You will be treated with respect and as a partner in your care. Being a partner means you have responsibilities too.

We will:

• Ensure our patients have 24-hour access to medical advice.
• Aim for you to have access to a suitably qualified medical professional within 48 hours of your initial contact during surgery hours, or in an urgent case, the same day.
• Work in partnership with you to achieve the best medical care possible.
• Involve you and listen to your opinions and views in all aspects of your medical care.
• The prevention of disease, illness and injury is a primary concern.

The medical staff will advise and inform you of the steps you can take to promote good health and a healthy lifestyle. We would respectfully ask that you: 

• Let us know if you intend to cancel an appointment or are running late.
• Treat staff with courtesy and respect. Reception staff may have to ask some personal questions to assist us in providing you with the best service.
• Inform the practice staff of any alterations in your circumstances, such as change of surname, address or telephone number. Please ensure that we have your correct telephone number, even if it’s ex-directory.

As patients, you are responsible for your own health and that of any dependents. It is important that you adhere to information and advice given to you by health professionals, and co-operate with the practice in endeavouring to keep you healthy.

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.

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.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new law that determines how your personal data is processed and kept safe, and the legal rights that you have in relation to your own data. The regulation applies from 25th May 2018, and will apply even after the UK leave the EU.

What GDPR will mean for patients

The GDPR sets out the key principles about processing personal data, for staff or patients;

Data must be process lawfully, fairly and transparently

It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes

It must be limited to what is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed

Information must be accurate and kept up to date

Data must be held securely

It can only be retained for as long as necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold about them. These include:

Being informed about how their data is used

Patients to have access to their own data

Patients can ask to have incorrect information changed

Restrict how their data is used

Move their patient data from health organisation to another

The right to object to their patient information being processed (in certain circumstances)

The regulations require the practice to publish a privacy notice; this explains why we collect information about you, how that information may be used and how we keep it safe and confidential.

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. Simply contact the Practice Manager and she will set all the necessary wheels in motion.

We are continually striving to improve our service. Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

Zero Tolerance - Violence Statement

The practice considers aggressive behaviour to be any personal, abusive and/or aggressive comments, cursing and/or swearing, physical contact and/or aggressive gestures. The practice will request the removal of any patient from the practice list who is aggressive or abusive towards a doctor, member of staff, other patient, or who damages property.

All instances of actual physical abuse on any doctor or member of staff, by a patient or their relatives will be reported to the police as an assault.