St Leonard's Practice
We are centrally located in Exeter with a growing patient list of 9,200 patients. All our consulting rooms are on the ground floor and we also have an on-site pharmacy. Our practice list reflects the national picture in that it is aging and we are seeing an increase in patients with Dementia. We always strive to provide compassionate, personal care to all our patients and promote continuity with each patient having their own named accountable GP. We will continue to offer personal care to the best of our abilities and sign-post patients and their carers to additional services as appropriate.
- Updated:
- 27 December 2019
- Location:
- South West
- Sectors:
- Health
- Local Alliances:
- Exeter Dementia Action Alliance (EDAA)
1. Action Plan
1. The National Dementia Declaration lists seven outcomes that the DAA are seeking to achieve for people with dementia and their carers. How would you describe your organisation’s role in delivering better outcomes for people with dementia and their carers?
Action 1: Managing our Patient List
We will check list for known Dementia patients, ask Partners to check if a patient would benefit from a double appointment. Then we will add an alert to notes if appropriate.
Action 2: Dementia Friendly Premises:
We will look at adding a dementia friendly clock to the waiting room alongside a more general review of Practice signage as appropriate.
Action 3: Practice Staff Awareness
A staff Dementia Friends Champion to be nominated and trained. In addition, the wider staff group will attend a Dementia Friends session.
2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?
Time and resources are always the biggest challenges but we are willing to work with the Exeter branch of the Dementia Action Alliance to increase our knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by those with Dementia, so that we may improve our services.
Member website
www.stleonardssurgery.co.uk2. Actions
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Action 1: Managing our Patient List
We will check list for known Dementia patients, ask Partners to check if a patient would benefit from a double appointment. Then we will add an alert to notes if appropriate.
- Status:
- Completed
2016 - First Quarter Update
Action completed. As we provide 15 minute appointments (rather than the standard 10 minute appointments) most of our GPs felt that patients did not require a double or extended appointment alert to be added to their notes. We have however added a few where appropriate.
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Replace white toilet seats with coloured ones
As highlighted in a recent training session, patients with dementia may have difficulty with colours. The example given was of a white toilet seat on a white toilet and that simply replacing the white toilet seat with a coloured one could be of benefit to patients; reducing the incidence of distress and accidents.
- Status:
- Planning
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Action 2: Dementia Friendly Premises
We will look at adding a dementia friendly clock to the waiting room alongside a more general review of Practice signage as appropriate.
- Status:
- Completed
2016 - First Quarter Update
We have purchased improved internal signage which we feel is now clearer for all patients. With a solid background the lettering stands out much more. We've also double sided the signs so that, if you miss it and turn around you can still see where you should be going. We've added the approved Toilet sign to our waiting area as well, hopefully making it clearer for patients.
We've struggled with gaining a dementia-friendly clock. We were hoping to add it to our new TV display system but this doesn't seem possible. We'll now look into purchasing one to fix to the wall in the waiting room.
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Staff Awareness Training
Dementia Friends session to be held with Gina Awad.
On-going - training to be added to our standard induction programme for all new staff.
- Status:
- Completed
2016 - First Quarter Update
A very successful training session was held with Gina Awad and a mixed group of staff (Nursing and admin teams) in January 2016.
Induction programme training will be an on-going issue.
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Dementia Awareness Week - May 2016
Various activities are planned to take part in the Dementia Awareness Week 2016.
We have borrowed a creative arts display (created by patients with dementia) to display in our waiting room for the week.
We have given promination to the Dementia Awareness Week in our waiting room but utilising one of our noticeboards to advertise dementia friendly activities, dementia research and the Exeter Action Alliance.
Our PPG have agreed to donate their book sale income for the whole month of May to the Exeter Action Alliance as well.
- Status:
- Completed
2016 - First Quarter Update
We're pleased with how our waiting room displays look and have received a lot of positive comments from patients.
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Support for the Exeter Alliance 2019 Calendar
We supported and promoted the Exeter Alliance 'Shining a Light' Calendar including through sales in the Practice.
- Status:
- Completed