Innovative Lancashire GP practice brings patient engagement online

Innovative Lancashire GP Practice, Library House Surgery in Chorley piloted the use of Facebook Live for their Patient Participation Group meeting on Thursday 13 September. The Patient Participation Group consists of patients and practice representatives who come together to discuss the work of the practice and identify any areas for improvement.

Using digital technology to reach a wider group of patients significantly increased attendance and meant that more local people could participate and provide feedback.

Why Library House introduced Facebook Live

Library House Surgery has a track record of excellent responses to online surveys and productive patient participation group meetings, but were conscious that attendance at the meetings averaged around only 15 patients. They had an existing open Facebook page, with a following of 750 people - including patients of the surgery and those of other practices within the Chorley area.

Impact of using Facebook Live

Simon Elcock, IT and Operations Manager at Library House Surgery, said:

"To achieve our goal of involving more people in the work of the practice we made the decision to use Facebook. It was a real leap of faith, we decided that if we were going to try Facebook it was all or nothing. We created a post for the Patient Group meeting which we hoped would reach the 750 people who had liked our page. We also boosted our post with social media advertising to reach a wider audience within the Chorley area. In the past we have moderated comments on our Facebook page but we felt if we wanted to receive feedback good or bad and be as inclusive as possible we should have the faith to allow all comments to be posted without moderation during the meeting.

During the live stream and after we were pleased there was a mix of positive and encouraging comments but also observations from patients about the services we provide which they felt we could improve on. We are very pleased with the outcome of the meeting, it has provided a real positive atmosphere within the surgery and has reassured us that opening up to a wider group of patients needn’t be daunting. One thing we learnt from the live stream was that the participants had an enjoyable and productive time."

You can view the Facebook Live Patient Participation Group broadcast on the Library House Surgery Facebook page.

Facts and stats

• The meeting lasted for 75 minutes
• 150 postal invites were sent out
• To date, the live stream has been watched more than 2,000 times (which includes people who watched live and after the event)
• Technical expertise was provided so that the practice could use a number of different cameras and a professional microphone and live editing software
• Library House Surgery are now planning to stream a broadcast across the Facebook pages of the other GP practices within their network.

About our Primary Care Digital Exemplar programme

Library House Surgery is one of 18 networks of GP practices across Lancashire and South Cumbria who are participating in a Primary Care Digital Exemplar programme. This Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria programme is developing best practice and sharing learning from using digital technology by working with groups of local GP practices.

Support for GP practices

If you work for a GP practice in Lancashire and South Cumbria and are interested in live-streaming your Patient Participation Group, please contact m.schmid@nhs.net

Our Digital Future

The Primary Care Digital Exemplar programme is part of Our Digital Future, the digital strategy for Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria.

For more information, please visit www.healthierlsc.co.uk/digitalfuture or follow us on Twitter @healthierlsc #HLSCDigital