Members of Dorchester’s Prince of Wales surgery Patient Participation Group have been at the practice this week to help answer patient queries relating to the merger with Portesham surgery, which took place on 1st of August.
Peter Hazelton, Chair of Prince of Wales PPG was amongst the volunteers. He said, “Since the announcement of the merger, the practice team have worked hard to keep registered patients informed and to answer their queries, however we know that some people still have concerns.
“The PPG wanted to help any people who still have questions about the merger and what it would mean to them. As patients ourselves, we wanted to give reassurance to others that the merger would be a positive step and benefit us all in the future.
“Following the merger people will still be able to book appointments and see their clinician in Poundbury. It will give a greater resilience to both practices meaning staff could be shared when necessary to keep both sites operating normally.
“The additional benefit to patients is that there is the potential to have an appointment sooner if people are able to travel to the other site, although they’ll never asked to travel if they can’t or don’t want to.”
For more information on the merger, patients can visit www.princeofwalessurgery.co.uk or speak to a member of the team.
Patient Participation Groups are run by volunteers and work alongside practice teams within GP surgeries. As well as providing feedback to practices on the services it provides and helping get information out to the wider patient population, groups work on projects which bring health and wellbeing benefits to their fellow patients.
For more information please contact communication@nhsdorset.nhs.uk
