GP Registrar)
- Role: A fully qualified doctor applying for and undertaking a 3-year specialty training program in General
- Practice (GPST1, GPST2, GPST3).
- Structure: Rotates through hospital specialties (like paediatrics, obstetrics) and at least two different GP practices.
- Responsibility: Works more independently than an F2 in GP, with dedicated supervision and formal teaching.
- Goal: Become a fully competent General Practitioner, passing exams.
Key Difference
Foundation doctors are learning basic skills across various areas, while GP registrars are already on a specific career path, undergoing focused training to become independent GPs.
Shannon Hill, Operations Lead at Pilning Surgery will be leaving to have a baby; her maternity leave is due to start March / April. Interviews for a suitable maternity cover replacement are underway to prevent disruption.
Winter pressures have had a huge impact on resources but the surgeries are still managing to book the majority of routine appointments within 2 weeks.
Autumn Vaccinations were successful, but there is still surplus stock of FLU, so please spread the word to those patients who may be eligible.
Website – the decision has been made to stay with Treeview. The development of the website is well underway, so the practice is hopeful to have a fully combined platform towards the end February.
The Pilning website is now obsolete and has been combined with the Almondsbury Surgery one – same Anima link.
ANIMA audit
When the self booking links were sent out, the location was shown but people missed it. It’s not happening as much now.
Friends & Family feedback
The responses from the last quarter were circulated prior to the meeting. Christine has undertaken some analysis, and will circulate this analysis.
Action: Give an update on the Friends and Family feedback for 2026 in the Winter 2027 (January) PPG (Paula)
Proposed Hanham Health questionnaire
The possibility of a Health questionnaire was discussed.
Nina went through things that need to be considered when conducting a survey: What is it you want to know that you don’t know now? Once you have that information, what are you going to do with it? What capacity does the surgery have to make the change?
It was the view of the PPG that another questionnaire might not useful, given that the Friends & Family feedback now exists. We don’t have any burning ideas about what could be included.
South Glos local plan – implications for practice
Please treat the circulated letter as confidential. We need to be focused on making sure that the GP services (especially the acute services) are able to cope with the influx of new patients.
If we look at the South Gloucestershire local plan, there are 1920 homes which will be built in the Almondsbury district, with more planned for Easter Compton and Pilning.
It has brought into sharp focus that as a group, we need to be paying attention to this to ensure that the surgeries can continue to provide the excellent service. Action: Val Denton is going to find out about why the practice has not been consulted. As a PPG, we need to maintain links with other groups such as the Almondsbury Residents Association. (Copy of the latest update from them circulated with the minutes)
A.O.B.
Dr Lockey has spoken to her colleagues about education sessions. It was considered that evenings were better, and face to face if possible (maybe with a recording that can be made available online)