All patients have been allocated a named accountable GP. This does not affect your ability to book an appointment for your preferred or usual GP.
For more information please ask at our reception desk.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this GP surgery, please let us know. This includes Primary Care Network staff working as part of our GP surgery. We operate a complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly when they arise and with the person concerned. For example, by requesting a face-to-face meeting to discuss your concerns.

If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible. By making your complaint quickly, it is easier for us to establish what happened. 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 this is within 12 months of the incident.

Complaints should be addressed to the GP surgery team verbally or in writing to the Practice Manager. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the GP surgery to discuss your concerns. They will explain the complaints procedure to you and make sure your concerns are dealt with promptly. Please be as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we will do

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will aim to have investigated your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. We will then offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved, if you would like this. When we investigate your complaint, we will aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong.
• Make it possible for you to discuss what happened with those concerned, if you would like this.
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate.
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

We take medical confidentiality seriously. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS England

We hope that you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure if you are unhappy. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our GP surgery.

However, if you feel you cannot raise the complaint with us directly, please contact NHS England. You can find more information on how to make a complaint at https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/complaining-to-nhse/.

Unhappy with the outcome of your complaint?

If you are not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the GP surgery and NHS England and would like to take the matter further, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO makes final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. It is an independent service which is free for everyone to use.

To take your complaint to the Ombudsman, visit the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website or call 0345 015 4033

Need help making a complaint?

If you want help making a complaint, Healthwatch Hounslow can help you find independent NHS complaints advocacy services in your area.

Alternatively, POhWER is a charity that helps people to be involved in decisions being made about their care. Call POhWER’s support centre on 0300 456 2370 for advice.

The Practice is registered under The Data Protection Act 1998. All doctors, nurses and staff are bound by a strict duty of confidentiality.  Information may be shared with other healthcare professionals to provide you with the best-informed care e.g. Midwife, District Nurse or Health Visitor. However, no outside agency will be given any information from your records without your permission e.g. insurance companies or solicitors.

No information will be given to partners or relatives without consent. You have the right to see your own records upon written request, both hand-written or from the computer.  For Audit purposes, it may be necessary to share anonymised data with NHS England (and their Area Teams (AT)) via the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Occasionally the HSCIC and AT require access to patient notes to make sure we are fulfilling our contract with them in Chronic Disease Management and to support commissioning, public health planning and research. If you do not wish your notes accessed for this purpose please let us know.

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulations and is a new piece of legislation that will supersede the Data Protection Act. It will not only apply to the UK and EU; it covers anywhere in the world in which data about EU citizens is processed.

The GDPR is similar to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 (which the practice already complies with), but strengthens many of the DPA’s principles.

The General Data Protection Regulation is being introduced on 25th May 2018. As a result, we are publishing a new Privacy Notice to make it easier for you to find out how we use and protect your information with Allesley Park Medical Centre. In addition, we will change the ways we use your personal information. The new notice will provide you with additional details such as:

• Your increased rights in relation to the information we hold about you.
• How we keep your personal information secure.
• The types of personal information we collect about you and how we use it.
• The legal grounds for how we use you information.

The new Privacy Notice will supersede any other notices which may exist between yourself and Allesley Park Medical Centre.

How to Find Out More

See our Privacy Notice The Privacy Notice will be effect from 25th May 2018, under the ‘Our Documents’ page.
See our GDPR Privacy Notice Poster, under the ‘Our Documents’ page.

We will keep you up to date
The Privacy Notice makes sure that we continue to  comply with privacy law and regulation.

If we make changes to any of these in the future, we will let you know.

Your Information, Your Rights

Being transparent and providing accessible information to patients about how we will use your personal information is a key element of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

The following notice reminds you of your rights in respect of the above legislation and how your GP Practice will use your information for lawful purposes in order to deliver your care and the effective management of the local NHS system.

This notice reflects how we use information for:

· The management of patient records;

· Communication concerning your clinical, social and supported care;

· Ensuring the quality of your care and the best clinical outcomes are achieved through clinical audit and retrospective review;

· Participation in health and social care research; and

· The management and clinical planning of services to ensure that appropriate care is in place for our patients today and in the future.

Data Controller

As your registered GP practice, we are the data controller for any personal data that we hold about you.

What information do we collect and use?

All personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully, whether is it received directly from you or from a third party in relation to the your care.

We will collect the following types of information from you or about you from a third party (provider organisation) engaged in the delivery of your care:

· ‘Personal data’ meaning any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from the data. This includes, but is not limited to name, date of birth, full postcode, address, next of kin and [NHS number/HCN number/ CHI number];

And

· ‘Special category / sensitive data’ such as medical history including details of appointments and contact with you, medication, emergency appointments and admissions, clinical notes, treatments, results of investigations, supportive care arrangements, social care status, race, ethnic origin, genetics and sexual orientation.

Your healthcare records contain information about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. from an acute hospital, GP surgery, community care provider, mental health care provider, walk-in centre, social services). These records may be electronic, a paper record or a mixture of both. We use a combination of technologies and working practices to ensure that we keep your information secure and confidential.

Why do we collect this information?

The NHS Act 2006 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 invests statutory functions on GP Practices to promote and provide the health service in England, improve quality of services, reduce inequalities, conduct research, review performance of services and deliver education and training. To do this we will need to process your information in accordance with current data protection legislation to:

· Protect your vital interests;

· Pursue our legitimate interests as a provider of medical care, particularly where the individual is a child or a vulnerable adult;

· Perform tasks in the public’s interest;

· Deliver preventative medicine, medical diagnosis, medical research; and

· Manage the health and social care system and services.

How is the information collected?

Your information will be collected either electronically using secure NHS Mail or a secure electronic transferred over an NHS encrypted network connection. In addition physical information will be sent to your practice. This information will be retained within your GP’s electronic patient record or within your physical medical records.

Who will we share your information with?

In order to deliver and coordinate your health and social care, we may share information with the following organisations:

· Local GP Practices in order to deliver extended primary care services

· NHS (i.e. University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire, Coventry and Rugby CCG), NHS England and Scotland plus the RSS service to support the Choose and Book service.

· Extended hours service

· 111 and Out of Hours Service

· Local Social Services and Community Care services

· Health Care Organisations commissioned to provide services by Coventry and Warwickshire ICB.

Your information will only be shared if it is appropriate for the provision of your care or required to satisfy our statutory function and legal obligations.

Your information will not be transferred outside of the European Union.

Whilst we might share your information with the above organisations, we may also receive information from them to ensure that your medical records are kept up to date and so that you’re GP can provide the appropriate care.

[In addition we received data from NHS Digital (as directed by the Department of Health) such as the uptake of flu vaccinations and disease prevalence in order to assist us to improve “out of hospital care”.]

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information that has been collected lawfully. Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. We maintain our duty of confidentiality by conducting annual training and awareness, ensuring access to personal data is limited to the appropriate staff and information is only shared with organisations and individuals that have a legitimate and legal basis for access.

Information is not held for longer than is necessary. We will hold your information in accordance with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016.

Consent and Objections

Do I need to give my consent?

The GDPR sets a high standard for consent. Consent means offering people genuine choice and control over how their data is used. When consent is used properly, it helps you build trust and enhance your reputation. However consent is only one potential lawful basis for processing information. Therefore your GP practice may not need to seek your explicit consent for every instance of processing and sharing your information, on the condition that the processing is carried out in accordance with this notice. Your GP Practice will contact you if they are required to share your information for any other purpose which is not mentioned within this notice. Your consent will be documented within your electronic patient record.

What will happen if I withhold my consent or raise an objection?

You have the right to write to withdraw your consent to any time for any particular instance of processing, provided consent is the legal basis for the processing. Please contact your GP Practice for further information and to raise your objection.

Health Risk Screening / Risk Stratification

Health Risk Screening or Risk Stratification is a process that helps your GP to determine whether you are at risk of an unplanned admission or deterioration in health. By using selected information such as age, gender, [NHS number/HCN number/ CHI number], diagnosis, existing long term condition(s), medication history, patterns of hospital attendances, admissions and periods of access to community care your GP will be able to judge if you are likely to need more support and care from time to time, or if the right services are in place to support the local population’s needs.

To summarise Risk Stratification is used in the NHS to:

· Help decide if a patient is at a greater risk of suffering from a particular condition;

· Prevent an emergency admission;

· Identify if a patient needs medical help to prevent a health condition from getting worse; and/or

· Review and amend provision of current health and social care services.

[Your GP will use computer based algorithms or calculations to identify their registered patients who are at most risk, with support from the local Commissioning Support Unit and/or a third party accredited Risk Stratification provider. The risk stratification contracts are arranged by Coventry & Rugby CCG in accordance with the current Section 251 Agreement. Neither the CSU nor your local CCG will at any time have access to your personal or confidential data. They will only act on behalf of your GP to organise the risk stratification service with appropriate contractual technical and security measures in place.]

Your GP will routinely conduct the risk stratification process outside of your GP appointment. This process is conducted electronically and without human intervention. The resulting report is then reviewed by a multidisciplinary team of staff within the Practice. This may result in contact being made with you if alterations to the provision of your care are identified.

[A Section 251 Agreement is where the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has granted permission for personal data to be used for the purposes of risk stratification, in acknowledgement that it would overburden the NHS to conduct manual reviews of all patient registers held by individual providers.]

As mentioned above, you have the right to object to your information being used in this way. However you should be aware that your objection may have a negative impact on the timely and proactive provision of your direct care. Please contact the Practice Manager to discuss how disclosure of your personal data can be limited.

Sharing of Electronic Patient Records within the NHS

Electronic patient records are kept in most places where you receive healthcare. Our local electronic systems (such as System One, EMIS and Eclipse) enable your record to be shared with organisations involved in your direct care, such as:

· GP practices

· Community services such as district nurses, rehabilitation services, telehealth and out of hospital services.

· Child health services that undertake routine treatment or health screening

· Urgent care organisations, minor injury units or out of hours services

· Community hospitals

· Palliative care hospitals

· Care Homes

· Mental Health Trusts

· Hospitals

· Social Care organisations

· Pharmacies

In addition, NHS England have implemented the Summary Care Record which contains information including medication you are taking and any bad reactions to medication that you have had in the past.

In most cases, particularly for patients with complex conditions and care arrangements, the shared electronic health record plays a vital role in delivering the best care and a coordinated response, taking into account all aspects of a person’s physical and mental health. Many patients are understandably not able to provide a full account of their care, or may not be in a position to do so. The shared record means patients do not have to repeat their medical history at every care setting.

Your record will be automatically setup to be shared with the organisations listed above, however you have the right to ask your GP to disable this function or restrict access to specific elements of your record. This will mean that the information recorded by your GP will not be visible at any other care setting.

You can also reinstate your consent at any time by giving your permission to override your previous dissent.

Invoice Validation

[If you have received treatment within the NHS, the local Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) may require access to your personal information to determine which Clinical Commissioning Group is responsible for payment for the treatment or procedures you have received. Information such as your name, address, date of treatment and associated treatment code may be passed onto the CSU to enable them to process the bill. These details are held in a secure environment and kept confidential. This information is only used to validate invoices in accordance with the current Section 251 Agreement, and will not be shared for any further commissioning purposes.]

Your Right of Access to Your Records

The Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulations allows you to find out what information is held about you including information held within your medical records, either in electronic or physical format. This is known as the “right of subject access”. If you would like to have access to all or part of your records, you can make a request in writing to the organisation that you believe holds your information. This can be your GP, or a provider that is or has delivered your treatment and care. You should however be aware that some details within your health records may be exempt from disclosure; however this will be in the interests of your wellbeing or to protect the identity of a third party. If you would like access to your GP record please submit your request in writing to:

Allesley Park Medical Centre, 2 Whitaker Road, Allesley Park, Coventry, CV5 9JE

Complaints

In the event that your feel your GP Practice has not complied with the current data protection legislation, either in responding to your request or in our general processing of your personal information, you should raise your concerns in the first instance in writing to the Practice Manager at:

Allesley Park Medical Centre, 2 Whitaker Road, Allesley Park, Coventry, CV5 9JE

If you remain dissatisfied with our response you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF – Enquiry Line: 01625 545700 or online at www.ico.gov.uk

We will provide care, now and in the future, to all our patients without discrimination and irrespective of patient’s age, sex, race, beliefs or special needs. We expect that patients will show no discrimination towards other surgery users, members of the practice team or our colleagues in the NHS.

All organisations that provide NHS or publicly funded adult social care must fully implement and conform to the Accessible Information standard per Section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

The Standard has been established to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are issued information that they can access and understand and that they can also receive any communication support they need.

It is of particular relevance to individuals who are blind, d/Deaf, deaf blind and/or who have a learning disability, although it will support anyone with information or communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss affects their ability to communicate.

If you wish to update your communication needs and methods please contact the practice team.

NHS England example publication of GP Net Earnings for 2022/23

“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 who worked for six months or more in Allesley Park Medical Centre in the last financial year was £82,024 before Tax and National Insurance. This is for 12 part-time GP’s

Williamson West
March 2024

The practice produces a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by our GPs. A copy of this guide is available from reception.

Have you ever visited us and wondered why we can’t see all of your health and care information? Or queried why you sometimes need to answer the same questions about your medications, allergies or treatment each time you visit your local GP or hospital? The simple answer is we all use different computer systems to record your details. However, that’s now changing with the introduction of the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Record (ICR).

The ICR is bringing together the various electronic records of a person’s care and presenting it in a structured and easy-to-read format for health and care professionals to use.

ICR: Improving care for you & your family – YouTube

For more information, visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Record website.

If you wish to opt out of ICR, do not contact the practice.
Please follow this link here
Right to object form – Happy Healthy Lives

We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. It is your responsibility to keep your appointments, inform us of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details. Our patient charter is available in full at reception.

For further information on any of our policies, please contact the practice manager.

A SCR is an electronic summary containing limited patient information which can be shared to assist with your emergency care. The information contained within the SCR is: medication, allergies and adverse reactions.

This information means that healthcare staff can provide you with safer care when your GP practice is closed or when you are away from home in another part of England. Only Healthcare staff who are directly involved in your care would be able to view your SCR.

Each patient has a choice regarding a SCR:

• You can choose to have a SCR: you do not need to do anything.
• You can choose not to have a SCR: you  need to let your GP practice know by filling in and returning an opt-out form. You can print one out here or visit the practice to collect a form from reception.

For further information regarding SCR:

• Phone the SCR information line on 0300 123 3020.
• Contact your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) www.pals.nhs.uk, or,
• Visit www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk