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.
Consent for Medical Information Sharing
If you wish to give consent for relatives, carers, friends or other next of kin to have access to your medical information, please let us know. We require formal consent from the Data Subject patient in order to share this information with the specified person(s) you have consented to having access. There are three different categories of consent to choose from: One Time Only, Partial or Full. There are further details outlined on the form below.
Should you wish to give consent for this, please complete and submit the form below (hard copies are available to collect from our front desk):
Medical Information Sharing: Patient Consent Form
Non-NHS work pre-paid fees Policy
Please click on the link for information on our non-NHS work pre-paid fees policy. You can find out more information in the Clinics and Services Section of the website.
Non-NHS work: Pre-paid fees policy for patients
Policy for Late Attendance at GP or Nursing appointment
Policy for Late Attendance at a Doctor or Nursing Appointment
DNA(Did Not Attend) Policy (Appointment monitoring)
Every year we lose many appointments because patients do not attend booked appointments. This makes the service more difficult to run. We are happy to receive cancellations up to 1 hour before your appointment time and we can usually fill the appointment. As a result we have a robust DNA policy which we adhere to strictly. Please see policy here: LMC East DNA Protocol for Patients - October 2023
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.
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. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
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 complete the form and send it to the practice via post to Practice Manager, Ladywell Medical Centre East, 26 Featherhall Avenue, Edinburgh, EH12 7UN. You can also hand it in to the practice. You may also email your complaint to the practice but you must ensure that the subject header is entitled "Complaint". Please note that, as per NHS Lothian IT Security Policy, we are unable to respond to complaints via email so will do so by letter. The email address is clinical.s70361@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk Alternatively you may contact the Practice Manager by telephone on 0131 334 5000 who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Please see complaint procedure here.
Ladywell Medical Centre East - Complaint Leaflet
Ladywell Medical Centre East - Patient Complaint Form
Duty of Candour
If something goes significantly wrong with your treatment or care which results in an unintended or unexpected incident which appears to have caused harm or death, we have a duty to you or the person acting on your behalf to:
- apologise
- be open and honest
- involve you in a review of what happened
- let you know how we will learn from what has happened
The death or harm should not be related to the natural course of the illness or part of an underlying condition that you are being treated for. A health professional, not involved in your care, will decide if the duty of candour procedure must be followed. If it is decided that the duty of candour process should be invoked, the Practice will do so and start communications with you or the person acting on your behalf.
We need to be able to learn effectively from what goes well and from what goes wrong. This process provides the opportunity to improve the safety and quality of our services.
Patient Behaviour Policy
Our staff are here to help you. You will be treated with dignity, courtesy and respect at all times. We expect you to behave in the same way. You are advised that this Practice operates a zero tolerance policy for unacceptable behaviour towards all members of staff. Instances of unacceptable behaviour may result in the Police being called and immediate removal from the Practice list or, depending upon the seriousness of the incident, a behaviour warning letter. In either case, an entry will be made in your medical record of the incident.
This practice considers unacceptable patient behaviour to be:
- Attempted or actual, aggressive, threatening physical actions made towards any member of staff which leads to fear of a staff member's safety.
- The use of aggressive or abusive language (including raising of the voice, swearing and cursing), which threatens or intimidates or makes any member of staff feel uncomfortable or embarrassed whether face to face or on the telephone.
Patient Behaviour Policy
GP Training information for patients
This is a GP Training Practice attached to the NHS Education for Scotland Specialty GP Training Programme. We are keen to support the training of new GPs and also to develop the skills of our existing GPs and other staff. As part of this, clinicians working in this practice might make recordings of their consultations with patients to help them improve their consultation skills as well as their ability to talk to patients.
The recording will only be used for teaching and training purposes, usually within the Practice building between trainer and trainee, although sometimes teaching sessions may be held outside the Practice in a group setting where the recording may be viewed by other Trainers and Trainees.
Your consent will always be requested by the Receptionist before your consultation is recorded. You will need to sign that consent form again afterwards to say that you are still happy. You can also withdraw your consent at any time following this, either verbally or in writing. The recording will focus on the communication between the doctor and patient and will not record examinations where your body clothing needs to be removed.
If you would rather that your consultation is not recorded, please tell the receptionist. This is entirely your choice and will not affect your health care in any way.
Please also refer to our Data Protection Notice for Patients which tells you how we manage your personal information when you make contact with us or use one of our services. You can find this in the further information section of our website