Hi there, Thanks for your curiosity.
You have arrived at the Patient Participation Group [PPG] recruitment page.
The PPG comprises a number of North Cardiff Medical Centre patients who volunteer time, experience and a variety of skills directed at ‘Making the Healthcare Experience Better’; but Covid has massively depleted both our numbers, and the projects we can manage and we are looking for new members to get us up and running again.
Anyone is welcome to join, the only criteria being that you must be a patient at the medical centre, in fact the more diverse the make up of the group the better, as we can potentially become involved in more things and understand the perspective and needs of different patients better.
What do we do? Historically the group has been involved in all sorts of activities relating to healthcare and well being… We work with the Practice Manager and staff at the Medical Centre to provide a patient perspective on matters of policy and practice to try and seek the most positive outcomes for patients in the way healthcare services are delivered. We have also run Health Forums promoting awareness and treatments for different conditions like Men’s Health, Dementia and Pain Management. We have links with local community groups, and have managed and organised our own Peer Support groups relating to Diabetes and offered Carer support for those looking after anyone with memory impairment. We also liaise with national groups such as Carers Wales, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation and have contacts with specialist consultants at UHW and the various Health Boards and voluntary organisations to help us deliver and promote some of these.
So might you be interested? and what is the commitment?
As a minimum the PPG core group meet with the practice on a weekday morning 4 times a year to exchange information, note trends and issues, update and review ongoing projects and develop new ones .
Thereafter Group members can commit to as much or as little involvement in agreed activities and projects as they like … you might organise a group, take on responsibility for updating website content, organise refreshments, fundraise, or just offer opinion or share experience… entirely up to you.
Who are we looking for?
We are definitely looking for ‘problem solvers’ rather than ‘complainers’, ‘doers’, rather than ‘talkers’ and for patients with new ideas, and different perspectives but most importantly enthusiasm.
Ideally the group will be representative of the whole of the patient body. We encourage interest from patients from a diverse variety of backgrounds, contributing different skills, experience and interests. You might be 16 and in education, or 66 and retiring, a single mum or from a large family registered with the practice, you might be good at maths, writing, art, social media, administration or IT or have a particular healthcare interest or a hobby which you feel contributes positively to well being which you are passionate about and want to share, support or promote.
So would you like to contribute to making patients healthcare experience better? Do you have skills or experience which might be valuable to the PPG and a few hours to spare? If so please contact us If you would like to get involved at info@ncmcppg.org.uk
