Longfield Medical Centre is looking for members of all ages to join its Patient Participation Group (PPG), to give feedback on how the surgery is run.

Samantha Young, Head of Operations at Longfield Medical Centre, told Nub News: "It's about working collaboratively with our patients, to achieve the best patient care that we can for both sides."

PPGs are run in most practices. The previous one at Longfield disbanded during the pandemic, but Samantha is hoping to launch a new group with a broader demographic, to better-reflect patients' needs.

The meetings will initially be held on a monthly basis at the Maldon District Council Offices in Princes Road, Maldon.

After that, it is set to go to quarterly meetings, either virtually or in-person, depending on convenience.

Lester Firkins OBE, Chair of the practice's Patient Participation Group, told Nub News: "We are not setting up as a forum for moaners - but rather a group of well-intentioned patients and clinicians working in partnership to make things better."

Lester was awarded an OBE for his work after the death of his son Ellis from Mad Cow Disease in 2000 and for his work with the James Lind Alliance, which aims to bring patients and clinicians together.

Lester says Longfield wanted to have a forum, where patients could sit on 'equal footing' with staff, doctors, and nurses, "to chew over problems that might be facing either party and see if there are some obvious solutions".

Samantha and Lester hope to have a group consisting of 20 people. Half of those will be clinicians, admin staff and receptionists, while the other half will be a 'cross section' of the patient population.

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There will be an agenda based on the needs of both parties.

"It's a scary place for some people. We want them to tell us about their experiences."

Lester said: "We're at the point now where we're trying to recruit members. When we advertise what we want to do, we'll get the usual suspects – the people who want to moan.

"But we need it to be across a broad socio-economic group."

Longfield Medical Centre's youngest demographic is aged 16 to 21 years and it wants to encourage people in that group to participate.

Samantha says this is because they are the ones who struggle to access or are unsure how to approach their GP.

She said: "It's a scary place for some people. We want them to tell us about their experiences.

"That helps me, from a strategic level, to look at what I can do to improve that."

The group has no right to veto decisions made by the surgery but will serve as an advisory body.

Lester said: "I would love for what we're doing here to be seen as an exemplar for how it could be done."

Samantha added: "We want to rip up the rule book and make our own."

If you are interested in joining Longfield's Patient Participation Group, get in touch via email.