Patient Participation Groups: What We Learned from Medway Practices

Between August and October 2025, Healthwatch Medway spoke to 14 GP practices to find out. Here’s what we learned.

What’s Working Well?

Some PPGs reported strong relationships with their GP surgeries:

“It’s very good. They are always helpful, they always listen to us, they consider us when they’re planning meetings and talking about various things that are coming up.”

PPGs have influenced communication between GPs and patients:

“The practice have learnt through the PPG that explanation is important for patients. The PPG has influenced the GP’s communication skills.”

Challenges and Barriers

Not all experiences were positive. Some PPGs felt their input wasn’t valued:

“No. We are not consulted on changes to services. We ask lots of questions but feel that they are not answered.”

Attendance of the GP partners was also an issue:

“The partners don’t turn up to the meetings… We asked for the meetings to be later in the day to accommodate but we are still waiting to hear if that can be arranged.”

Ideas for Improvement

Members suggested ways to strengthen PPGs:

“Training courses for PPGs would be helpful, and networking between PPGs to understand what’s going on elsewhere.”
“We would benefit from more diversity within the PPG.”

Healthwatch Medway is continuing to support practices setting up new PPGs and working with existing ones to ensure patient voices shape local healthcare.