Practice Policies & Patient Information
Complaints & Suggestions
The practice operates in house complaints procedure. Please request details from reception staff.
Complaints can be made in writing or verbally to the Practice manager Mrs Jane Potter.
Comments and suggestions on any aspects of the practice are always received with interest. We have a book on reception which is reviewed at regular intervals.
Named Accountable GP
The ‘Named’ GP will:
Take lead responsibility for ensuring that all appropriate services required under the contract with the practice are delivered to you.
Where required, based on the professional judgement of the ‘named’ GP, work with relevant associated health and social care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary care package that meets your needs.
Ensure that your physical and psychological needs are recognised and responded to by the relevant clinicians in the practice
Ensure that patients over 75 years of age have access to a health check if requested, which is already a requirement of the GP contract regulations.
The Practice will ensure that there is a named accountable GP assigned to each patient.
New patients will be allocated a GP at the time of registration.
Your named accountable GP will be the same as your usual GP however, this does not affect your ability to see any GP of your choice as you currently do.
This does not prevent you from seeing any GP in the practice, as you may currently choose to do so. Neither does it guarantee you will see your named GP every time you visit the surgery or give you priority access over other patients to your named GP.
Online Services Policies
The Following Online Services Are Available In The Practice
Summary Care Record (SCR)
SCR contains important information about any medicines you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions you have had to medicines. It gives health care staff to access information which can prevent mistakes being made when caring for you in an emergency or when GP practice is closed.
You can choose whether or not to have a SCR. If you choose to Opt out then you have to let your GP practice know by filling in and returning the Opt out form. However, if you choose to have the SCR, you don’t need to do anything, it will happen automatically.
Only healthcare staff with a NHS Smart card with chip and PIN can access your SCR. They will only see the information they need to do their job, are directly involved in your care and the staff’s access details are recorded.
You can ask your GP practice to print out a copy of your SCR from the computer system. You cannot change any information on the SCR, however, if you see any errors or incorrect information, you should let the practice know.
Our Practice enabled automated uploads to the SCR, in 2014 and we were one of the few practices to go Live, last year.
GP2GP Record Transfers
We utilise GP2GP facility for transfer of all our patient records between practices, when patient registers or de-registers (not for temporary registration). NHS number are used in all NHS clinical correspondence.
Online Booking of Repeat Prescription
We are offering the online prescriptions ordering, viewing and printing repeat prescriptions for drugs, medicines and appliances. Some of patients have registered but we would like to encourage majority of our patients to use online services, if you are interested then please ask for a registration form at the reception, complete it and bring 2 ID with you, 1 of which has your photo and the other has your home address. Once registered, you will be given a log-in and password.
Online Appointment System
Patients now can access online to book, cancel, and print their online appointments. To avail this service please follow the registration, as given above for repeat prescriptions and in appointments section of the website.
Patient Online Access to the GP Records
Statement of Intent: We intend to give patients online access to their GP record online, giving them a detailed information from their Medical record. There may be circumstances where a GP may believe it is not in the best interest of the patient to share all information record, for e.g. where it will cause harm to their physical or Mental health.
We are changing our current computer system to EMIS WEB in June 2015, we hope that by Sept. 2015 we will be available to have this service up and running. We will publish further information, regarding registration etc. to gain access to this facility and you can contact the practice from September 2015 onwards
Online Health and Prescription Services
Log in with your usual website or app
Sign up or log in using the NHS App
Try the NHS App
You can now use the NHS App, a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services and your GP account on your smartphone or tablet.
You can use the NHS App to check your symptoms and get instant advice, book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP medical record, access your Covid vaccination status and more.
If you already use online access you can continue to use it. You can use the NHS App as well.
For more information go to www.nhs.uk/nhsapp
Have you got the NHS App?
At home or on the move, with the NHS App you can conveniently order repeat prescriptions, view your GP medical records, manage appointments at your GP surgery, set organ donation preferences, and check symptoms.
The app has been developed by the NHS and has been designed to help people get more information about their health and care – and more control of how they use NHS services. New functions and services will also be added in the coming months. Why not download it and try it out?
What does the NHS App do?
The NHS App allows you to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet. A desktop version is launching soon too.
You can use it wherever you are, at any time. It puts valuable information about your health and treatments at your fingertips.
You can:
- order repeat prescriptions
- view your GP medical record
- access your Covid vaccination status
- book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery
- register for organ donation and change your donation preferences
- use the symptoms checker, including an A to Z of conditions and treatment advice from the NHS website
- access 111 Online, for advice on self-care and whether urgent help is needed
Is my information safe?
Just like a banking app, your identity will be carefully checked during the simple registration process. The app has been designed, built and tested so that your personal information is always safe and secure.
How to register through the NHS App
Download the app from your mobile device’s app store and follow the easy step-by-step registration instructions. It will help if you know your NHS number (though this isn’t essential), and you will need to have a form of ID (passport or driving license) to hand.
If you want to learn more, visit the NHS App page on the NHS UK website.
Patient Choice
We do our best to accommodate your rights as a patient to express a preference, however there may be occasions where this is operationally difficult. If a referral is required to another healthcare provider, we will aim to offer you a choice through the Choose & Book system.
Patient Records
- We need to hold personal information about you on our computer system and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs.
- Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs.
- All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.
- It may sometimes be necessary to share information with others involved in your care. Anyone with access to your records is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed in both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.
- In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other bodies. In other circumstances you may be required to give written consent before information is released e.g. for medical reports.
- To ensure your privacy we will not disclose information to friends or family, unless we have prior written consent and we will not leave messages with others.
- You have the right to see the medical records we hold. A request should be made in writing to the Practice Manager. Your request should be fulfilled in 21 days.
We are permitted to withhold information where it is judged that it is likely to cause serious harm to you, or any other person, or where it would disclose information relating to or provided by a third who had not consented to the disclosure, this exemption does not apply where that third person is a Clinician involved in your care
Privacy Notice
Proxy Access
If you are managing the health of another, you can apply for proxy access. This provides access to the person’s online account for:
- book and view appointments
- order medication
- access to medical records
Contact the surgery to request proxy access.
Proxy access on behalf of children
People with parental responsibility for children have rights to access their children’s records. This is in most cases. Not all parents have parental responsibility. Proxy access for parent and guardian to a child’s record is a practice-level decision.
Proxy access on behalf of another adult
A person must be registered for online access at the practice where the patient they are acting for is registered. Proxy is the recommended alternative to sharing login details.
More Information
NHS App: Using linked profiles to access services for someone else
Violence & Aggression
We do not tolerate any form of violence in the practice. Under some circumstances, we will have a patient removed from our list if they demonstrate any form of violence/ aggressive behaviour towards any member of our staff.