TY - JOUR T1 - A patient's diary: episode 16 — patient group meeting JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 292 LP - 293 DO - 10.3399/bjgp08X280083 VL - 58 IS - 549 A2 - , Y1 - 2008/04/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/58/549/292.abstract N2 - Last week I had a letter from the surgery. At first I thought it might be for another check-up but it turned out to be something quite different which I had forgotten all about: Dear Mr Gland (it began) You very kindly agreed to be a member of our patient participation group and we are planning to hold the inaugural meeting next Tuesday at 8 p.m. here in the Old Surgery. The agenda will be to elect a chairman, to discuss the recent Patient Satisfaction Survey and to make recommendations. We do hope you will be able to come to what should be a very interesting and productive meeting.Yours sincerely, Elena Browning, practice manager.PS I shall be acting as ex officio secretary of the new group.So, yesterday evening as soon as we had finished supper and loaded the dishwasher I put on my good suit and took the car down to the surgery. It seemed strange to be going there so late in the day, long after the doctors had finished. I wondered whether any of them would be present at the meeting. There were lights inside the building when I arrived but the door was locked so I rang the bell. To my surprise, it was opened by Harry Pocket, our ex-neighbour with whom I had last crossed swords while we were waiting for our appointments.‘Well, if it isn't Norman Gland!’ he beamed when he saw me. ‘I might have known you'd be up for this Patients' Group carry on. Come in, take the weight off your metatarsals and meet the rest of the Mafia’. So he ushered me in to the waiting room (trying to take control already, I noticed) where a little group of patients were assembled. There was a middle-aged woman I … ER -