Confidentiality
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.
Care Data
Information about you and the care you receive is shared, in a secure system, by healthcare staff to support your treatment and care.
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.
Processing of patient identifiable data
This section explains why the GP Practice collects information about you and how that information may be used.
The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare. Please see the Privacy Notice for Patients, Covid19 Privacy Notice and the Young Patient Privacy Notice, the fair processing notice for Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group for further information.
Complaints procedure
In line with Department of Health Guidelines the Practice has a complaints procedure. It is available in the following languages - Farsi, Polish, Urdu and Hungarian. Equally we welcome constructive criticism so we can ensure our services are meeting the needs of our patients.
Complaint Procedure- English
Complaints procedure - Urdu
Complaints procedure - Polish
Complaints procedure - Farsi
Zero Tolerance Policy
When contacting the surgery, we ask that our patients behave appropriately and respect our colleagues and other patients..
We understand that when patients are unwell they need to be dealt with as quickly as possible, and we have processes in place to make sure patients are seen by the right clinician, at the right time.
Our colleagues are here to help, and it is unacceptable to abuse them in any way. The Zero Tolerance Policy is in place to protect our colleagues and our patients from inappropriate behavior and gives the Practice the right to remove patients who behave in an unacceptable manner.
Inappropriate behavior can cause undue stress for our colleagues, and other patients. This is not tolerated by the Practice.
Examples of inappropriate behavior include:
- Foul and Abusive Language
- Aggressive Behavior
- Shouting
- Inappropriate Comments
- Confrontational Behaviour
Patients are advised to speak to a member of the management team if they are unhappy with their experience at the Practice.
Overview of the Zero Tolerance Policy
Colleagues and/or patients report an incidents to the management team and a decision is made to decide if the patient(s) involved should be sent a warning letter or be removed from the practice.
If a warning letter is sent to the patient(s) about the incident, the patient(s) involved are entitled to write a response detailing their version of events regarding the incident.
In the event of a serious incident, a patient may be removed immediately from the practice.
If you are removed from the practice, you should register at another practice as soon as possible to prevent any gaps in your care.
Chaperone Policy
There are occasions when examinations of an intimate nature are needed. This practice is committed to putting our patients at ease and therefore has made a chaperone service available to our patients. Chaperones may not always be available immediately therefore the patient may have to make an appointment for a mutually convenient time.
Patients can also bring a relative or friend to act as their chaperone.
Freedom of Information
Under the Freedom of Information act patients have the right to access or view their medical record. Copies of records will occur a charge.
Violence Policy
The practice follows the NHS guidance concerning Zero Tolerance
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.
Did Not Attend (DNA) Policy
The Grange Group Practice works hard to ensure patients can access health care professionals and services when needed.
The appointment system is audited regularly to monitor the amount of "wasted" clinical time due to patients not attending appointments.
In an attempt to reduce the amount of missed appointments, the Grange Group Practice operate a strict Did Not Attend (DNA) Policy.
Patients are encouraged to cancel appointments in advance if they cannot attend.
DNA Policy Overview
The DNA policy states that patients who miss 2 appointments in a 12 month rolling period are sent a warning letter and added to a register or list.
If a patient misses 3 appointments in a 12 month rolling period, The Grange Group Practice reserves the right to remove that patient from the list.
The DNA policy allows the Practice to remove patients who frequently fail to attend appointments. This should result in greater availability of appointments for the rest of our patients.
How to cancel your appointment
The Grange Group Practice encourages patients to cancel appointments in advance if they are unable to attend.
This allows other patients to use the appointment slot.
There are many ways to cancel an appointment, including the following methods:
What to do if you are removed from the practice list
Patients who are removed from the list are encouraged to register with another GP Practice as soon as possible, to prevent any gaps in treatment or care.