Patient participation group fundraises for new practice monitor

A PPG has been raising funds to help its practice buy a blood pressure monitor worth £1,000.
 
The Cromer Group Practice’s PPG, based in Cromer, Norfolk purchased the blood pressure monitor after it successfully raised the money required for it through fundraising events – including a cake sale – chair of the PPG Liz Hewett said.
 
The PPG had also applied for a £500 grant from the Overstrand Parish Council, which helped the group reach the amount needed for the purchase.
 
Ms Hewett said the idea to buy a blood pressure monitor came from the practice partners, when the PPG consulted them on what they should be raising funds for.
 
She said: ‘It was essential for us to collaborate with the practice manager and the practice partners. We are there to not only to represent patients but to support the practice to get the patients the best experience possible.’
 
The practice’s 13,000 patients can freely use the monitor, which now sits in the waiting room, to take their blood pressure readings.
 
The monitor prints the blood pressure test results, which patients can put their name on and drop off at the reception desk, Ms Hewett said.
 
She added: ‘A clinical person in the practice will look at it and if they feel the need to call that person into the practice, they will.’
 
Ms Hewett hopes that with time the monitor will reduce the need for patients to book an appointment to have their blood pressure taken.
 
Cromer Group Practice’s practice manager Andrew Snelling said: ‘Patients can book an appointment and can be waiting up to two weeks just for a nurse or healthcare assistant to take their blood pressure.
 
‘The self-service machine allows patients to conveniently take their blood pressure so we can pick up high blood pressure early and do something about it.’
 
The PPG, which is continuing to fundraise for other projects, hopes to in the near future also be able to buy two 24-hours blood pressure monitors, which patients wear for a day and a night before having their readings interpreted by a clinician at the practice.