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 Practitioners 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

Should patients wish to access their medical records then they can do this easily through the NHS app. We request that patients attend the surgery to confirm that it is they requesting this and confirm that they understand the risks involved, such as other people seeing your records through your app, or diagnoses being put on your records before you have been told. Should you agree to this then we will arrange for you to have access to all your future records. Should you wish to access past records then please specifically request this.

Subject Access Requests 

A SAR is a request that can be made in writing, by email or verbally asking for access to the personal information a company or organisation holds on you. This is a legal right that any individual in the UK is entitled to exercise at any point for free.

You can ask someone else to submit a subject access request for you, for example, a solicitor or family member acting on your behalf. You may be asked to provide confirmation that you have asked them to do this.

Whilst a SAR gives you the right to obtain a copy of your personal data, it should be noted that there are other ways to obtain your health and care records. The NHS is seeking to empower people and transform their experience of health and care by giving them the ability to access, manage and contribute to digital tools, information and services – for example, most patients can now request access to their GP record online, including via the NHS App.

Please see this link for further information.
https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/guidance/subject-access-requests/

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 or you can find a copy in the link below.

Practice Based Complaints Procedure