This accessibility statement applies to this website.

This website is run by Livi. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (for example NVDA)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.


Feedback and contact information

If you have feedback, or need information on this website in a different format, contact websitesupport@livi.co.uk
We’ll get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact websitesupport@livi.co.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit, we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Contact the practice to find out about audio induction loops and BSL interpreters.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

We are committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status:

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Contrast of dashes in a Contents list. This has been raised as an issue with the NHS design team, who have added it to the NHS.uk backlog on GitHub.

Disproportionate burden

Nothing on the site is a disproportionate burden to fix.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

No content is outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 28 March 2024. It was last reviewed on 28 March 2024.

This website was last tested on 28 February 2024. The test was carried out by Livi.

The website is based on six templates. We took at least one page from each template to test. We chose pages that cover the range of user tasks and functionality on the site.

If you would like access to your healthcare record. Please contact the practice ask about this. 

What health information you can see

You will be able to access:

notes from GP appointments
test results
any letters saved on your records

This only applies to records from your GP, not from hospitals or other specialists.

Privacy advice

If you do not want to see your health record or if you have any concerns, please talk to your GP.
The NHS app and website are secure so no one is able to access your information except you.

Controlling your medical records – Opting out of Data Sharing (also known as Type 1 opt-outs)

From 1st July 2021, GP practices nationwide will be required to supply patients’ personal and confidential medical information, on a regular and continuous basis, to NHS Digital, a project known as GPDPR. 

There have been some reports of misinformation circulating around the ‘selling’ of patient data, and this, released by NHS England, may be helpful: – 
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out/mythbusting-social-media-posts

The bare facts of the information contained in the above link are: –

You can opt out at any time – there is no deadline
We only share data to improve health and care
Health and care data helps the NHS respond to emergencies like the coronavirus outbreak
There are lots of protections in place to make sure patient data is used securely and safely
We do not sell health and care data
We do not share data with marketing and insurance companies

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, GP practices have no choice but to allow NHS Digital to extract this information – it is a legal obligation.   The information will consist of your full (historic) GP record, as well as new information added to it on an ongoing basis.   NHS Digital will become the data controller for that information, will administer the data, and intends to use it for planning health services, commissioning, population health management and for research. This is known as secondary uses of your medical records.

Medical staff treating you in GP surgeries, hospitals, A&E and out-of-hours centres will not use, or be able to use, this database. They have access to all relevant medical information about you in other ways.

 Although GP practices cannot object to this information leaving the practice, individual patients and their families can instruct their practice to prohibit the transfer of their personal data, i.e. you have the right to opt-out. 

Opting out of GPDPR involves registering an objection at the surgery to all secondary uses of your personal identifiable data, where your explicit consent is not being sought beforehand. This is known as a Type 1 opt-out. You have the right to control how medical information about you is shared, disseminated or sold, for purposes other than your direct medical care – so called secondary uses (or purposes).

Secondary uses include projects involved in risk stratification, “population health management”, national clinical audits, research, healthcare planning, commissioning of healthcare services by CCGs, commercial and even political uses.

You can control your personal confidential information by expressing an objection, or opt-out, to your GP surgery, who will then add a special read-code, or electronic flag, to your GP record. When present in your GP record, the special read code should prevent identifiable information about you being extracted from your GP record, and uploaded to any other organisation, for purposes other than your direct care.
 
This opt out should then prohibit extraction and uploading for all of the following secondary uses:

General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) extraction

• Risk stratification schemes
• National clinical audits (such as the National Diabetes Audit)
• Extraction of de-identified information about you concerning any eMed3 Statement
of Fitness to Work reports (i.e. sick notes), uploaded to NHS Digital, and
subsequently passed by NHS Digital to the Department of Work and Pensions
• All extractions and uploading of identifiable information about you to NHS Digital,
for any secondary purpose (so-called GPES extractions)
 
A Type 1 secondary use objection will in no way affect how healthcare professionals provide you with direct medical care or prevent them from accessing your medical record if and when appropriate, and with your explicit consent. The Opt Out form is available below, or via the surgery.
 
You will still need to opt out to prevent secondary processing even if you have already opted out of The Summary Care Record.
 
You can also express a National Data Opt Out (NDOO) as well and with both the Type 1 and National Data opt-outs in force:

• No record-level information whatsoever will be uploaded from your GP record to
NHS Digital
• NHS Digital will have no information from your GP record to release, in any format,
to any organisation, for any purpose
• NHS Digital will only continue to hold information extracted from your hospital
records, as well as aggregate information (i.e. numbers) from your GP practice
• NHS Digital will not be able to release any information that clearly identifies you
from the information extracted from your hospital records
 
However, the surgery cannot do the National Data Opt Out for you – this must be done either by accessing the website here:- 
Make your choice about sharing data from your health records – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
 
Or, if you don’t have internet access, you can phone NHS digital on: 0300 303 5678.
 
We hope that this information is helpful to you to make an informed decision.
(see below the opt out form)

Opt Out Form

What are cookies?

Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
They store information about how you use the website, such as the pages you visit.
Cookies are not viruses or computer programs. They are very small so do not take up much space.

How we use cookies

We only use cookies to:

make our website work, for example by keeping it secure
measure how you use our website, such as which links you click on (analytics cookies)

Cookies that make our website work:

csrftoken: Helps keep the site secure by preventing cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. Expires in 1 year.
nhsuk-cookie-consent: Remembers if you used our cookies banner. Expires when you close the browser (if you do not use the banner) or 1 year (if you use the banner).

Change your cookie settings

Some cookies, like those used to measure how you use our website, are not needed for our website to work.
These cookies can help us make our website better, but we’ll only use them if you say it’s OK.
Choose which cookies we use

How we use the information we collect
To find out how we collect, store and use information about you or your visit, see the privacy policy.

What a DNA is

A DNA appointment is when a patient does not turn up for appointments and does not contact the surgery to cancel or change the appointment.

This creates a significant strain on the NHS.

We understand that there are situations that can make it impossible for you to cancel your appointment, for example being admitted to hospital.

Our DNA policy

1. If you fail to attend 2 or more appointments in the previous month, you will get a warning letter.

2. If you’ve had a warning letter and you miss another appointment, you’ll get another letter. This will say that you can only book appointments on the day, and not in advance.

3. If you do not attend same day appointments, we will invite you to discuss a contract and an appointment plan. This will include you calling to confirm an appointment, if not it will be cancelled.

Warning letters last 12 months.

Cancelling appointments

To avoid DNA appointments, you can use the NHS app or online services to cancel your appointments.

You can also get a text reminder of your appointment, and you can reply to this to cancel if necessary. Please make sure we have the right mobile number for you.

Contact us
If you would like to discuss DNAs, please contact the surgery.

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

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. Helston Medical Centre 25 March 2024 2 The average earnings for GPs working at Helston Medical Centre in the last financial year was £52,656 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1 full-time partner, 7 part-time partners and 13 part time salaried GP’s who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Our pledge

We at Helston Medical Centre are concerned about and recognise the importance and urgency of addressing climate change, and the serious risks that climate change poses for present and future generations.

We agree to take the following actions:

• We will tell the truth and acknowledge the climate crisis is a health crisis and an emergency.

• We are stronger together and will work with others; our staff, patients, healthcare colleagues and local communities, to create new solutions.

• We know that the climate crisis is also a health crisis, and we pledge to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint) caused by our practice and aim for a Net Zero NHS.

You can read more here www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/

• To achieve the target of Net Zero, we plan to measure our carbon footprint, identify the hotspots and put plans into action to reduce each of these.

• We will pay attention to the climate footprint of our travel (both staff and patients), energy use, the services we use, and the products we buy and use. We will make low-carbon choices wherever possible. We will treat all the resources we use as valuable and not be wasteful.

• We will provide leadership through our actions and share our experiences in making cleaner choices with our staff, patients and colleagues and encourage them to sign their pledge too.

• We’ve achieved a lot already – working towards the RCGP/NUS Green Impact awards. We have reached the bronze award but there’s still lots we can do to reduce our carbon right down and make good choices.

We aim to:

Improve our energy efficiency further
Recycle everything we can and encourage patients to do the same
Encourage both staff and patients to consider their travel choices
Thinking about what we buy so we treat the planet and farmers more kindly
Making sure we don’t waste anything, such as paper. Using electronic methods wherever possible.
Making sure people only take the medication they need to feel better
Helping our staff feel well
Talk to patients about moving more to feel good.

We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can give you the best possible care.

This information may be used for management and audit purposes. However, it is usually only available to, and used by, those involved in your care. You have the right to know what information we hold about you. If you would like to see your records, please contact the Practice Manager.

Your confidentiality is important to us

You can be sure that anything you discuss with any member of this practice – family doctor, nurse, receptionist – will stay confidential.

Even if you are under 16 nothing will be said to anyone – including parents, other family members, carer workers or tutors – without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission, would be to protect you or someone else from serious harm. We would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you are being treated elsewhere – for example at a hospital or Brook centre – it is best if you allow the doctor or nurse to inform the practice of any treatment you are receiving.

If you have any worries about confidentiality, please feel free to ask a member of staff.

As an employer, the practice has a duty to care for the health and safety of its staff.

The practice also has a legal responsibility to provide a safe and secure working environment for staff.

All patients are expected to behave in an acceptable manner and violent or abusive behaviour towards staff or patients may result in removal from our practice list or even criminal proceedings. The practice follows the NHS guidance concerning zero tolerance.

The practice has a policy of zero tolerance of verbal and physical violence towards GPs, staff or other patients.

The practice will request the removal of any patient from the practice list who is aggressive or abusive towards a doctor, member of staff, other patient, or who damages property.

We report all physical abuse to the police as an assault.

We expect all patients to be responsible and avoid attending the surgery under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.
Any alteration of prescriptions is illegal and will not be tolerated.

If you’re unhappy with the quality of service, you have the right to register with another practice without notifying us.
On the very rare occasions when a patient repeatedly ignores their responsibilities to the Practice, we have the right to remove the patient from our Practice list.

Unacceptable behaviour

Examples of unacceptable behaviour include:

violence
excessive noise eg recurrent loud or intrusive conversation or shouting
threatening or abusive language involving swearing or offence remarks
derogatory racial or sexual remarks
malicious allegations relating to members of staff, other patients or visitors
offensive sexual gestures or behaviours
abusing alcohol or drugs on practice premises
drug dealing on practice premises
wilful damage to practice property
threats or threatening behaviour
theft

Zero tolerance

Our staff have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at all times.

They should be able to do their jobs without being physically or verbally abused.

Anyone found abusing the staff in person or on the telephone will be asked to leave the practice.
This behaviour will not be tolerated.

Removal from the patient list

In exceptional circumstances, a breakdown may occur between a doctor and their patient.

If the breakdown is serious, for example physical or verbal abuse to any member of the practice team, the doctors may feel that the relationship has been compromised.

We may take steps to remove the patient from the doctor’s list. Where possible, we prefer to discuss with the patient to try to find a solution.

We give reasons for removal in writing.

We are committed to protecting your privacy.

We treat our users’ privacy as we would like our privacy to be treated when browsing the web. Any data we collect, or process, is done for legitimate reasons and carefully considered. We do not disclose any information to third parties, we do however use third parties to carry out analytical processing. These are mentioned in our cookies policy. Any personal information that users provide us with, cannot be seen by third parties.

If you have any questions or concerns which our policies do not address, please get in touch with us.

See our contact details.

Information we collect and use

There are sections in our website where we may ask you for your details to make contact with us. Any information you provide will remain our secured property. Under no circumstances will it be sold or rented to any third party.

Other than the data you choose to provide, we have some cookies which help improve the experience for our site visitors. If you haven’t already, go and check them out in our cookie policy.

How we use your contact information

If you’ve provided us with your contact details through this website, we’ll only use them to get back to you. This might be because you’ve made a request to the surgery for an appointment or a prescription.