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 Practitioners 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.
GDPR
Please click on the link below to view our privacy policy.
General Practice Privacy Notice Oct 2019
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
Statement of Purpose 2018
- To provide the best possible quality service for all our patients within a confidential and safe environment.
- To show all our patients courtesy and respect at all times irrespective of ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of the health problem.
- To involve our patients in decisions with their care and treatment.
- To promote good health and well being to our patients through education and information.
- To involve healthcare professionals in the care of our patients where it is in their best interests.
- To encourage our patients to get involved in the practice through an annual survey and encourage patients to comment on the care they receive.
- To ensure that all members of our team have the right skills and training to carry out their duties competently.
Information | How the information can be obtained | Cost |
Class 1 – Who we are and what we do? | Website, Practice Leaflets available at Surgery | NA |
Class 2 – What we spend and how we spend it? | Not available | NA |
Class 3 – What our priorities are and how we are doing? | Practice Development Plan available on request at Practice | £10 per Request |
Class 4 – How we make decisions? · Monthly Practice Meetings with GP Partners and Practice Manager · Monthly Clinical Meetings · Regular staff meetings & sharing of information · Regular Patient Feedback inc Patient surveys | Meeting minutes & patient feedback available on request at Practice | £10 per Request |
Class 5 – Our policies and procedures | All policies are available on request at Practice. | £10 per Request |
Policies and procedures about the employment of staff | Yes | |
Internal instructions to staff and policies relating to the delivery of services | Yes | |
Equality and diversity policy | Yes | |
Health and safety policy | Yes | |
Complaints procedures (including those covering requests for information and operating the publication scheme) | Yes | |
Records management policies (records retention, destruction and archive) | Yes | |
Data protection policies | Yes | |
Policies and procedures for handling requests for information | Yes | |
Patients’ Charter | Yes | |
Class 6 – Lists and Registers | | NA |
Class 7 – The services we offer | Website, Practice Leaflets available at Surgery | |
Complaints
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.
However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.
To pursue a complaint please contact the practice manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available regarding the complaints procedure from reception.
suttonnhscomplaints@advocacyforall.org.uk
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.