Confidentiality & Medical Records
The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:
- To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
- To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
- When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.
If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.
Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.
Freedom of Information
Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.
Access to Records
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager for which there is no charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so. Please look at the Section ‘Your Personal Information’.
Rights & Responsibilities
Your rights and what you can expect from the Practice
- Every UK resident has the right to be registered with a GP Practice.
- Your GP Practice is your gateway to all other health services.
- You can book appointments in advance so that the appointment is as convenient as possible for you.
- Your GP Practice may offer a telephone discussion with a GP or Nurse if that is convenient to you.
- You can have at least 10 minutes with your GP / Practice Nurse to fully discuss any health issues.
- Your GP Practice can offer you general health advice or advice / treatment in relation to smoking, diet, exercise, alcohol consumption, drug usage, etc. They are not just there for when you are ill.
- Use your NHS services wisely, if you have an appointment booked but then don't need it or can't make it, then please remember to contact the surgery and cancel it.
- Everyone will be treated with dignity and respect – patients and staff alike.
- If you change your address or telephone number, please let us know as soon as possible so that we have accurate information if we need to contact you.
- If you wish to change your GP Practice (for whatever reason) then you can –
- Just turn up at a practice and if you live within their geographical boundary you will be able to register and join the practice
- You will be offered an initial appointment with the Nurse or GP.
Complaints
If you have a 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 a NHS wide system for dealing with complaints. Our system meets the 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 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 on the day. This is because the sooner we know about a problem, the easier it will be for us to establish what happened. In any event, 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, providing this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager, Mrs Fiona Farmer. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
What we will do?
We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten 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. When we look into your complaint, we shall:
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 this is appropriate.
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.
We always welcome patient feedback to improve our services. However, under our NHS practice NHS Complaints Procedure I am obliged to inform you that you have the right to ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to review your complaint if you remain unhappy once local resolution is completed.
The address is:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone: 0345 015 4033 e-mail: phso@ombudsman.org.uk
The PHSO would normally expect any request to be lodged within 12 months however you are encouraged to make the approach as soon as possible after the completion of local resolution
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 to authorize you to complain on their behalf.
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB Complaints team
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 putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. If for any reason you feel that the practice complaints procedure has not resolved your problem. Then you can direct your complaint for primary care services to the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB Complaints team
Freephone: 0808 196 8861
Email: PatientServices@staffsstoke.icb.nhs.uk
Post: New Beacon Building, Stafford Education and Enterprise Park, Weston Road, Stafford, ST18 OBF
Violence Policy
The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.
Complaints advocate
Complaints advocacy in Stoke on Trent is provided by Assist Advocacy Services and they can be contacted by telephoning 01782 845584 or by emailing: help@asist.co.uk
Their postal address is:-Assist, Winton House, Stoke Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2RW
This service is free, impartial and independent for people wishing to complain, or have already complained, about services provided by the NHS