Practice Policies & Patient Information

Accredited GP Training

Accredited GP Training Practice

Some doctors in the advanced stages of their General Practitioner training spend time with us and are available for consultation. They are fully qualified doctors and may be consulted with confidence.

At times we make video recordings of our consultations, for training purposes and for discussion among doctors. You will be advised if this is happening and your permission sought.

Please feel free to refuse if it would make you feel uncomfortable.

Confidentiality of Information

We ask you information so that you can receive proper care and treatment. We keep this information, together with the details of your care because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may use some of this information for other reasons such as protecting the health of the public generally or to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone. Data disclosed will be kept to the minimum required to serve the purpose and wherever possible will be made anonymous before disclosure.

For further details please see our leaflet ‘How we use your Health Details’.

You have a right of access to your health records and can ask that incorrect information be amended or erased.

EVERYONE WORKING FOR THE NHS HAS A LEGAL DUTY TO KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT YOU CONFIDENTIAL.

Telephone calls may be recorded, inbound and outbound calls. These are held for 30 days.

GP Net Earnings

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in Grove Medical Centre in the last financial year was £63,104 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 6 full time GPs and 5 part time locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

Infection Prevention & Control

Infection Prevention and Control at the Grove Medical Centre

We take patient safety very seriously here at The Grove. One area that we pay particular attention to is Infection Prevention and Control. This means we have a number of safeguards in place to ensure our patients and staff are protected from the risk of infection whilst receiving or providing treatment. These measures include:

An appointed Infection Prevention lead nurse (Barbara Thrower) has overall responsibility for ensuring all staff follow the required regulations and standards and that workplace policies are adhered to.

Mandatory

Annual Infection Prevention training for all staff. This includes Admin Staff, Receptionists and Clinicians.
Regular checks of the working environment to ensure regulations are being followed and standards are being met.
Daily checks of the most critical areas to ensure safe working environment. This includes equipment cleaning and checking and regular fridge temperature checks for stored vaccines and other drugs.
Safe disposal of sharps (needles used in injections) and other clinical waste including used dressings etc. using the appropriate methods and equipment. Our clinical waste is removed from the site on a weekly basis by an approved contractor and the whole process from beginning to end, complies with the very strict legislation applied to this area.
Daily cleaning schedules for the whole practice environment, which are monitored by managers to ensure compliance. This includes work undertaken by our contract cleaners.
Infection Prevention and Control is a standing agenda item on all clinical meetings within the practice.

This is a short summary of the key actions we take to ensure good practice. If you require any further information, please speak to any of our practice staff who will be happy to advise you further.

Grove Medical Centre Privacy Policy

Your practice takes privacy seriously and we want to provide you with information about your rights, who we share your information with and how we keep it secure.

Please use the links below to find more information about the practice and data protection.

Please be aware that we may use new providers or suppliers to help us quickly adapt during the outbreak and continue your care effectively. For example, we may use a new provider for video consultations. We may not be able to add these to our transparency materials right away, we apologise for this but please be assured all our processors are bound by contract to protect to your data.

During COVID-19 we may ask you to send a photograph of you bruise / skin condition that you are concerned about whilst we conduct virtual consultations. This photograph will be used by the clinician to determine any medical treatment necessary and will be added to your medical record.

Please note that, where this is sent via email, it may not be secure we therefore we ask that you only include your NHS number alongside your photograph in the email. The photograph should only be of the area requested and no other person should be visible in the shot.

The Grove Medical Practice is using a secure and safe method using AccuPX this ensures information is encrypted in transit. If a clinician requests a photo, you will be sent a one off link to upload your photo. The photo will then be added to your record for the clinician to view.

Please use the links under the ‘Your Information Page’ to find more information about the practice and data protection.

Suggestions, Complaints etc

We work hard to provide the best possible service to our patients and we value your feedback. We make it a real priority to listen to our patients, so please let us know when things are working well. Equally, if you think there are things we can change in order to provide a better service, please tell us your ideas. And if things go wrong, we want to know and we will do our utmost to resolve the situation for you quickly. If you have a complaint you can speak to any of our staff and this will be passed onto the relevant person. In certain situations, we may ask you to put your concerns in writing, in order that we can respond appropriately.

We aknowledge complaints within 7 working days and aim to report back to you within 28 working days although in certain cases more time may be required.

By Post: Grove Medical Centre, Grove Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9GA

By Email: iesccg.grovemedicalcentre@nhs.net

By Telephone: 01394 283197

We discuss all suggestions, compliments and complaints at our regular meetings in order to share any learning with our staff, including our Doctors. Where necessary we will make changes to the way we work in order to make constant improvements to our services, based on your feedback.

You can read a full version of practice information on complaints below:

Complaints info leaflet

To pursue a complaint please contact the practice manager, Kate Bloomfield, who will deal with your concerns appropriately.

Alternatively, if you do not want to complain direct to the practice you can contact NHS England in the following ways:

By Post: NHS England, PO BOX 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT

By Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

By Telephone: 0300 3112233

Our Duty of Care

As a responsible employer, we have a duty of care towards our staff. This duty of care extends to all patients and other users of our services too.

NHS England operates a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, which is fully endorsed by our practice, with regard to violence and abusive behaviour. The practice has the right to remove abusive patients from the patient list with immediate effect, in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Abuse in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety.

In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

Your Data Matters

Your Data Matters to the NHS

Information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

How Your Data is Used

Information about your individual care such as treatment and diagnosis is collected about you whenever you use health and care services. It is also used to help us and other organisations for research and planning such as research into new treatments, deciding where to put GP clinics and planning for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital. It is only used in this way when there is a clear legal basis to use the information to help improve health and care for you, your family and future generations.

Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.

You Have a Choice

You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your information is used. If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service. You can change your mind about your choice at any time.

Will choosing this opt-out affect your care and treatment?

No, choosing to opt out will not affect how information is used to support your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.

What do you need to do?

If you are happy for your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you do not need to do anything.

To find out more about the benefits of data sharing, how data is protected, or to make/change your opt-out choice visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

Zero Tolerance