Patient Participation Groups (PPGs)

NHS Kent and Medway commission and support GP practices across Kent and Medway. Each GP practice is contractually required to have a formal Patient Participation Group (PPGs) to gain feedback and insight on what their population wants or needs, and to encourage action on prevention and health inequalities.

There are communication and engagement toolkits along with training that is available for GP practices, and these can be found on the communication and engagement resources page.

To better support GP practices and patients, we carried out a review of patient participation groups (PPG) across Kent between June and September 2025. This survey has now closed. We had 184 responses from PPGs, gathered from GP practices across the four HCP areas in the county.. This was to find out which GP practices have a PPG, how they function and to highlight support needed.

We can present a summary of the initial findings and we will publish a report in early 2026.

  • 96 GP practices responded and informed that they had a PPG.
  • 40% of practices do not have a branch surgery and of those that do, nearly half had a representative from the branch.
  • 87% of practices reported having between 5 and 20 members in their PPG.

The majority of PPGs meet in person on a mostly quarterly basis but 10% of the PPGs do not meet at all.

Other ways in which surgeries engage with patients are by:

Text - 73%

Email - 50%

Newsletter - 40%

Feedback form /Suggestion box - 36%

Forums and coffee mornings - 35%

Regular patient surveys - 18%

PPGs felt well supported by GP practices recording that GPs and Practice Managers would often provide them with a place to meet, attend and facilitate meetings.

PPGs also felt they support GP practices in the following ways:

  • Support with communications between the practice and the local population
  • Help with building stronger links with the community and identifying gaps in healthcare
  • Help design surveys about patient experience and gathering feedback for the practice
  • Support the practice practically by helping to organise health promotion days or help at flu clinics

Both PPGs and GP practices recorded that it would be to their advantage to have some training in the set up and maintenance of PPGs, the statutory role of the PPG and how both parties could get greater benefit from the arrangement.

The next step is to contact the GP practices we haven’t heard from and find out if they have a PPG.

Once this is complete, a full and final engagement report will be published early in 2026.

NHS Kent and Medway commission and support GP practices across Kent and Medway. Each GP practice is contractually required to have a formal Patient Participation Group (PPGs) to gain feedback and insight on what their population wants or needs, and to encourage action on prevention and health inequalities.

There are communication and engagement toolkits along with training that is available for GP practices, and these can be found on the communication and engagement resources page.

To better support GP practices and patients, we carried out a review of patient participation groups (PPG) across Kent between June and September 2025. This survey has now closed. We had 184 responses from PPGs, gathered from GP practices across the four HCP areas in the county.. This was to find out which GP practices have a PPG, how they function and to highlight support needed.

We can present a summary of the initial findings and we will publish a report in early 2026.

  • 96 GP practices responded and informed that they had a PPG.
  • 40% of practices do not have a branch surgery and of those that do, nearly half had a representative from the branch.
  • 87% of practices reported having between 5 and 20 members in their PPG.

The majority of PPGs meet in person on a mostly quarterly basis but 10% of the PPGs do not meet at all.

Other ways in which surgeries engage with patients are by:

Text - 73%

Email - 50%

Newsletter - 40%

Feedback form /Suggestion box - 36%

Forums and coffee mornings - 35%

Regular patient surveys - 18%

PPGs felt well supported by GP practices recording that GPs and Practice Managers would often provide them with a place to meet, attend and facilitate meetings.

PPGs also felt they support GP practices in the following ways:

  • Support with communications between the practice and the local population
  • Help with building stronger links with the community and identifying gaps in healthcare
  • Help design surveys about patient experience and gathering feedback for the practice
  • Support the practice practically by helping to organise health promotion days or help at flu clinics

Both PPGs and GP practices recorded that it would be to their advantage to have some training in the set up and maintenance of PPGs, the statutory role of the PPG and how both parties could get greater benefit from the arrangement.

The next step is to contact the GP practices we haven’t heard from and find out if they have a PPG.

Once this is complete, a full and final engagement report will be published early in 2026.