We will always respect your privacy, dignity and your religious and cultural beliefs particularly when intimate examinations are advisable – these will only be carried out with your express agreement and you will be offered a chaperone to attend the examination if you so wish.

You may also request a chaperone when making the appointment or on arrival at the surgery (please let the receptionist know) or at any time during the consultation.

We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible, ensuring that we learn from this as a Practice.

To pursue a complaint please telephone to speak with our Practice Manager or complete this form and the Practice Manager will deal with your concerns. Please do let us know if you need any assistance with this.

You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, whether doctor, nurse or receptionist, will remain confidential. Even if you are under 16, nothing will be said to anyone, including parents, other family members, care workers or teachers, without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission would be to protect either you or someone else from serious harm. In this situation, we would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you have any worries or queries about confidentiality, please ask a member of staff.

If you would like to discuss matters of a confidential nature, either with our receptionists or a member of the dispensary team, we have a side room available in reception for this purpose.

We need to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.

Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.

All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.

In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.

To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.

You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.

There is a Central NHS Computer System called the Emergency Care Summary (ECS). The Emergency Care Summary is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. It will contain information on your medications and allergies.

Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held securely on central NHS databases.

As with all systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.

On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. If you don’t want an Emergency Care Summary to be made for you, tell your GP surgery. Don’t forget that if you do have an Emergency Care Summary, you will be asked if staff can look at it every time they need to. You don’t have to agree to this.

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 required disclosure is shown below.

The average pay for GPs working in The Brow Medical Centre in the 2022-23 financial year was £57,877 before tax and national insurance.

This is for 0 full time, 7 part time and 2 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown above. 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.

This practice is committed to preserving, as far as is practical, the security of data used by our information systems. This means that we will take all reasonable actions to;

Maintain the Confidentiality of all data within the practice by:

• Ensuring that only authorised persons can gain access to our systems
• Not disclosing information to anyone who has no right to see it

Maintain the integrity of all data within the practice by:

• Taking care over input
• Ensuring that all changes are reported and monitored
• Checking that the correct record is on the screen before updating
• Reporting all apparent errors and ensuring that they are resolved

Maintain the availability of all data by:

• Ensuring that all equipment is protected from intruders
• Ensuring that backups are taken at regular, predetermined intervals
• Ensuring that contingency is provided for possible failure or equipment theft and that any such contingency plans are tested and kept up to date

Additionally we will take all reasonable measures to comply with our legal responsibilities under:

• The Data Protection Act (2018)
• The Health and Safety at Work Act (1992)
• The Access to Health Records Act (1990)

The following IT systems are in use at the practice:

• Referral Management (using NHS numbers in referrals)
• Electronic Appointment Booking (the facility to book routine appointments online and, similarly, to cancel appointments
• Online booking of repeat prescriptions
• Summary Care Record (uploading details of your current medication and allergies to the national “spine” so that these are available for doctors involved in your care elsewhere)
• GP to GP transfers (the electronic transfer of records from practice to practice when you re-register
• Patient Access to records (the facility to view your medical records online)

If you would like access to your medical records enabled or would like to opt out of the local or national summary care record, please contact reception.

Please view our Privacy Policy and Privacy Policy Appendix A.

Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.

The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.

E.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients’ control and can be shared on a ‘need to know’ basis.

Your patient record is held securely and confidentially on the electronic system at your GP practice. If you require treatment in another NHS healthcare setting such as an Emergency Department or Minor Injury Unit, those treating you would be better able to give you appropriate care if some of the information from the GP practice were available to them.

This information can now be shared electronically via: The Summary Care Record, used nationally across England.

The information will be used only by authorised health care professionals directly involved in your care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, unless the clinician is unable to ask you and there is a clinical reason for access.

If you would like to opt out, please ask reception for our opt out form.

A parent or guardian can request to opt out children under 16 but ultimately it is the GP’s decision whether to create the records or not, because of their duty of care to the child. If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16 and feel that they are able to understand, then you should make this information available to them.

Who Has Access?

Across all health care settings, including urgent care, community care and outpatient departments in England.

Information Source

GP record

Content

• Your current medications
• Any allergies you have
• Any bad reactions you have had to medicines
• Additional information (upon request to your GP)

For more information visit:

www.digital.nhs.uk

To provide professional, accessible, high quality, comprehensive healthcare services that inspires confidence in our patients and our community.

Our Vision

• We aim to provide the best possible quality service and outcomes for our patients, within a confidential, safe and welcoming environment through effective collaboration and team work
• We aim to show our patients courtesy, kindness and respect at all times irrespective of ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of the health problem
• We aim to involve our patients in decisions regarding their treatment
• We aim to promote good health and wellbeing to our patients through education and information
• We aim to involve and collaborate in multidisciplinary team work including nursing and other allied healthcare professions in the care of our patients
• We aim to get our patients involved in the practice through the Patient Participation Group and to encourage them to comment on the care they receive
• We aim to ensure that all members of the team have the right skills and training to carry out their duties competently and continuously develop
• We aim to provide a safe, effective, and wide range of primary care services in a responsive way meeting the needs of our patients and be at the forefront of modern general practice
• We aim to support continuity of care – wherever possible through medical record continuity enabled by high quality medical records and following guidelines based on best evidence and national and local policy
• We aim to be an active and responsible member in our local health community, ensuring our practice and services to our patients are commissioned and provided in a way most likely to meet their needs
• We aim to ensure the practice is compliant with relevant legislation and policy relevant to maintaining trust and confidentiality, as well as to ensure we practice high quality medicine
• We aim to provide an educational environment for all members of the team and be a centre of excellence for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in training. There is an ethos of lifelong learning and continuous improvement for all
• We aim to be a patient centred organisation, delivering person centred collaborative holistic care and support planning
• We aim to safeguard both children and vulnerable adults, by ensuring that all staff receive appropriate training and support
• We aim to ensure effective management and governance systems
• We aim to support the development through a greater understanding and treatment of disease through proactive engagement with research projects

Our Values

We are caring:

We will put our patients at the heart of all that we do.

We respect and value everyone for their contribution, we engage with the community and local resources where possible, we celebrate peoples’ differences and provide equality of opportunity for all without discrimination.

We are fair: 

We are consistent in the way we deal with people, both patients and staff, we act courteously, show consideration, compassion and understanding valuing each person as an individual.

We are professional:

We strive to achieve a high level of medical care for our patients and responsive to medical need both for the individual and for the community. We maintain our professional learning and follow guidelines where appropriate to do so.

Our success is built upon the personal and professional achievement of everyone who works at The Brow Health Centre.

We are accountable:

We ensure we take responsibility for our actions and are open and transparent to the people who use our service.

We are innovative:

We constantly review the service we provide and improve it when and where possible. We use all available resources, including technology to provide the best service we can.

We nurture innovation, lead on learning and development, and embrace emerging technologies.

We’re officially accredited as a Veteran Friendly GP Practice

Being accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners means we can better identify veterans and collect data we can use to improve future health provision. It also means that the NHS is better able to meet the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant, which says the Armed Forces community, including veterans, should face no disadvantage in accessing health services. Understanding the needs of our veterans will help us identify their healthcare needs better.

What is a veteran?

A veteran is anyone who has served for at least one day in the Armed Forces, whether as a regular or reservist. It means the same as ‘ex service personnel’ or ‘ex-forces’, although not all veterans know the term or choose to associate with the term ‘veteran’. Younger veterans might refer to themselves as ‘ex-forces’, in the belief that a veteran is someone who fought in the First / Second World War.

What does the Veteran Friendly Accreditation mean?

As a Veteran Friendly Accredited practice, our team:

• Recognises the importance of identifying veteran patients within our community
• Understands the unique health needs that veterans may have
• Strives to provide veterans with the very best care and support
• Knows about the specialist veteran healthcare services that exist
• Undertakes regular training and development to ensure we’re able to deliver the very best care to veterans in our community and meet the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant

If you’re a Veteran patient, please do let us know that you have served so that we can make sure you receive the most appropriate and best care, if and when you ever need it.

What is the RCGP advice on veteran’s health?

Whilst many aspects of the health needs of veterans are the same as for the general public, there are sometimes significant differences, particularly in relation to conditions attributable to service life and the associated impact for individuals and their families. These differences can be reflected in the way in which healthcare is delivered, the range and types of some specific services provided and the long-term impact upon patients and families.

View our Certificate of Accreditation

Further resources:

Patient charter

Top tips for veterans

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence 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.