Patient Participation Group Newsletter

A somewhat belated happy New Year from the PPG and the staff of Banbury Cross Health Centre 

You could be forgiven for thinking we have stopped having a newsletter, we haven’t, I had a spell in hospital which left me with rather limited motor skills and I found it quite tricky to do this sort of thing; however, after a bit of recovery we are back up and running again ( well walking a bit more slowly anyway!) 

There are a few new things happening so please read on and see where we are at now. 

One of the new things that have happened is that we now have a completely redesigned website. The aim has been to make it a much easier and simpler place to carry out the operations that you, as a patient, need to do.

The major most used items are right there on the first page with single click buttons that take you straight into your chosen option without even thinking about it.. 

The most used options are:- 

•  How to make an appointment. 
•  How to order a repeat prescription. 
•  How to get test results. 
•  How to get a sick note for work. 
•  How to register with the practice. 

It also has information on clinical staff including doctors specialties 

A lot of time and effort has gone into this, it is not just a revamp of the old site it is a totally new look at what we think you, the patient, needs. Please take some time to look at it, explore it and see what it has got to 
offer, you will no doubt find information there that you never knew before.

New Practice Manager

You may or may not be aware we now have a new practice manager, well he is not actually new any more as he has been here since October 2024, His name is Kevin Murphy and here is an 
introduction to him.

My name is Kevin Murphy, and I am the practice manager at Banbury Cross Health centre and. I have been carrying out the role of practice manager since October 2024.

I have worked in primary care for over 10 years and in my previous role, I was responsible for managing 9 GP practices. I have managed Healthcare teams and services for nearly 30 years in both Primary and Secondary care.

I am very proud and privileged to be the practice manager at Banbury Cross and to work with a dedicated and caring team of clinicians, managers, receptionists and administrators.

• I thought it would be useful to share some statistics from 2025.
• We provided 167,276 patient appointments in 2025.
• We answered 122,203 patient telephone calls in 2025.
• We issued prescriptions for 661,854 medications in 2025.

My role is to support the team to provide an excellent and caring service for our patients every day.

Outside of work, I am married and have two teenage children which ensures that I have a healthy work / life balance.

I can usually be seen walking around the practice so if you do see me, please say hello. 

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Although it happened quite a while ago (last September actually) 

Perhaps you would like to know that the Macmillan Coffee Morning held at the surgery raised £111.04. This was the amount of cash taken on the day. In addition to this quite a few people donated using the Macmillan QR code on display and this money went straight to Macmillan This was, as usual, organised by PPG member Antony Alcock. Many thanks to Antony and to all who helped and to all who attended Well done everybody!

Pain Support Group

Sarah Hogben (Social Prescriber) and Laura Dee-Andrew (First Contact Physiotherapist) run the Pain Support Group at the Banbury Cross Health Centre. We are a Surgery of approximately 42,500 patients which means that we inevitably have a large number of patients with persistent and chronic pain. 

The monthly support group is as much informative as it is supportive. We try to explain how pain works in an easy-to-understand way. We use resources such as the Pain Free Mindset book written by leading pain specialist Professor Deepak Ravindran as part of our framework to structure the group, alongside organisations such as Flippin Pain and Live Well With Pain to try and educate our patients about pain. We also try and offer opportunities to try different forms of mindfulness, mindful movement/exercise and the opportunity to learn about local support services. and are registered at Banbury Cross Health Centre, 

If you live with persistent/chronic pain or care for someone who does and are registered at Banbury Cross Health Centre, you may be interested in finding out more about the group please contact the GP practice and leave a message for Sarah Hogben or Laura Dee-Andrew directly. 

You can also mention to any clinician at the GP practice and they can make a direct referral to us. 

All opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the PPG and may not necessarily be those of the practice and that the intention of the PPG is to support the patients and practice at all times.

Published: Feb 11, 2026