PPG Agenda - September 2024

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Held at the Allerton Road Practice

1. Notes from last meeting (July 2024)

2. Practice Developments:

   •    Additional consulting rooms
   •    Check-in on arrival
   •    Information screen

3. Successful Recruitment of GP – Dr Joshua Hinton will start on Oct 1st
4. Guest Speaker: James Miller – Role of Paramedics in Primary Care

5. Vaccination Programme

   •    New respiratory virus vaccine for those between 75-79 years now available
   •    Flu Vaccine from October 1st in local care homes
   •    Allerton achievement re vaccination
   •    September 13th vaccinations for children will be provided every Friday.

6. Spirometry – Lung function test
7. FeNO – Asthma test
8. Kardia Mobile – Stroke 
9. Staff photos in waiting area
10. New survey for patients of Allerton
11. Any Other Business

Spirometric Monitor - What is spirometry?

Spirometry is a breathing or lung function test. It measures how much air you can breathe out in one forced breath. You may do a spirometry test at the GP surgery, or you may be given a short appointment at a clinic or hospital outpatients department.

Spirometry can be used to monitor your lung condition, especially if it’s not well controlled. It can help check how you’re responding to treatment. If you have asthma, your GP or asthma nurse may suggest a spirometry test at your annual asthma review. Spirometry is suitable for most adults, young people, and children over five.  

Kardia Mobile - re: stroke

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is an irregular heartbeat that occurs when the upper chambers of your heartbeat out of coordination with the lower chambers, which causes your heart to beat either too slowly or too quickly. It is the most common heart arrhythmia, affecting nearly 3 million people in the US. People with AFib are 5 times more likely to have a stroke and may also develop blood clots, heart failure, and other heart-related complications. If you experience AFib, it may feel like your heart is fluttering or skipping a beat. AFib can be detected on an electrocardiogram (EKG), which records the electrical activity of your heart.

The evidence from 12 studies and a patient survey reported that KardiaMobile was easier to use compared with other ECG monitors. People felt that KardiaMobile would be useful in self-monitoring at home and improving their ability to access the care they needed. Two studies showed that people who used KardiaMobile had a significant improvement in AF-specific quality-of-life scores compared with people in the control groups. 

FeNO monitor - Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO)

FeNO devices are a novel medical technology used to aid in the diagnosis of asthma. FeNO devices measure fractional exhaled nitric oxide in the breath of patients. Nitric oxide is a biomarker for asthma which provides an indication of the level of inflammation in the lungs. FeNO testing produces a FeNO score which gives a value to the level of inflammation and can therefore be used to aid in the diagnosis of asthma.

Although FeNO is primarily a diagnostic tool, it has an additional use in the ongoing monitoring of chronic asthma.

A patient leaflet has been developed to explain what FeNO testing is, its importance, how the test is performed and ways to prepare for it. It is important that patients have a good understanding of what to expect from their FeNO test appointment. The leaflet – Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO): Your asthma inflammation test explained also sign-posts patients to other relevant patient information resources. This includes the FeNO patient video that has been collaboratively produced with Asthma UK and is available on their ‘tests to diagnose and monitor asthma’ webpage.