A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group of people who are patients of the surgery and want to help it work as well as it can for patients, doctors and staff. The NHS requires every practice to have a PPG.

Our Patient Participation Group works with the Practice to help staff to improve the quality of healthcare and response to the needs of patients at Lyme Regis Medical Centre and our Charmouth branch. 

Scroll down for more information about our PPG. 

Patient Participation has a single purpose: 

To foster good communication between the Practice and its patients in a way that benefits both:  building a relationship that consolidates partnership, avoids barriers and shares  information so that patients can make best use of and support the Practice.

We do this by:

• Encouraging good communication between the Practice and its patients for the benefit of both.
• Helping the Practice to share knowledge and information about its own and associated community services.
• Providing feedback about how the Practice can improve its services.
• Supporting health promotion and encouraging self-care.
• Representing registered patients both to the Practice and to local health and care organisations.

Our Terms of Reference set out how we do this. To download and view the PPG's Terms of Reference, follow this link>>

Find out more by emailing the PPG at lymebayppg@gmail.com, or check the PPG noticeboards at each surgery site.

A representative Steering Group liaises with the Practice to ensure jointly that the purpose of patient participation is being met. 

In particular, it:

• promotes ways in which patients can make best use of and support the Practice;
• assists the Practice in collecting patient opinions and experiences that help the Practice to evaluate its services;
• helps to provide information about the Practice for the local community and to bring patients’ needs and interests to the attention of the Practice.

The Steering Group communicates with all patients primarily through a section of the Practice website and newsletter.

Steering Group members have no access to patient lists or data held by the Practice.

Steering group members are volunteers as are the Chair and Secretary

Patients are added to the Virtual Group on request.

Request to join the Group by

• emailing the Practice at administrator.lyme@dorsetgp.nhs.uk
• or speak with a member of the Reception team

Your details will be passed to the Secretary who will add you to the Group.

PPG meetings are held on Tuesday afternoons from 2.30pm at Lyme Regis Medical Centre.  Our last PPG meeting was held on the 10th of September, and we held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 20th of November. 

Meeting dates currently scheduled for 2025 are:

28th January 2025

18th March 2025

Scroll down for minutes of our previous meetings.

The effectiveness of the PPG relies on hearing from its patient-members about any generally-applicable questions, problems or ideas that you may have. Patient experiences of Practice services, good or not so good, may well contribute to general feedback, so the PPG is always interested to hear of them. Please bear in mind that individual patient issues should be raised in the first instance to the Practice management team. If they cannot be resolved there, reference to the PPG is appropriate.

You can get in touch with us by any of these methods:

• using our Contact Form

• dropping a note into the red ‘Messages for the PPG’ box at either Practice site;

• talking to any member of the Steering Group whom you happen to know personally.

Please let us know your thoughts. All messages will be treated in confidence. If used in feedback to the Practice, they will be anonymised.

Complete our contact form and email* it to lymebayppg@gmail.com

Download our PPG Contact Form as a Microsoft Word document here>>

Or, if you prefer, you can download the PPG Contact form as a pdf document.  Print it out, complete it and return it to us via the Practice by posting to:

Lyme Bay Medical Practice, c/o Lyme Regis Medical Centre, Uplyme Road, Lyme Regis, Dorset  DT7 3LS

Download and print out our PPG Contact Form as a PDF here>>

We will be in touch shortly after we receive your form.

*By providing your email address you confirm you consent for us to contact you occasionally by email.

You could support the work of the practice through the PPG:

• volunteer occasionally to help with jobs like stewarding at events (flu vaccinations or large health screening days, for example). Volunteer help for the Practice is coordinated by Caroline Powley. You can contact her by emailing calpowley@me.com.
• let the Steering Group know of particular questions or concerns you have about medical services locally if you haven’t been able to resolve these directly with the Practice or other service provider.
• contribute your interest and/or expertise to a short-term PPG working group, such as reviewing and advising on Practice communications or on its website.
• offer to become part of the PPG’s ‘Virtual Group’ or Steering Group if this would suit your interests and commitments. 

For more information and to give your support please email the PPG at lymebayppg@gmail.com.