About our Practice
Call recording policy
Enhanced data sharing model
Data shared with who and why?
Many GP practices in Leeds, the out of hours on-call Doctor service and many other organisations use the Summary Care Record or the Leeds Care Records service to share information about your care
This means that if we refer you to a service that is already using SCR or Leeds Care Record, the person you go and see will have access to your GP record and visa versa. This allows for safer care and means you have to repeat yourself less often.
What is shared?
All data unless specific items are marked as private.
How is the data shared?
Access is restricted to NHS Smartcard holders in Hospitals, Out of Hours Services, Community Health and GPs.
How is consent given?
Initial implied consent with explicit consent for a share in and out at each organisation.
How do I get more information?
For further detailed information on how the record sharing works in our system is available from the waiting room
We are in the process of asking your sharing preferences regarding your full detailed electronic record. We are telling you about this, as you have a choice to make. You can choose to share or not to share your full electronic record with other NHS care services where you are treated and whether we can view records held by those other services.
If you choose to make your record shareable, your clinical details will only viewable by clinical teams who are treating you.
Each clinical team which cares for you now or in the future will ask your permission to view your shared record. You can also ask for part of your record to be made private – not shareable. All record accesses are recorded and auditable. If you choose not to make your records shareable, we will respect your wishes and will do our best to make your care safe and efficient. However, denying the clinical teams caring for you the ability to access important clinical details could compromise your care.
You Have Two Choices:
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- Data Sharing Opt Out – This controls whether your full electronic patient record can be shared with other NHS care services where you are treated.
Let us know if your records should be Shareable or Not Shareable.
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- Data Sharing Opt In – This controls whether you agree for this service to view the information you’ve agreed to share at other NHS care services.
Let us know if we can view your shared record from elsewhere or if you do not want it to be viewable to us.
In the event of an emergency: In certain circumstances, such as if you are unconscious or there is a court order, healthcare staff may look at your record without asking you. If they have to do this, a note will be made on your record. If we share information without your permission, we will make sure that we keep to the Data Protection Act 1998, the NHS confidentiality code of practice and other national guidelines on best practice.
Friends & family test
The Friends and Family Test (FFT) is a quick and simple patient feedback tool, to tell us how satisfied or dissatisfied you have been with your treatment or care at the surgery.
Would you recommend our surgery?
If you visit our surgery you may be asked to give some feedback about whether or not you would recommend us to your family and friends.
There will be two simple questions:
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- How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they need similar care or treatment?
You will be asked to choose from 6 options, ranging from ‘extremely likely’ to ‘extremely unlikely’.
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- Overall how would you describe your experience of making an appointment?
You will have 5 options to select from, ranging from ‘Very Good’ to ‘Very Poor’.
If you are signed up to our free text messaging service you may be asked by text message or we may give you a simple handout in the surgery. Your response is anonymous and you can post replies in the prescription box on reception on your way out.
What Will We Do With The Results?
The information will give us valuable feedback on what you think of the care and treatment you have received. This will help us to improve the experience for patients in the future.
More Information
The Friends and Family Test has already been successfully used in hospitals across the country. More information on the Friends and Family Test can be found on NHS Choices.
Leeds Care Record
Data shared with who and why?
Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust/Primary Care such as your GP/Leeds Mental Health Services/Leeds Social Care. It is designed to be a local one stop shop shared record for direct care to enable health professionals to provide better care by seeing all your information together in one place.
What is shared?
Problems, Medication, Allergies, Appointments, Test Results, Communications, Discharges, Demographics.
How is the data shared?
Held on a secure computer system and records remain confidential. All existing data protection laws apply. Only accessed by people directly involved in your care. This is role based access by Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust/Primary Care/Leeds Mental Health/Leeds Social Care.
How is consent given?
GP Practices opt in to Leeds Care Record. Patients can opt out via Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust (by phone on 0113 206 4102, by email “leeds.carerecord@nhs.net”, or by letter to “Access to Health Records, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, St James University Hospital, Lincoln Wing/Chancellor Wing Link Corridor, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF”).
How do I get more information?
Go to Leeds Care Record Website.
National diabetes audit
This GP practice is taking part in an important national project about diabetes care and treatment in the NHS. The project is called the National Diabetes Audit (NDA).
To take part, your GP practice will share information about your diabetes care and treatment with the NDA. The type of information, and how it is shared, is controlled by law and enforced by strict rules of confidentiality and security.
For further information about how your information is used please see the NDA patient information leaflet. https://practice365.co.uk/b86003/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2020/06/NDAPatientInformationLeaflet2024-1.docx
Taking part in the NDA shows that this GP practice is committed to improving care for people with diabetes.
If you do not want your information to be used, please inform the receptionist, your GP or nurse. This will not affect your care.
Online patient access
If you are registered with us this is how you can view your GP medical records online
Data shared with who and why?
Online access by patients to your own GP record.
What is shared?
Your authorised data.
How is the data shared?
Via the internet and mobile phone and tablet apps using username and password provided by the practice.
How is consent given?
You apply for access via the reception desk or via email (armleymedical.practice@nhs.net). You will be asked to come in to the surgery to provide ID. The doctor has the option to accept or deny patients requests to access records. We only deny access in exceptional circumstances.
PALS
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters for patients, families and carers.
They are a great first point of call if you have any questions or concerns when you are using NHS services. For example, you may wish to find out about an outpatient appointment or you have a concern about hospital services.
Find out more
If you would like more information about PALS, the functions it is intended to provide and the standards it should strive to achieve, follow these links:
Patient Participation Group
Get involved with the practice to help us improve our service
What is the patient participation group?
The patient group is open to any registered patient to join, and its purpose is to engage patients and their voices in the future development of the NHS. Do you have ideas for improving services in the practice? Are there services you would like to see available? The group is your opportunity to let us know your view, to change the landscape. The group meets three times per year. Please contact the practice if you would like to review minutes from these meetings.
We always welcome patients to participate. Please email the surgery on armleymedical.practice@nhs.net if you are interested in joining.
Archived information
Terms of reference
Patient satisfaction survey
We have surveyed your views about the surgery
It is important for us to listen to your views about the service we offer. NHS England conduct a GP patient survey annually. Patients are selected at random to complete this survey, the results of which will help to define some of our annual service improvement projects.
Rights and responsibilities
A summary of our commitment to patients and what we expect from you.
Rights
- All patients registered at the practice have a named, accountable GP responsible for their overall care, but any patient can see any doctor or nurse they choose.
- Patients have the right to say if they would prefer to see a particular doctor or nurse and we will try to arrange this (as long as they are available). We understand that ‘continuity of care’ is important. Seeing the same nurse or doctor for a particular condition can make it easier to get the right diagnosis and plan your treatment/management better.
- Registered patients are invited to have a health check from time to time. We hope you will take up this service.
- We also offer all patients over 40 an NHS Health Check every 5 years. Please contact reception to discuss this.
- Patients have the right to see their own health records, subject to the terms of the Data Protection Act.
Responsibilities
- Please arrive on time for your appointment. That way clinics are more likely to run on time.
- Please inform the practice if you can’t make an appointment or if the appointment is no longer necessary, so the slot can be offered to another patient.
- Please try and attend the surgery and do not make a request for a home visit unless absolutely necessary. Home visits are for housebound or seriously ill patients. In the time it takes to conduct 1 home visit we can typically see at least 3 patients at the surgery.
- Please make requests for repeat prescriptions in good time. We suggest at least 48 hours before you need more medication.
- Please co-operate with all practice staff and treat them courteously. They are trying to help you.
Summary Care Record
The Summary Care Record is a national electronic record which contains information about your current medication and any allergies or adverse reactions that you may have.
Having this information stored in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency.
Who is my data shared with and why?
The National Care Record Service (NCRS) for sharing important summary clinical data nationwide for emergency direct care purposes. For example, if you were admitted to hospital in a different part of the country this record would enable the doctors to see vital information about your care.
What is shared?
Medication, Allergies, Drug reactions, optionally specific coded entries (called rich SCR).
How is the data shared?
Access is restricted to NHS Smartcard holders in Hospitals, Out of Hours Services and GPs.
How is consent given?
Implied consent with patient opt out.
How do I get more information?
You can visit the NHS Care Record Guarantee.
Your medical record
Overview
All the health care professionals that look after you maintain records about your health and any treatment or care that you have previously received. This includes hospitals, GP surgeries, walk-in clinics etc.
NHS health records may be electronic, paper-based or a mixture of both and we will ensure that all your information is kept confidential and secure.
Information which this GP Practice holds about you may include:
- Details about you, such as your address, carer, legal representative, emergency contacts
- Any contact the surgery has had with you in the past, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
- Notes and reports about your health
- Details about your treatment and care
- Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays etc
- Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you
Your records are used to ensure you receive the best possible care. Information held about you may also be used to help protect the health of the public and for a clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.
Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to make sure that individual patients cannot be identified.
Identifying patients’ health risks
Risk identification tools are increasingly being used in the NHS to help understand a patient’s risk of suffering from a particular condition in the future as once we know this we can offer preventative intervention.
Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software managed by NHS England. Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and offer you additional services to help you not to become ill in the future. Please note that you have the right to opt-out of your data being used in this way.
Medicines Management
The Practice may carry out reviews of the medications prescribed to its patients to ensure that all patients are receiving the most appropriate, up to date and cost-effective treatments.
How Do We Maintain The Confidentiality Of Your Records?
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:
- Data Protection Act 2018
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
- Health and Social Care Act 2012
- NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
- Information: To Share or Not to Share Review
Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.
We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and/or in accordance with the information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.
Who Are Our Partner Organisations?
We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations:
- NHS Trusts/Foundation Trusts
- GPs
- NHS Support Units
- Independent contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
- Private sector providers
- Voluntary sector providers
- Ambulance Trusts
- Integrated Care Boards
- Social Care Services
- NHS Digital
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police & Judicial Services
- Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of
You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this to happen.
We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.
Primary Care Services at Emergency Departments
Your GP surgery is working together with hospitals in Leeds to make sure you receive the care you need, when you need it. This means that if you ever need to go to the Accident and Emergency Department in a Leeds hospital, the doctor who sees you will be able to see your GP health record to determine the best way to help you.
This access is currently made via Leeds Care Record. If you have previously indicated that you do NOT want your data to be shared this dissent will still stand and your records will be inaccessible without your explicit consent.
Access To Personal Information
You have a right, under the Data Protection Act 2018, to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. In order to request this, you need to do the following:
- Your request must be made in writing to the GP via letter or email (armleymedical.practice@nhs.net). For information from the hospital you should write directly to them
- We are required to respond to you within 30 days
- You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located
Cookies
We do not use cookies on this website.
Change of Details
It is important that you inform the reception team if any of your details, such as your name or address, have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth are incorrect so that we can amend this. You have a responsibility to inform us of any changes so our records are accurate and up to date for you.
Notification
The Data Protection Act 2018 requires organisations to register the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information. This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioner’s website. The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Who is the Data Controller?
The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is Dr Lees (on behalf of Armley Medical Practice).
Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Practice please contact the Practice Manager at Armley Medical Practice, 95 Town St, Leeds LS12 3HD. If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) whose contact details are: website: www.ico.org.uk, email: casework@ico.org.uk, Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745.
Zero tolerance
A zero tolerance policy towards violent, threatening and abusive behaviour is now in place throughout the NHS. The doctors, nurses and staff in this practice have the right to do their work in an environment free from violent, threatening or abusive behaviour and everything will be done to protect that right. At no time will any such behaviour be tolerated in this practice. If you do not respect the rights of our staff we may choose to inform the police and make arrangements for you to be removed from our medical list.