Healthy start to GP group sessions

GP surgeries in Greater Manchester are now offering group appointments to patients.

Around 29 surgeries in the region have been piloting the Weight Watchers-style sessions over the past six months. They are aimed at patients with long-term conditions such as asthma, chronic pain or diabetes, and see them take part in hour-and-a-half-long sessions with nurses, rather than a quick non-urgent 15-minute check-up.

Greater Manchester is the first region in England to roll out the scheme, funded by Health Education England.

The cash was used to train and support staff to hold appointments for 8-10 people who wanted to try the new way of accessing medical advice and support. During the sessions, patients are able to speak to each other about their conditions and share tips and advice.

They are also able to have a 1-1 in private with a nurse if they want to.

Many patients said they were happier in groups because they had extra time to ask questions.

They also found themselves better at remembering their medication and keeping themselves well overall.

Paul Anderson, 45, from Beswick is a Type 2 diabetic. He has been attending the group sessions at West Gorton Medical Centre.

“Once you get the diagnosis you get those leaflets you go away and read them and think I’ll cut out sugar and it’ll be fine but there’s a whole lot more you’ve got to take into account,” he said. “So coming to the group sessions I found we were able to bounce ideas off one another pick up different recipes and so I found it really, really useful. Before I was diagnosed I had an injury and I stopped training so I was discussing with the group how you can do exercises sat down.”

Colin Dexter-Davies, 52, from West Gorton, added: “The group is best because you can speak to people and they tell you how they changed their lives themselves.”

Helen Barlow, director of Nursing at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said the results of the pilot were ‘amazing.’ She said: “The nurses are there for professional advice and promote self-care and we’ve seen how the strength of peer group patient contact improves outcomes. It shows how working together more frequently with colleagues inside and outside the NHS can help discover new alternatives to improve what we offer patients.”