Practice Policies & Patient Information
Accountable / Named GP for All Patients
As part of the commitment to more personalised care for patients, NHS Employers and the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association have agreed that all patients will have a named accountable GP.
The Named GP will:
- Take lead responsibility for ensuring that all appropriate services required under the contract with the practice are delivered to you
- Where required, based on the professional judgement of the ‘named’ GP, work with relevant associated health and social care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary care package that meets your needs.
- Ensure that your physical and psychological needs are recognised and responded to by the relevant clinicians in the practice
- Ensure that patients over 75 years of age have access to a health check if requested, which is already a requirement of the GP contract regulations.
St Martin’s Medical Centre will ensure that there is a named accountable GP assigned to each patient.
New patients will be allocated a GP at the time of registration.
Your named accountable GP will be the same as your usual GP however this does not affect your ability to see any GP of your choice as you currently do.
Chaperone Policy
Our surgery offers a chaperone service. Please call reception before appointment to book.
Complaints Procedure
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our surgery. However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. Complainants have the right not to be discriminated against as the result of making a complaint and to have the outcome fully explained to them. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.
If you wish to make a formal complaint, please do so as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of a few days. This will enable us to establish what happened more easily.
To pursue a complaint please contact the COMPLAINTS OFFICER-DINA who will deal with your concerns appropriately.
Infection Control Statement
Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will be published on the practice website and will include the following summary:
- Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our significant event procedure).
- Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken.
- Details of any risk assessments undertaken for the prevention and control of infection.
- Details of staff training.
- Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines.
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) lead
Joanna, the practice nurse, is responsible for leading infection control. She is supported by HCAs Teliyha and Honey.
Infection Transmission Incidents (significant events)
Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.
Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised of areas of best practice.
Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form that commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.
All significant events are reviewed and discussed at several meetings each month. Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.
In the past year there have been under 10 significant events raised that related to infection control. There have also been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.
Net GP Earnings
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in St Martins Medical Centre in the last financial year was £______ before Tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs, 1 Part time salaried GP and 1 Locum GP who worked in the practice for more than six months.
Privacy Notice
How we use Your Information
At St Martin’s Medical Centre, we take privacy and security seriously. This Privacy Notice will provide you with what to expect when St Martin’s Medical Centre collects personal information through the website.
It applies to the following information:
- Visitors to our website.
- Job applicants through our job application page.
- General requests for information through our contact page.
When you provide your information via our website, we will hold it and store it in a digital/hardcopy format. We will use the data to provide you more information about the services you have registered with us (e.g. to process job applications) and for additional purposes such as, marketing, administration, development, and improvement to this website.
The Information we Collect
So that we can provide you with a range of services, we may collect personal information from this website e.g. from written responses sent to us and from other communications. We may for example, keep a record of your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, personal preferences and any other information you provide to us or is collected by us.
We may supplement the information that you provide to us with information that we receive or obtain from other sources.
Disclosures of Your Information
We may provide information about you (on the understanding that such information will be kept confidential) to employees and to organisations connected with St Martin’s Medical Centre. We may disclose information about to third parties, where there may be a legal duty to do so or e.g. a legitimate interest.
Use of Your Information Outside the European Economic Area
We may need to transfer your personal information to countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) which may not protect your personal information as extensively as the United Kingdom. If we so, then we will ensure that an agreement is in place with anyone to whom we your information to ensure that your data is treated securely.
Security
At St Martin’s Medical Centre, we take security very seriously, and the technical and organisational controls that have been designed and implemented to protect personal information are tested regularly to ensure the right safety measures are in place to prohibit unauthorised access to data.
Links to Other Websites
We would like to note and raise the awareness that our site may link to other website. If you follow a link to any of these websites, then it must be noted that they will have their own privacy notice advising of how they process your data. St Martin’s Medical Centre does not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy and security of such third party websites.
Your Rights to Access Personal Information
You have the right to receive information about the personal data we hold about you by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998 (to be superseded by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Patient data will not be disclosed to family or friends without consent and verification of their identity.
If we hold information about you we will:
- Inform you why we are holding it
- Give you a description of the data
- Tell you who it could be disclosed to
- Provide you with a copy in an intelligible format
Under GDPR, the fee for accessing records has been lifted. St Martin’s Medical Centre however may apply a fee if the request is manifestly excessive.
Your Health and Social Care Information
St Martin’s Medical Centre will not collect information about your health through this website. We maintain privacy agreements with each of our contracts. The health professionals caring you will also keep records about your health and the care you receive under St Martin’s Medical Centre.
This information is stored electronically and is not limited to the below, but will consist of the following:
- Your address
- Next of kin
- Contact number
- Appointments
- Test results
- Details of ongoing treatment.
Your records are used to ensure that staff have accurate and up to date information to help them decide the best possible care and treatment and that your care can also be transferred to another organisation e.g. via a referral.
Notification of Changes
St Martin’s Medical Centre will regularly review the Privacy Notice and it must be noted that this guidance will be updated to reflect the changes of GDPR. We will ensure that we publish the details of the changes as soon as we make any modifications.
Summary Care Record
Summary Care Records (SCR)
Your Summary Care Record is a short summary of your GP medical records. It tells other health and care staff who care for you about the medicines you take and your allergies.
This will enable health and care professionals to have better medical information about you when they are treating you at the point of care. This change will apply for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic only. Unless alternative arrangements have been put in place before the end of the emergency period, this change will be reversed.
All patients registered with a GP have a Summary Care Record, unless they have chosen not to have one. The information held in your Summary Care Record gives health and care professionals, away from your usual GP practice, access to information to provide you with safer care, reduce the risk of prescribing errors and improve your patient experience.
Your Summary Care Record contains basic information about allergies and medications and any reactions that you have had to medication in the past.
Some patients, including many with long term health conditions, have previously agreed to have additional information shared as part of their Summary Care Record. This additional information includes information about significant medical history (past and present), reasons for medications, care plan information and immunisations.
During the coronavirus pandemic period, your Summary Care Record will automatically have additional information included from your GP record unless you have previously told the NHS that you did not want this information to be shared.
There will also be a temporary change to include COVID-19 specific codes in relation to suspected, confirmed, Shielded Patient List and other COVID-19 related information within the additional information.
By including this additional information in your SCR, health and care staff can give you better care if you need health care away from your usual GP practice:
- in an emergency
- when you’re on holiday
- when your surgery is closed
- at outpatient clinics
- when you visit a pharmacy
Additional information is included on your SCR
In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic we are temporarily removing the requirement to have explicit consent to share the SCR additional information. This change of requirement will be reviewed when the pandemic is over.
You can be reassured that if you have previously opted-out of having a Summary Care Record or have expressly declined to share the additional information in your Summary Care Record, your preference will continue to be respected and applied.
Additional information will include extra information from your GP record, including:
- health problems like dementia or diabetes
- details of your carer
- your treatment preferences
- communication needs, for example if you have hearing difficulties or need an interpreter
This will help medical staff care for you properly, and respect your choices, when you need care away from your GP practice. This is because having more information on your SCR means they will have a better understanding of your needs and preferences.
When you are treated away from your usual doctor’s surgery, the health care staff there can’t see your GP medical records. Looking at your SCR can speed up your care and make sure you are given the right medicines and treatment.
The only people who might see your Summary Care Record are registered and regulated healthcare professionals, for example doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and staff working under their direct supervision. Your Summary Care record will only be accessed so a healthcare professional can give you individual care. Staff working for organisations that do not provide direct care are not able to view your Summary Care Record.
Before accessing a Summary Care Record healthcare staff will always ask your permission to view it, unless it is a medical emergency and you are unable to give permission.
Protecting your SCR information
Staff will ask your permission to view your SCR (except in an emergency where you are unconscious, for example) and only staff with the right levels of security clearance can access the system, so your information is secure. You can ask an organisation to show you a record of who has looked at your SCR – this is called a Subject Access Request.
Find out how to make a subject access request.
Opting out
The purpose of SCR is to improve the care that you receive, however, if you don’t want to have an SCR you have the option to opt out. If this is your preference please inform your GP or fill in an SCR opt-out form and return it to your GP practice.
Regardless of your past decisions about your Summary Care Record consent preferences, you can change your mind at any time.
You can choose any of the following options:
- To have a Summary Care Record with additional information shared. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see a enriched Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
- To have a Summary Care Record with core information only. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see information about allergies and medications only in your Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
- To opt-out of having a Summary Care Record altogether. This means that you do not want any information shared with other authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals involved in your direct care, including in an emergency.
To make these changes, you should inform your GP practice or complete the SCR patient consent preferences form and return it to your GP practice.
More information on your health records