About our Practice

To provide and deliver comprehensive community health care that anticipates and responds to the needs of the patient.

Values

Service - To make service a key principal of the practice

Innovative - To embrace clinical innovation

Support - To support a knowledgeable, skilled and caring medical and administrative team

Value - To deliver value added care to the individual and population

Aims

1. To provide the highest quality evidence based health care available to its patients with a well trained and motivated primary health care team.

2. To continue to develop the primary health care team and its individual members..

3. To provide seamless care for our patients with a multidisciplinary approach.

4. To embrace clinical innovation and to recognise the expertise of the team members and utilise these skills for the benefit of the patients.

5. To provide comprehensive community health care that anticipates and responds to the needs of the patient.

6. To welcome and treat our patients with dignity and respect ensuring that each receives the very best service.

7. To listen to our patients, address their needs and endure they feel part of the health care decisions.

Patient Information

We recognise that there may be times you wish to discuss sensitive matters. If you are not comfortable at the reception we will find a private area for this discussion.

We keep televisions playing in our waiting area to mask conversations at and behind the front desk.

The practice uses technology in almost all aspects of its day-to-day activities. The computer is also used during consultations as it enables us to keep your records up to date and helps to maintain an efficient register of all our patients. It is an invaluable tool in preventative medicine, screening and education. Patients' records are held on the computer in accordance with the guidelines of the Data Protection Act.

It is important that we keep information about you and your health to  ensure that you receive the best possible care and treatment. We keep this information securely and only share details when there is a genuine need.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information: for example, to notify a birth. The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal    details of all patients registered with a GP. The Register does not contain information about your health.

As a Practice we are registered with the Information Commissioners Office,

Registration No: Z7432865

In addition to using your information for your care and treatment, it may also be needed for other reasons, such as:

· Helping staff to review the care they provide to make sure it is of the highest standard.

· Training and education but you can choose whether or not to be involved personally.

· This General Practice is research active. Conducting high-quality clinical research helps us to keep improving NHS care by finding out which treatments work best. In this practice, you might be asked to take part in a   clinical research study. Alternatively, ask our staff about clinical   studies suitable for you. Taking part in a clinical research  study is voluntary and can be a rewarding experience.

· Looking after the health of the general public, ie The Health Protection  Agency uses anonymous information to continue to protect the health of the population as a whole, ie identify or investigate infectious diseases, hazardous chemicals and notifiable diseases. Reports are published  regularly on the HPA website, www.hpa.org.uk

· Making sure that our services can meet patients’ needs in the future.

· Preparing statistics on NHS performance and activity.

· Investigating complaints or legal claims within the NHS.

· Financial controls and NHS Auditors.

· GP2GP Electronic Transfer of Medical Records is the transfer of all patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers (not including temporary registration). We intend, working with our NHS Information Service, to ensure that we are able to transfer records electronically between all clinical systems and practices.

The sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Social Services, the Benefits Agency and others may require medical reports on you from time to time. Failure to cooperate with these agencies can lead to patients’ loss of benefit or other support. However, if you have not given your signed consent we will not normally disclose information about you.

If you agree, your relatives, friends or carers may be kept up to date with the progress of your treatment. Please complete a “Consent for Release of Medical Information” form. Once this is returned we will add a message to your records. These can be requested at reception.

You have the right to request access to your health records.

If you are unable to use online services you can request copies of notes through the following steps:

Step 1 -  Make contact with reception to request copies and access to records—ideally in writing but this can be done by telephone and we will need details of which parts of your record you are requesting.

Step 2 - The request will then be made and you will be kept updated through out the process and notified when notes are ready to view.

We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be warned to stop their behaviour. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients.

Appointments to see or to speak to a clinician are requested via our Accurx service (found on our home page). Patients can submit a form with their query or issue and this will then be reviewed by our triaging clinician. The practice will then be in touch. 

Nurses based at our practice treat patients for a wide range of common conditions (e.g. removing stitches, immunisations and so on). You can expect to see a nurse within two working days. Our practice nurses are also specially trained to run routine clinics for certain conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. (Each of our nurses specialises in a different area, so you need to book ahead with the most appropriate person). Our reception staff will be able to advise whether a nurse appointment is appropriate.

We work closely with other healthcare professionals who are part of our Primary Health Care Team working in the community, such as the district nursing team, midwives and health visitors. If you have an illness or incapacity that means that you need nursing care in your own home, the district nurse will visit you. Patients who are likely to benefit from this service include the housebound, the elderly, people with a terminal illness, and those who have recently been discharged from hospital. District nurses provide wound care, palliative care, continence advice, health promotion advice and advice on coordinating care packages. If you move permanently into a care home locally, the district nurse may be able to continue your care. Your GP may also be willing to continue to care for you, or a number of GPs may provide services for the residents of local care homes.

• Baby changing facility can be located in the patient toilet in the waiting area.
• Patient toilet which is suitable for wheelchair users.
• A portable induction loop system is available. Please ask at reception.
• A wheelchair is available by request, please ask at reception.
• There is parking, including disabled parking at the side of the building.
• Automatic doors to the entrance of the building.
• Health information leaflets and displays in the waiting area.
• Hand sanitiser gel on entrance to the Practice, we promote its use on entering and exiting of the Practice.
• Child friendly chairs and table for our younger patients whilst in the waiting   area.
• If you would like a glass of water, please ask at reception.
• Private room for breast feeding can be made available on request.
• Private room for confidential discussion can be made available on request.
• If you wish a chaperone to be present during your consultation, please advise the    reception team, clinician or manager who will arrange this for you. On occasion the clinician may ask for a chaperone to be present.
• Translators are available for appointments through a service called Language Line for patients who struggles to understand English. Please let reception know if you will require a translator.