Practice Policies & Patient Information
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 to download here or from reception.
Our Complaints TemplateComplaints_Comments Leaflet 2024 document.
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 Data Protection Act 1998 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.
GP Earnings
All GP Practices are required to declare mean earnings (i.e average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at the practice.
The average NHS pay for GPs working in Rillwood and Danes Camp Medical Centres in the last financial year was £78,769.70 before statutory deductions for tax and National Insurance.
This is for 5 full time GPs, 1 part time GP and 1 locum GP who have worked across both practice sites for more than six months.
NHS Constitution
Rillwood Medical Centre is committed to implementing the NHS Constitution.
Principles
The practice:
- Provides a comprehensive service, available to all irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation and has a duty to respect their human rights.
- Promotes equality through the service, providing and to paying particular attention to groups or sections of society where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population.
- Provides access to services based on clinical need, not on an individual’s ability to pay.
- Aspires to the highest standards of excellence and professionalism, providing safe and effective high-quality care focused on patient experience.
- Ensures that it is effectively lead and managed and its’ staff receive relevant education, training and development.
- Its services reflect the needs and preferences of patients, their families and carers who will be involved in and consulted on all decisions about their care and treatment.
- Ensures that it works across organisational boundaries and in partnership with other organisations in the interest of patients, local communities and the wider population.
- Is accountable to the public, communities and patients that it serves.
- Supports staff when they raise concerns about the service by ensuring their concerns are fully investigated and that there is someone independent, outside of their team, to speak to.
Patients have the right:
- To receive NHS services free of charge, apart from certain limited exceptions sanctioned by Parliament.
- To access NHS services and not be refused access on unreasonable grounds.
- To expect the practice to assess the health requirements of the local community and to commission and put in place the services to meet those needs as considered necessary.
- In certain circumstances to go to other European Economic Area countries or Switzerland for treatment which would be available through the NHS.
- Not to be unlawfully discriminated against in the provision of NHS services including on grounds of gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability (including learning disability or mental illness) or age.
- To access services within maximum waiting times, or to be offered a range of alternative providers if this is not possible.
- To be treated with a professional standard of care, by appropriately qualified and experienced staff, in a properly approved or registered organisation that meets required levels of safety and quality.
- To be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with their human rights.
- To accept or refuse treatment that is offered, and not to be given any physical examination or treatment unless valid consent has been given.
- To be given information about their proposed treatment in advance, including any significant risks and any alternative treatments which may be available, and the risks involved in doing nothing.
- To privacy and confidentiality and to expect the practice to keep their confidential information safe and secure.
- To access to their own health records.
- To choose their GP practice, and to be accepted by that practice unless there are reasonable grounds to refuse, in which case they will be informed of those reasons.
- To express a preference for using a particular doctor within their GP practice.
- To make choices about their NHS care and to information to support these choices.
- To be involved in discussions and decisions about their healthcare, and to be given information to enable them to do this.
- To be involved, directly or through representatives, in the planning of healthcare services, the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way those services are provided, and in decisions to be made affecting the operation of those services.
- To have any complaint you make about NHS services dealt with efficiently, to have it properly investigated, know the outcome and escalate the complaint to the independent Health Service Ombudsman.
- To make a claim for judicial review if they think they have been directly affected by an unlawful act or decision of an NHS body.
- To compensation where they have been harmed by negligent treatment.
Patient Responsibilities:
- To make a significant contribution to their own, and their family’s, good health and well-being, and take some personal responsibility for it.
- To treat NHS staff and other patients with respect and recognise that causing a nuisance or disturbance on NHS premises could result in prosecution.
- To provide accurate information about their health, condition and status.
- To keep appointments, or cancel within reasonable time.
- To follow the course of treatment which they have agreed, and talk to their clinician if they find this difficult.
- To participate in important public health programmes such as vaccination.
- To ensure that those closest to them are aware of their wishes about organ donation.
- To give feedback – both positive and negative – about the treatment and care they have received, including any adverse reactions they may have had.
Practice Staff have the right:
- To a good working environment with flexible working opportunities, consistent with the needs of patients and with the way that people live their lives;
- To have a fair pay and contract framework;
- To be involved and represented in the workplace;
- To have healthy and safe working conditions and an environment free from harassment, bullying or violence;
- To be treated fairly, equally and free from discrimination; and
- To raise an internal grievance and if necessary seek redress, where it is felt that a right has not been upheld;
- To raise any concern with their employer, whether it is about safety, malpractice or other risk, in the public interest, without suffering any detriment.
Privacy Notices & General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
From 25th May 2018 organisations including GP practices were required to comply with new GDPR rules as updated data protection laws began to be rolled out.
Patients do not need to take any action unless they wish to change any of their preferences. These updates refer to how we collect, store and handle your personal data.
Information about you and the care you receive is shared, in a secure system, by healthcare staff to support your treatment and care.
It is important that we, the NHS, can use this information to plan and improve services for all patients. We would like to link information from all the different places where you receive care, such as your GP, hospital and community service, to help us provide a full picture. This will allow us to compare the care you received in one area against the care you received in another, so we can see what has worked best.
Information such as your postcode and NHS number, but not your name, will be used to link your records in a secure system, so your identity is protected. Information which does not reveal your identity can then be used by others, such as researchers and those planning health services, to make sure we provide the best care possible for everyone.
You have a choice. If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything. If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to practice staff or download the opt out form, complete it and return it to the practice.
We need to make sure that you know this is happening and the choices you have.
Please click on the links below to access this documentation.
Privacy Notice – Danes Camp & Rillwood Medical Centre
Privacy Notice – Public Health
Privacy Notice – National Screening
Summary Care Record
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). The Summary Care Record is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. Initially, it will contain just your medications and allergies.
Later on as the central NHS computer system develops, (known as the ‘Summary Care Record’ – SCR), other staff who work in the NHS will be able to access it along with information from hospitals, out of hours services, and specialists letters that may be added as well.
Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held on central NHS databases.
As with all new systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.
On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. Connecting for Health (CfH), the government agency responsible for the Summary Care Record have agreed with doctors’ leaders that new patients registering with this practice should be able to decide whether or not their information is uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System.
For existing patients it is different in that it is assumed that you want your record uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System unless you actively opt out.
For further information visit the HSCIC Website.
If you choose to opt out of the scheme, then you will need to complete a form and bring it along to the surgery.
Zero Tolerance Policy
Danes Camp & Rillwood Medical Practice Partnership takes it very seriously if a member of staff is treated in an abusive or violent way.
The Practice supports the government’s ‘Zero Tolerance‘ campaign for Health Service Staff. This states that GPs and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being abused either verbally or physically. To successfully provide these services a mutual respect between all the staff and patients has to be in place.
Our Practice staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances. We would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time. The staff understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint.
However, aggressive behaviour, be it abusive language or violence will not be tolerated and may result in the patient being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police being contacted.
In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all its patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour that would be found unacceptable:
- Using bad language or swearing at practice staff
- Any physical violence towards any member of the Primary Health Care Team or other patients, such as pushing or shoving
- Verbal abuse towards the staff in any form including verbally insulting the staff
- Racial abuse and sexual harassment will not be tolerated within this practice
- Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted. Requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot
- Causing damage/stealing from the Practice’s premises, staff or patients
- Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently
The Legal Position
As a responsible employer, the Practice has a duty as a provider of NHS healthcare to protect the health, safety and welfare of staff under the Health & Safety at Work Act. This includes a risk assessment of violence towards staff and taking steps to mitigate this under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Abuse of Staff at Work
The NHS acknowledges that there may be instances where abuse, aggression and / or violence forms part of a patient’s illness. In these circumstances, the issue will be discussed with the patient and form part of their care planning.
This information will be recorded in the patient’s medical record and flagged to ensure that members of staff are aware. In addition, where deemed necessary, appropriate support will be put in place, e.g. staff members do not see or deal with the patient alone.
Definition of Physical and Verbal Abuse and Violence:
The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) defines work-related violence as:
“Any incident, in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work”.
Violence and aggression towards a person may also be defined as:
“A physical contact with another person which may or may not result in pain or injury. The contact is uninvited and is an attempt to cause harm, injury or to intimidate. Non-physical aggression includes the use of language which causes offence or threatens the safety of a member of staff”.
Physical and verbal abuse includes:
- Unreasonable and / or offensive remarks or behaviour / rude gestures / innuendoes
- Sexual and racial harassment
- Threatening behaviour (with or without a weapon)
- Actual physical assault (whether or not it results in actual injury) includes being pushed or shoved as well as being hit, punched or attacked with a weapon, or being intentionally struck with bodily fluids or excrement
- Attacks on partners, members of staff or the public
- Discrimination of any kind
- Damage to an employee’s or employer’s property
Removal from the Practice List
The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship. We value and respect good patient-doctor relationships based on mutual respect and trust. When trust has irretrievably broken down, the practice will consider all factors before removing a patient from their list, and communicate to them that it is in the patient’s best interest that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is in the case of immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.
Removing other members of the household
Because of the possible need to visit patients at home, it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household to ensure the safety of practice staff.
The prospect of visiting patients that are in the residence of a relative who is no longer a patient of the practice, or the risk of being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it difficult for the practice to continue to look after the whole family. This is more likely where the removed patient has been violent or displayed threatening behaviour, and keeping the other family members on the practice list could put doctors or their staff at risk.
We ask you to treat your GPs and their staff courteously at all times.