Practice Policies

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.

Complaints

If you have any complaint or concern about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working for this practice you are entitled to ask for an explanation. We operate an in-house complaint procedure to deal with your complaint however the procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation.

We welcome any comments, compliments, concerns and complaints we believe that these provide the opportunity to tell us:

• What is working
• Identify potential service problems
• Identify risks and prevent them from getting worse
• Highlight opportunities for staff improvement
• Provide us with information we need to review our services and procedures effectively

This procedure does not affect your right to make a formal complaint to Rotherham Health Watch if you so wish, nor does it affect your right to seek compensation in law.

Your complaint will be addressed to the Practice Manager who will ensure that it is investigated thoroughly and as speedily as possible. The complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days and we will attempt to finalise the complaint as quickly as possible. If, for some reason a response is likely to take more than six months the case will be reviewed and you will be notified in writing with an explanation for the delay.

On receipt your complaint will be investigated by someone within the Practice. It is likely that as a first step, the investigator will contact you directly to ensure that they fully understand your complaint. The investigator will then interview appropriate members of the practice staff and may inspect relevant documents and medical information.

A finalised report will be produced and signed off by a responsible person within the organisation. This will include the conclusion of the investigation and any organisational learning where applicable. Additionally if you are not happy and wish to progress the complaint further you will be given assistance on how to do this.

The Practice must ensure strict adherence to the rules of confidentiality. We are unable to provide confidential information without the appropriate authority.

To download a complaints form please Click Here.

Violence 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.