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.

No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

The Accessible Information Standard tells organisations how they should make sure that disabled patients receive information in formats that they can understand and receive appropriate support to help them to communicate. All organisations that provide NHS or adult social care must follow the Accessible Information Standard by law. These standard include making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, such as: large print, braille, easy read, email etc.

Further information about The Accessible Information Standard

Please let the surgery know if you require any communication or information support needs.

Hook Surgery is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. This chaperone may be a family member or friend. On occasions you may prefer a formal chaperone to be present, i.e. a trained member of staff.

Wherever possible, we would ask you to make this request at the time of booking appointment so that arrangements can be made and your appointment is not delayed in any way. Where this is not possible we will try to provide a formal chaperone at the time of request. However, occasionally it may be necessary to reschedule your appointment.

Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our chaperone policy.

If you would like to see a copy of our chaperone policy, or have any questions or comments regarding it, please contact the Practice Manager.

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 Assistant Manager in the first instance then escalate to the Practice manager, who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available regarding the complaints procedure from reception.

The Practice complies with data protection, access to medical records legislation and GDPR. 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, however this will require 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 wish to opt out from sharing your data, please let the practice know.

Our reception and administration staff require access to medical records, to be able to assist patients in any queries. All members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown below.

The average pay for GPs working in Hook Surgery in the last financial year was £105,409 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1 full time GP, 4 part time GPs and 1 locum who worked in the practice for more than six months.

It should however be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

As part of the NHS contractual requirement for 2015-16, all patients registered at a GP practice are to be allocated a named accountable GP.

What does ‘accountable’ mean?

The new contract requires the named accountable GP to be responsible for the co-ordination of all appropriate services required under the contract and ensure they are delivered to each of those patients where required, on the patients behalf.

However, this does not mean that they will be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient. This GP may be a partner or a salaried GP.

Will GP practices write to patients to inform them of their named GP?

No. However, practices are required to inform patients of their named GP at the next appropriate interaction.

Can patients choose their own named GP?

In the first instance, patients will simply be allocated a named GP. However, if a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable effort will be made to accommodate their preference.

Do patients have to see their named GP when they book an appointment?

No. Patients can and should feel free to choose to see any GP or nurse in the practice in line with current arrangements. However, if their preferred choice of GP is not available, an alternative will be offered.

How we safeguard your data – GDPR

From 25th May 2018, the Data Protection Act (1998) was replaced by a piece of legislation known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As part of this change, we have to display a privacy notice, which explains how we process the data that we hold on you.

Our privacy notice deals with your direct care, which is the most common way that we process your data. This notice is also displayed on our notice board in the main reception area.

You can also ask at reception for our privacy notices relating to the following data processing areas, including;

• The CQC
• Emergencies
• NHS Digital
• Safeguarding
• Payments
• Public Health
• Research
• Risk Stratification
• National Screening Programmes
• Summary Care Records

Our nominated Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Dr Mano Jegasothy, one of the GP Partners. If you have any questions about how GDPR might affect you, please do contact the surgery and ask for a message to be put through to him.

From the 31st March 2015 all GP practices have been contractually required to offer and promote to patients online booking of appointments, ordering of repeat prescriptions and access to summary information (as a minimum) in their patient record.

The Summary Care Record (SCR) is an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any adverse (bad) reactions to medicines you have had.

Why do I need a Summary Care Record?

Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.

This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example which medicines they choose to prescribe for you.

Who can see it?

GP, Healthcare Professionals and patients who are registered to use our online services.

How do I find out more?

Please speak to our reception staff if you wish to register for the practice’s online service. You will be issued with a unique PIN number which you will need to log in each time.

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.