Practice Policies

Rights and responsibilities

All of our patients have the right to be treated courteously and with the greatest of care. It is our hope that everyone will receive the best care that we are able to provide – regardless of who you are.
In exchange for this we ask that all our staff should also be treated with courtesy and that the needs of other patients are also respected.

We particularly ask that if you are unable to attend an appointment you should let us know as soon as possible – so that the appointment can be made available to others.

Complaints

If you have any cause for concern or a complaint, please do not hesitate to let us know – it is only by listening to your worries that we can learn of any need to change the services we provide. Any of our staff would be happy to listen to your concerns but if you feel you wish to make a more formal complaint you should write to, or make an appointment to see, Mrs Alison Stimpson our Practice Manager.

‘Problem Patients’

We have on rare occasions had to deal with patients who have been violent and abusive towards doctors or other staff or who have repeatedly been unreasonably demanding to the detriment of others.

In these circumstances the practice reserves the right to take further action. This may include the involvement of the police in cases of violence or the removal of patients from the practice list.

Sometimes patients repeatedly miss appointments. In this situation the practice reserves the right to restrict access to the doctor and the appointment based surgeries – thus minimising the inconvenience to others and avoiding wastage of the doctors’ or nurse’s time. It will remain possible to attend the open morning surgeries but if access is then needed at other times this would need to be in discussion with the doctor on duty.

Access to information

The practice complies with national guidelines regarding your rights to access information. Should you have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Practice Manager.

Access to patient information is restricted to health professionals working at the surgery – and, in a more restricted sense, to receptionists and clerical staff employed at the practice.

Online patient access to medical records

This practice, in accordance with government guidance, is happy to provide each of our patients access online to all of their clinical records which are stored after November 1st 2022.

Please note that this information is available on request and is not available automatically through the NHS app. This is in accordance with our responsibilities as data controllers.

The practice has a responsibility to remove from your records all reference to third parties – current computer software will redact (hide) whole letters, reports and entries rather than just the parts referring to third parties.

The practice also has a responsibility to withhold any information which we consider may prove harmful to the patient.

Finally the doctors will only be able to spend time in addressing these requests when they are confident that the time spent on this will not adversely impact on provision of essential primary care services. This may result in considerable and unavoidable delays.