Patient Participation Groups

If you’re interested in having a say about the way your local health services are delivered, getting involved with your GP practice’s Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a great place to start. PPGs ensure the patient view is at the heart of local provision so that services are of high quality and continuously improve.  Generally they are made up of a group of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from the practice and can be both face-to-face and/or online groups.

PPGs meet on a regular basis to discuss issues such as the services on offer and how improvements can be made for the benefit of both patients and the practice. Not only can joining or starting a group help to shape the delivery of local services, many members also find that volunteering is a great way to meet new people and develop your own skills. To find out more, get in touch with the practice manager at your GP surgery.

Please view case studies of PPGs from across Oxfordshire to see what a difference they have made.  For more information please view a PPG poster.

Locality Forum update

In line with the national Long Term Plan for the NHS, our patient and public involvement needs to move from our Locality Forum geography, focussing on becoming more inclusive of our populations and centred around Primary Care Networks (PCNs). A PCN is a new kind of collaboration between groups of GP practices and other community-based health and care services, which aims to benefit both patients and surgeries alike.

In order to achieve this, the CCG has commissioned Healthwatch to develop Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) working in alliance with their specific PCNs. This will enable representation to be more diverse and reflect more accurately the voice of our communities and those who use our services.

This handover from Locality Forum to Primary Care Network representation may take time but will undoubtedly ensure we maintain and strengthen our local patient voice.