If you feel you would like a chaperone present at your consultation please inform your doctor/nurse who will be happy to arrange this for you.

The practice prides itself in maintaining professional standards. For certain examinations during consultations an impartial observer (a ‘chaperone’) will be required.

This impartial observer will be a practice nurse or health care assistant who is familiar with the procedure and be available to reassure and raise any concerns on your behalf. If a nurse in unavailable at the time of your consultation then your examination may be re-scheduled for another time.

You are free to decline any examination or chose an alternative examiner or chaperone. You may also request a chaperone for any examination or consultation if one is not offered to you. The GP may not undertake an examination if a chaperone is declined.

The role of a Chaperone

A chaperone is there to:

• Maintain professional boundaries during intimate examinations
• Acknowledge a patient’s vulnerability
• Provide emotional comfort and reassurance
• Assist in the examination
• Assist with undressing patients, if required

The Freedom of Information Act creates a right of access to recorded information and obliges a public authority to:

• Have a publication scheme in place
• Allow public access to information held by public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded organisational information such as reports, policies or strategies, that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. However, it does not cover personal information such as patient records, which are covered by the Data Protection Act.

Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces.

The Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner who regulates both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

The surgery publication scheme

A publication scheme requires an authority to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities. The scheme lists information under seven broad classes, which are:

• who we are and what we do
• what we spend and how we spend it
• what our priorities are and how we are doing it
• how we make decisions
• our policies and procedures
• lists and registers
• the services we offer

You can request our publication scheme leaflet at the surgery.

Who can request information?

Under the Act, any individual, anywhere in the world, is able to make a request to a practice for information. An applicant is entitled to be informed in writing, by the practice, whether the practice holds information of the description specified in the request and if that is the case, have the information communicated to him/her. An individual can request information, regardless of whether he/she is the subject of the information or affected by its use. 

How should requests be made?

Requests must:

• be made in writing (this can be electronically e.g. email/fax)
• state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence
• describe the information requested.

What cannot be requested?

Personal data about staff and patients covered under Data Protection Act.

For more information see these websites:

• Legislation GOV.UK
• Information Commissioners Office

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new law that determines how your personal data is processed and ket safe, and the legal rights that you have in relation to your own data.

The regulation applies from 25th May 2018, and will apply even after the UK leaves the EU.

What GDPR will mean for patients

The GDPR sets out the key principles about processing personal data, for staff or patients;

• Data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently
• It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes
• It must be limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed
• Information must be accurate and kept up to date
• Data must be held securely
• It can only be retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

The are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold about them. These include;

• Being informed about how their data is used
• Patients to have access to their own data
• Patients can ask to have incorrect information changed
• Restrict how their data is used
• Move their patient data from one health organisation to another
• The right to object to their patient information being processed (in certain circumstances)

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 main changes are:

• Practices must comply with subject access requests
• Where we need your consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
• There are new, special protections for patient data
• The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
• Higher fines for data breaches – up to 20 million euros

What is ‘patient data’?

Patient data is information that relates to a single person, such as his/her diagnosis, name, age, earlier medical history etc.

What is consent?

Consent is permission from a patient – an individual’s consent is defined as “any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”

The changes in GDPR mean that we must get explicit permission from patients when using their data. This is to protect your right to privacy, and we may ask you to provide consent to do certain things, like contact you or record certain information about you for your clinical records.

Individuals also have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

2020/21

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

The average pay for GPs working at the surgery in the last financial year before tax and National Insurance was £106,260.

This is for 1 full time GP and 1 locum GP who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

We aim to keep our surgery clean and tidy and offer a safe environment to our patients and staff. We are proud of our modern, purpose built practice and endeavour to keep it clean and well maintained at all times.

If you have any concerns about cleanliness or infection control, please report these to our reception staff.

Our GPs and nursing staff follow our Infection Control Policy to ensure the care we deliver and the equipment we use is safe.

We take additional measures to ensure we maintain the highest standards:

• Encourage staff and patients to raise any issues or report any incidents relating to cleanliness and infection control. We can discuss these and identify improvements we can make to avoid any future problems
• Carry out an annual infection control audit to make sure our infection control procedures are working
• Provide annual staff updates and training on cleanliness and infection control
• Review our policies and procedures to make sure they are adequate and meet national guidance
• Maintain the premises and equipment to a high standard within the available financial resources and ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to reduce or remove all infection risk
• Use washable or disposable materials for items such as couch rolls, modesty curtains, floor coverings, towels etc., and ensure that these are laundered, cleaned or changed frequently to minimise risk of infection
• Make alcohol hand rub gel available throughout the building

We have allocated a named accountable GP for all of our registered patients. If you do not know who your named GP is, please ask a member of our reception team. Unfortunately, we are unable to notify patients in writing of any change of GP due to the costs involved.

We welcome all comments on the services provided by the practice.

We are continually looking to turn our patients’ feedback into real improvements in the services we provide. We use it to focus on the things that matter most to our patients, carers and their families.

We’ll let the staff involved know and share the good practice across our teams.

You may write to us or contact us by phone.

There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.

Why do I need a Summary Care Record?

Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.

This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example which medicines they choose to prescribe for you.

Who can see it?

Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.

How do I know if I have one?

Over half of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether Summary Care Records have come to your area by contacting the practice.

Do I have to have one?

No, it is not compulsory. If you choose to opt out of the scheme, then you will need to complete a form and bring it along to the surgery. You can opt-out by completing our Summary Care Record Opt Out form.

More Information

For further information visit the NHS Care records website.

Help us to help you

We aim to provide the best possible service to our patients and hope you will feel that we achieve that aim.

The care of your health is a partnership between yourself and the primary health care team. The success of that partnership depends on an understanding of each other’s needs and co-operation between us.

Doctor’s Responsibilities

• You will be greeted courteously
• You have a right to confidentiality
• You have the right to see your medical records subject to the limitations of the law
• You will be seen the same day, if your problem is urgent
• You will be seen by your doctor whenever possible
• You will be informed if there will be a delay of more than 20 minutes for your appointment
• You will be referred to a consultant when your GP thinks it necessary
• You will be given the result of any test or investigation on request or at your next appointment
• Your repeat prescription will be ready for collection 48 hours after your request
• Your suggestions and comments about the services offered will be considered sympathetically and any complaint dealt with quickly

Patient’s Responsibilities

• Please treat all surgery staff with the same respect – we are all just doing our job
• Do not ask for information about anyone other than yourself
• Tell us of any change of name or address, so that our records are accurate
• Only request an urgent appointment if appropriate. Home visits should only be requested if you are too ill to attend the surgery and night visits should be for emergencies only – the doctor on-call will be at work as usual the next day
• Please cancel your appointment if you are unable to attend
• Please be punctual but be prepared to wait if your own consultation is delayed by an unexpected emergency
• Please allow sufficient time for your consultant’s letter of the results of any tests to reach us
• You will be advised of the usual length of time to wait
• Use the tear-off slip to request your repeat prescription whenever possible. Please attend for review when asked, before your next prescription is due
• Do let us know whenever you feel we have not met our responsibility to you
• We would, of course, be pleased to hear when you feel praise is due

The practice fully supports the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of violence against staff working in the NHS and ensures that doctors and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused.

We understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. We ask you to treat your doctors and their staff courteously and act reasonably.

All incidents will be followed up and you will be sent a formal warning after a second incident or removed from the practice list after a third incident if your behaviour has been unreasonable.

However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or verbal abuse, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is taking place and the patient is posing a threat to staff or other patients.