Friends of Parkwood Surgery (FPS)

The Friends of Parkwood Surgery, FPS, has been our Patient Group for more than 12 years, supporting patients and representing your views when working with the practice to help influence and deliver improvements.

The FPS committee consists of patients who volunteer their time to represent your views, requirements and feedback to the practice about the services provided to you, and how they can be made more effective and more aligned to your needs.

We receive a lot of very positive feedback about the work that FPS does: both the Committee and the Practice are keen to reach as many Parkwood patients as possible. To do this, the FPS Committee has decided to implement a new membership policy, which the Practice fully supports.

In summary:-

All new patients joining Parkwood Surgery will be automatically enrolled as members of FPS
All existing patients of Parkwood Surgery will be enrolled as members of FPS on 19 September 2022
From this date, FPS communications will be issued by the Practice on behalf of the FPS Committee using the data the surgery holds for you
FPS Communications will consist of a regular newsletter and additional messages to promote specific events, such as health talks
No data will be shared by the Practice with the PPG

What does this mean for me?

You will no longer need to complete an annual membership form, all patients will automatically be members of FPS and receive our communications.

If you are happy to receive FPS communications, no action is required: we will automatically enrol you on the date specified above.

If you would prefer not to receive FPS communications, you can opt out by contacting the surgery via our website – https://parkwoodsurgery.nhs.uk/

For more information about the Friends of Parkwood Surgery, please see their new FPS website www.friendsofparkwoodsurgery.com where you can also find details of how you can get in contact and help to shape how the committee represents and supports you.

Thank you.

Who we are

The Friends of Parkwood Surgery, or FPS, is a Patient Participation Group: we are patients of Parkwood Drive Surgery who volunteer our time to share your views with the Practice, with the aim of improving the services provided to you.

The FPS Committee works with the Practice, providing the patient perspective and working together on initiatives to improve all areas of care delivered by the Partners and staff at the surgery for the benefit of all its patients.

FPS is part of a national association of Patient Participation Groups, supported by Government, encouraging your participation in your healthcare at grass roots level by engaging with the FPS to provide views, feedback and suggestions for improvements and changes to the Practice and the healthcare provided.

Please have a look at our website to find out more about what we do and how you can get involved: https://friendsofparkwoodsurgery.com/

Friends of Parkwood Email: friendsofparkwooddrive@gmail.com

Please have a look at our Guide to the surgery booklet: FPS A Guide to Parkwood Surgery Booklet

What we do

We represent the patient perspective, representing you in discussions with the Practice about how services might be improved.

The purpose of FPS is:-

To give patients and Practice staff the opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest with regards to healthcare and act as a link between the patients and the doctors
To encourage health education within the Practice, for example through talks about health issues or organised activities
To raise funds for equipment of benefit to patients and Practice that cannot be provided centrally
To represent patients of the Practice when called upon to influence the local provision of Health and Social Care.

Please note that the FPS are not able to assist with complaints. The practice has a separate, defined complaints procedure if required.

The FPS Committee has defined Terms of Reference which you can read here.

Fund Raising

Over the years we have raised funds towards various items including:

Over £2,000 towards the cost of the electronic doors at Parkwood Surgery which were officially inaugurated by Mike Penning MP in June 2010. They enable much easier access for those in wheelchairs or pushing prams, and for those of us who are not as agile or strong as we once were!
Over £2,000 to replacing the bench seating in the Parkwood Drive Surgery
Most recently the Friends raised £358 at the Christmas Raffle and £550 at the 2017 Easter raffle which has been added to the £1,000 donation from Councillor Terry Douris from his local community projects budget and funds from the Practice to purchase two defibrillators, for the Gadebridge and Boxmoor surgeries.

During 2021/22, thanks to donations from patients plus a grant from the Co-op Local Community Fund we were able to pay for several items to benefit patients at Parkwood Surgery including:-

Cryotherapy Equipment to be used for the removal of warts, verrucas and skin tags
a Doppler machine which measures blood flow throughout the body, especially legs and feet
an Ear Irrigator for the removal of ear wax
contributions to high-seated chairs

Thanks to a generous individual donation from a patient, in memory of a family member, we were able to contribute towards the cost if 2 ECG machines.

In 2022, after a break due to lockdown we held our first Christmas raffle since 2019 and raised a total of £175.

Fund raising is achieved in two ways:

Donations from members when joining or renewing membership of FPS. membership is free but we suggest a small donation of £2 per household per year.
Specific events such as our Easter Raffle

Please support FPS – your donations enable us to fund FPS initiatives such as our health talks and to purchase items that will either improve your experience at the surgery or enable the use of much needed equipment at the Practice that may well benefit you, and which the Practice is otherwise unable to provide.

We receive no formal funding, so FPS raises funds in the following ways:

Local grants, where we can define a specific purpose for the funds
Specific events such as our Christmas Raffle
General donations, for example at flu clinics and health talks

These funds enable FPS to run initiatives such as our health talks and to purchase items that will either improve your experience at the surgery or enable the use of much needed equipment at the Practice that may well benefit you, and which the Practice is otherwise unable to provide.