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 to Reception, we have a dedicated staff member for this. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the practice, we are keen to solve it as quickly as possible. Please contact either the Reception Manager or Practice Manager in person or in writing. Our policy is to acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days. We will then investigate the complaint and aim to provide resolution as quickly as possible.
If you are unhappy with the way your complaint has been handled, or feel unable to raise your complaint with us, you can complain directly to:
PALS (Patient and Liaison Service),Commissioning Support Unit, Douglas Mill, Bowling Old Lane, Bradford BD5 7JR. Tel: 0300 3112233
If you are still unhappy, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) can help. This should be done within 12 months of the outcome of your complaint. They can be contacted at PHSO, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP. Tel 0345 015 4033.
Zero-Tolerance 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.