There are occasions when a patient needs to be examined by a doctor or a nurse. We are committed to putting patients at ease, so we will offer you a trained chaperone for intimate examinations during your consultation or when you book your appointment. Alternatively, you would be welcome to bring a friend or relative to act as a chaperone on your behalf.

QUANTOCK VALE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Our aim is to provide the highest level of care for all our patients. We welcome concerns, compliments and complaints as valuable feedback that can help us learn from experiences and make improvements to services we commission.

Making a Complaint

If you have any complaints or concerns about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working for this practice, please let us know.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

• Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that is within 12 months of the incident.

The Practice Manager will be pleased to deal with any complaint. He will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. You can make your complaint:

In person     ask to speak to the Practice Manager

In writing    some complaints may be easier to explain in writing – please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the Practice Manager as soon as possible.

What We Shall Do

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.

We will endeavor to acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days in writing or telephone and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. In some cases, due to busy periods this process may take us longer and sometimes due to the nature of the complaint it can us take longer to give a final response, but we will try our very best to keep within the timescales.

When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

• find out what happened and what went wrong;
• make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
• make sure you receive an apology, where appropriate;
• identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen

At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail, either in person or in writing.

Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What You Can Do Next

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and the opportunity to improve our practice.

However, if you feel at any stage that your complaint should be investigated at a higher level, you can contact NHS England in one of the following ways:

By post:

NHS England

PO Box 16738

Redditch B97 9PT

By email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line.

By telephone: 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding English Bank Holidays)

NHS England will take a note of your complaint and arrange for it to be passed to a case officer.

The Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) offers support to complainants. The telephone number for the South West is 0845 1203782. You also have the right to ask for an independent review through the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) if you remain unhappy once Local Resolution is completed. You can contact the Ombudsman at www.ombudsman.org.uk or by telephoning 0345 015 4033 or by writing to:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Millbank Tower Millbank London

SW1P 4QP

or email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk

Help Us Get It Right

We constantly try to improve the service we offer.

Please let us know when you think we have done something well or if you have any suggestions as to how we can do something better

Telephone:            01823 432361

Website:                www.quantockvalesurgery.nhs.uk

We take confidentiality seriously. In order to maintain confidentiality, details of consultations and hospital or laboratory results will only be given to patients themselves or to parents/guardians of minors. No information can be given to any other person without the patient’s written consent. For further information, ask at reception for a copy of our leaflet “Strictly Confidential Your Medical Record”.

Date Protection Act 1998

Patients are entitled to see their medical records (with certain exceptions). Further information about how you can view your medical records is included in our leaflet “Strictly Confidential Your Medical Record”.

How information about you helps us to provide better care.

The NHS may use your confidential patient information for research and planning. Please click here for more information: “Your Data matters to the NHS leaflet”.

Please take attention to read this leaflet as it details how the NHS utilises your confidential patient information. If you decide to opt out of sharing your confidential patient information for research and planning, then you need to visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters and follow the instructions. Alternatively you can use the NHS app or phone 0300 303 5678.

Please note that this decision does not affect your care and treatment in any way.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available. This scheme is available from reception.

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 Quantock Vale Surgery in the last financial year was £80,621 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 3 full time GPs, no part time GPs, and one locum GP who worked in the practice for more than six months.

This practice keeps medical records confidential and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation.

We hold your medical record so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT TO DOWNLOAD OUR LEAFLET ON HOW THE SURGERY USES YOUR INFORMATION TO PROVIDE YOU WITH HEALTHCARE

YOUR DATA MATTERS TO THE NHS 2018

The NHS may use your confidential patient information for research and planning. Please click here for more information: “Your Data matters to the NHS leaflet”.

Please take attention to read this leaflet as it details how the NHS utilises your confidential patient information. If you decide to opt out of sharing your confidential patient information for research and planning, then you need to visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters and follow the instructions.

Please note that this decision does not affect your care and treatment in any way.

Clinical practice research datalink

This practice contributes to the Clinical Practice Research Data Link (CPRD).

Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicines. This practice supports medical research by sending some of the information from patient records to the CPRD.

CPRD is a government organisation that provides anonymised data for research in order to improve patient and public health.

You cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD.

If you do not want anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by clicking here: www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters and follow the instructions.

For more information about CPRD please visit www.cprd.com/public

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUESTS. 

Please speak to a receptionist if you would like more information on how to access to your medical record.

Somerset NHS has made an interpretation service available to patients whose first language is not English, for consultations in the surgery. Ask at reception for details; we can usually arrange an interpreter for you.

Since April 2015, practices have been required to provide all of their patients with a named GP who will have overall responsibility for the care and support that the surgery provides to them. (For the avoidance of doubt, this does not prevent you from seeing any GP in the practice). We are aware that many patients already know who their named GP is as a result of procedures that we have put in place but if you do not know who it is and would like to, and/or wish to discuss this matter further, please contact us on 01823 432361 and a member of staff will be happy to assist you.

If you feel the need to change who is your named GP then please complete the form below and return it to the surgery (In person or via email) and we will consider the request.

Form – Patient Request to Change Named GP

What is Patient Access?

With Patient Access, you can now view, book and cancel appointments at your local GP surgery from home, work or on the move — wherever you can connect to the internet. What is more, because Patient Access is a 24 hour online service you can do this in your own time, day or night.

Update April 2020 – online appointment functionality is suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic

Plus, Patient Access is not just for booking GP appointments, you can also:

• Order repeat prescriptions.
• View part of your medical records (current repeat medications and documented allergies).

(if you want more detailed access to your online medical record then please speak to the receptionist who will arrange a routine appointment for you to discuss matters further with Dr Yick.)

How do I register?

Click here to download the registration form

Please bring this form back to he GP surgery alongside a valid form of identification such as a passport or driving licence. The application will then be processed and can take up to 1 to 2 weeks.

Once the registration process is completed,  the practice will provide you with an access code. This will be emailed to you (via EMIS our computer software). Once you have the access codes, you can register here. On this website, click on the register button. Click yes to having received a letter from your surgery (this is the email) and you will be then prompted to complete the information which is within the email that you should have received. Follow the instructions and this completes the registration process. You must be 16 and over to register.

Is my information secure?

All information that is sent to your surgery via Patient Access is secure. Your personal details are encrypted and protected using the highest standard internet security, so it cannot be intercepted. Only you and your GP surgery are able to see this information.

The practice belongs to the Primary Care Research Network South West and occasionally takes part in research projects that are approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee. If the research involves the patient personally, you will be contacted for your permission before any information is divulged. Patients are never identified in any published results without their prior permission.

The NHS in England has introduced the Summary Care Record, an electronic health record that can be accessed when you need urgent treatment from somebody other than your own GP.

Summary Care Records contain key information about the medicines you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had in the past. You will be able to add other information too if you and your GP agree that it is a good idea to do so.

If you have an accident or fall ill, the people caring for you in places like accident and emergency departments and GP out of hours services will be better equipped to treat you if they have this information. Your Summary Care Record will be available to authorised healthcare staff whenever and wherever you need treatment in England, and they will ask your permission before they look at it. Please click here for a leaflet

Your GP practice is supporting Summary Care Records and as a patient you have a choice:

• Yes, I would like a Summary Care Record. If you want a record you do not need to do anything further, one will be created for you when you register with your GP practice. If you opted out of having a record in the past but have now changed your mind, speak to your GP practice and they can create one for you.

• No, I do not want a Summary Care Record. If you do not want a record, you need to fill in the Summary Care Record opt out form and hand it in to your GP practice. You should do this even if you have already completed a form at your previous practice. Opt out forms are available from your GP practice or you can print one and return it to the surgery (click here).

You are free to change your decision at any time by informing your GP practice.

Children under 16 will automatically have a Summary Care Record created for them unless their parent or guardian chooses to opt them out. If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16 and feel that they are old enough to understand, please tell them about Summary Care Records and explain the options available to them.

We support the NHS policy on zero tolerance. Anyone attending the surgery who abuses the GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any threatening manner whatsoever, will risk removal from the practice list. In extreme cases we may summon the police to remove offenders from the practice premises.