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 community 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
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 contact the practice manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available regarding the complaints procedure from reception.
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.
EMAIL Policy: WE PREFER THAT PATIENTS USE OUR FAST, SECURE, ONLINE SYSTEM ‘SYSTMONLINE’ if at all possible instead of email.
If you supply an email address we will send you an automatic verification email. Please follow the instructions to verify your email address – you will need to click on a link and answer some security questions. We cannot verify email manually. By verifying your email you are consenting to the surgery contacting you by email.
We will not use email for medical correspondence.This is because emails transmitted over a public network many are not secure.
If you register your email address with us we will not use email to correspond with you regarding any clinical aspect of your healthcare. This is because email is not a secure medium of communication. The most secure way to discuss medical matters online is to use the short message facility available to patients who set up an online account with us (called SYSTMONLINE).
Privacy Notice – Direct Care, (routine care and referrals):
Please read this Privacy Notice to learn how the Practice will use Patient Identifiable Data according to the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). It describes the requirements of General Practice, what data is collected and your options for opting out of the collection if you choose: