What is the Patient Participation Group or PPG?

A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group of people who are patients of the surgery and want to help it work as well as it can for patients, doctors and staff.

No training is required to be a member of a PPG – the most important thing is that you are keen and focused on taking positive action to help the practice and the local patient population.

All PPGs are different, but generally involvement can include attendance at meetings, helping gather patient feedback or just helping to spread the word about new developments at the surgery.

Some PPG members will choose to take on additional roles that are more time consuming, such as chairing meetings, editing/contributing to the PPG newsletter or setting up and running health education or fundraising events, but if you have less time available, this isn’t a requirement.

Why should I join?

You have likely been to the surgery as a patient, parent, carer or friend. Your experiences matter and you can bring different ideas to the surgery to help us treat patients better or to improve what we do in some way.

You will also gain a better understanding of the NHS, and gather feedback from other patients.

Not only can joining or starting a group help to shape the delivery of services, many members also find that volunteering is a great way to meet new people and develop your own skills, such as negotiation, dealing with people or even speaking in public.

How often does the Patient Participation Group meet?

We meet at the surgery, but not too often.  We know that you are busy, so we meet only a few times per year and hope that you can join us.

If you can’t make meetings then don’t worry – you can still be part of our virtual group.

What is a virtual group?

A virtual group is a group of patients who would like to be part of the Patient Participation Group but prefer not to attend meetings. They get involved by email instead.

Information such as practice newsletters, minutes of the Patient Participation Group meetings and surveys will be shared electronically. It means that if you can’t make face-to-face meetings, are caring for someone and unable to leave them, or are working, you can still be kept informed, give your views and participate.

Will my views be heard?

Your views are important and will be listened to. It may not be possible to act on every suggestion, but all feedback is very valuable. 

Working in a spirit of mutual respect, openness and trust, all patients' views will be discussed and, where appropriate, we will work together on solutions.

And finally…

You may be aware of articles in the paper regarding new premises being built – The opportunity for this to become a reality is something we do not want to give up, it would be great to have the support of our patients to help drive this forward!

What we are not

The PPG is unable to respond to complaints; deal with Patient-specific issues; or have access to medical records.

Holbeach Medical Centre does have a Complaints Procedure. If you have a formal complaint, please contact the Reception Desk for a copy of the Complaints Procedure, or ask to speak to the Practice Manager.

JOIN US: If you are interested in joining the PPG or If you have ideas or suggestions of what you would like to see in future Newsletters, please send them to the Administration Department at the Practice. 

If you are happy for us to contact you occasionally by email please click the link below to open the sign-up form and complete all the fields.

complete the form Complete the Patient Group Sign-up Form Online

If you prefer, you can download the sign up form as a pdf document, print it out, complete it and return it to the practice.

download the pdf form Download the pdf version of our sign up form

We will be in touch shortly after we receive your form. Please note that no medical information or questions will be responded to.

Many thanks for your assistance


The information you supply us will be used lawfully, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to know what information is held about you and sets out rules to make sure that this information is handled properly.

 
Call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergencyNHS ChoicesThis site is brought to you by My Surgery Website