Our Policies
Confidentiality PolicyConfidentiality is the cornerstone of health care and is central to the work of everyone working in general practice. All information about patients is confidential: from the most sensitive diagnosis, to the fact of having visited the surgery or being registered at the practice.
Even if the patient is under 16, doctors still have to keep anything told to them, private.
All patients can expect that their personal information will not be disclosed without their permission except in the most exceptional of circumstances, when somebody is at grave risk of serious harm. Patients will be asked for a password to be stored on their records, so that test results can be given out over the telephone.
Responsibilities of practice staff:
All health professionals must follow their professional codes of practice and the law. This means that they must make every effort to protect confidentiality. It also means that no identifiable information about a patient is passed to anyone or any agency without the express permission of that patient, except when this is essential for providing care or is necessary to protect somebody’s health, safety or well-being.
All health professionals are individually accountable for their own actions. They should also work together as a team to ensure that standards of confidentiality are upheld, and that improper disclosures are avoided.
Additionally the GP as an employer: -
- Is responsible for ensuring that everybody employed by the practice understands the need for, and maintains, confidentiality.
- Has overall responsibility for ensuring that systems and mechanisms to protect confidentiality are in place.
- Has vicarious liability for the actions of those working in the practice - the health professionals and the non–clinical staff.
If disclosure is necessary:
If a patient or another person is at grave risk of serious harm which disclosure to an appropriate person would prevent, the relevant health professional will counsel the patient about the benefits of disclosure. If the patient refuses to allow disclosure, the health professional can take advice from colleagues within the practice, or from a professional, regulatory or defence body, in order to decide whether a disclosure without consent is justified to protect the patient or another person.
If a decision is taken to disclose, the patient should always be informed before the disclosure is made, unless to do so could be dangerous. If at all possible, any such decisions should be shared with another member of the practice team.
Any decision to disclose information to protect health, safety or well-being will be based on the degree of current or potential harm, not on the age of the patient.
Policy regarding Protection and using Patient Information
Information on patients is collected in a variety of ways. Manual or electronic data is recorded from
GP and Nurse consultations, from letters from the Hospital and from other sources such as Social Services etc.
We ask you for information so that you can receive proper care and treatment.
We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed when we see you again.We may use some of this information for other reasons: for example: -
- To help us protect the health of the public generally
- To see that the practice runs efficiently
- To plan effectively for the future
- To train its staff, pays its bills
- To help educate tomorrow’s clinical staff
- To carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone
The NHS Central Register for England & Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a General Practitioner. The Register does not contain clinical information.
You have a right of access to your health records. To do so, please contact the Practice or Administration Manager who will inform you of the procedure and costs.
Everyone working for the Practice has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. All our staff have signed confidentiality agreements, which ensures that this is the case.
You may be receiving care from other people as well as from the Practice. So that we can all work together for your benefit, we may need to share some information about you. We only ever use orpass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone’s interest. Whenever we can, we shall remove details which identify you.
Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.
If you agree, your relatives, friends and carers will be kept up to date with the progress of your treatment.
The Main Reasons for which Your Information may be needed are:
- giving you health care and treatment
- looking after the health of the general public
- managing and planning the Practice services.
- Making sure our services can meet patients’ needs in the future
- Preparing statistics on performance and activity (noting that steps will be taken to ensure you cannot be identified)
- Investigating complaints or legal claims
- Helping staff to review the care they provide to make sure it is of the highest standard
- Training and educating staff (but you choose whether or not to be involved personally)
- Research approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee (if anything to do with research would involve you personally, you will be contacted to see if you are willing)
Health and Safety Policy Statement
Our practice policy is to establish as safe a workplace as possible for all persons working in and visiting the surgery premises.
All employees will be given access to information, which they may need in order to work safely. We also accept responsibility for the health and safety of other people such as patients or contractors who may visit the premises and who may be affected by our activities. We will ensure that any equipment used is regularly and efficiently maintained. In particular we will establish a Fire policy to include the maintenance of fire safety equipment and we will ensure that all electrical equipment is serviced as per legal requirements. The Practice will establish policies to store handle and transport all substances hazardous to health. Staff will be properly trained in order to ensure that the standards of health and safety are maintained at the highest possible level.
We note that, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, all employees have responsibilities to co-operate with the doctors and practice manager to achieve a healthy and safe workplace and to take reasonable care of themselves and others.
Prescription Policy
We can only issue medication on the due date; we therefore ask that you check when ordering that the items you require are due. Prescriptions can then be collected at the front desk or they can be sent to your home if you send a stamped addressed envelope with the request. Alternatively, you can ask the chemist of your choice to collect it on your behalf, who will then deliver it to your home free of charge. However, you must inform the chemist that the prescription is due for collection.
In order to process the large number of requests each day please note that 48 hours notice is required for repeat prescription requests.
The Schedule for ordering and collection is therefore:-
| Day Ordered | Ready for Collection |
| Monday | Wednesday |
| Tuesday | Thursday |
| Wednesday | Friday |
| Thursday | Monday |
| Friday | Tuesday |
Practice Compliments/Complaints Procedure Policy
If you have a compliment, complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice 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, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If this is not possible and you wish to make a complaint, please inform us as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks. This will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If this is not possible 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 this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to Mrs Jo Wadey (Practice Manager) or any of the doctors. Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Jo in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will ensure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
What We Shall Do
We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have investigated your complaint within ten working days. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. On investigation we shall aim to:
- Establish what happened and what went wrong;
- Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned;
- Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
- Identify what we can do to avoid the problem recurring.
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. Written consent from the patient will be required (unless there is incapacity through illness).
Complaining To The Health Authority
We hope that if you have a problem you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of resolving problems and give us an opportunity to improve our practice. This does not affect your right to approach the local Health Authority if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact Mr David Evans.
Expected Behaviour Policy
The practice is committed to producing a high quality of care to our patients. The relationship between the patients and those working in the surgery is an important issue and is a two-way process. Therefore, in order to protect both the staff and other patients, we respectfully point out that the following inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated: -
- Swearing
- Threatening or abusive behaviour
- Drunkenness
- Verbal/physical abuse