Dorchester Patient Participation Group

• To offer opinions in a constructive manner and to put forward ideas on behalf of other patients.
• To improve the provision of health care.
• To improve communication between surgery, patients and the wider community about matters concerning the surgery and health in general.
• To provide assistance in development of new services.
• To encourage a spirit of self help and support amongst patients to improve their health and social care.

Hello,

My name is Peter Hazelton, and I am the current Chairman of the Prince of Wales Surgery Patient

Participation Group (just PPG for short!). We are all Volunteers, and Patients, at the Practice.  We all represent you, and your views, at the Practice.

Following a 2 year break entirely due to the Covid Pandemic, we have re-formed and are now an active and resurgent group supporting our Surgery in many different ways, with new ideas coming to fruition all the time.

We are a group who’s existence is to support, and help, all the good work that our Surgery does. We concentrate solely on The Prince of Wales Surgery.

We are currently considering a number of ideas for events to run this year, all of which will be aimed at improving your health, as well as giving you the opportunity to increase your knowledge and understanding of various medical conditions, and to become involved, if you so wish.

We currently hold 4-5 meetings a year at the Surgery, each of which is from 6.00pm to 7.00pm, and is strictly regulated to one hour. The minutes of these meetings will be published on this website for you to read.  There is now a wealth of activities going on involving various members to support you and everything that the Practice does.

We can be seen as a Volunteer Marshall at the yearly Flu vaccination clinics.  We have a very active Strollers Group which meets every 2 weeks for a gentle stroll round Poundbury.  There are no gates, stiles or muddy ground to negotiate, and we always end up in local cafe for a drink (and maybe a cake !!) and some relaxation.

Another member is now running a “Book Stall” in the Surgery.  Various people have donated both hardback and paperback books, as well as audio books.  Patients are free to read the books whilst waiting for their appointment, and if they wish, they can take the book home to complete, either returning the next time they pass the Surgery, or possibly making a small donation to our funds.  We welcome books for pre-readers through young people, teenagers and adults.

We can also offer you something that is genuinely free. Absolutely no cost to you at all. We are fortunate to have a Digital Champion from Dorset Council as one of our members, and he will give you free lessons on how to use your smart phone, tablet, or laptop.  There is no limit on the number of lessons you can have, until you are proficient at whatever you are trying to learn.  Be that composing an email and sending it, online shopping, or any other feature that you need help with.

In common with any other Voluntary body, we do raise our own funds, every penny of which is channelled back into providing support to the Practice to help all the Patients.

We are here to represent you at the Practice, so if there are any comments, ideas or observations that you would like to make, please email me at :- Boxdragon54@gmail.com

Regards.

Peter Hazelton
Chairman
Patient Participation Group
Prince of Wales Surgery