If you require any other policies, please contact the reception.
Patient charter
We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. It is your responsibility to keep your appointments, inform us of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details. Our patient charter is available in full at reception.
Accessible Information Standard (AIS)
The Accessible Information Standard (AIS) is a new NHS England information standard which must be implemented by all organisations that provide NHS or adult social care.
The AIS aims to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensor loss receive information that they can access and understand, for example in large print, braille, professional communication support if they need it such as British Sign Language interpreter.
We are aiming to get better at communicating with our patients. We want to make sure you can read and understand the information we send you. If you find it hard to read our letters or if you need someone to support you at appointments, please let us know.
Let us know if:
- you need information in braille, large print or easy read
- you need a British Sign Language interpreter or advocate
- we can support you to lipread or use a hearing aid or communication tool
Please tell the receptionist when you arrive for your next appointment, or call us on 02476 681231 between 8.30am – 6.00pm. This information will be recorded on your medical record in a standardised way and highlighted to ensure we have information on your communication needs. This information could be shared with other NHS and adult social care providers if they need it.
Central Medical Centre complies with the NHS England registration policy and procedure.
Registration Policy
Central Medical Centre does not discriminate in the registering of new patients on the grounds of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition. Refusal to accept an application to register will not be made without reasonable grounds e.g. the patient is not entitled to free NHS services or lives outside the Practice area.
Everyone seeking registration will be required to demonstrate they are entitled to free NHS treatment. All new patients will be required to provide identification and proof of address. Central Medical Centre accepts those who are entitled to free NHS services as permanent patients.
Immediately necessary treatment may be provided without proof of entitlement to NHS services but the patient’s records will be noted that no identification has been seen and the patient will be asked to bring proof the next time they attend the surgery. Only minimal short term prescribing will occur until identification is provided. The practice may also contact a patient’s previous GP (or current GP in the case of temporary residents) for example if proof of identification is not provided or controlled drugs are requested.
If a patient repeatedly fails or refuses to provide identification or if staff have concerns over any patient (identified or otherwise), they may contact the Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS). Contacting the LCFS does not breach the Data Protection Act: section 29 (3) allows for the release of information for the prevention and detection of crime.
Everyone seeking registration will be provided with a registration pack and Practice Leaflet.
The NHS Constitution.
Safeguards the principles and values of the NHS. The Constitution also sets out clear expectations about the behaviours of both staff and patients. It is intended to empower the public, patients and staff by setting out legal rights and pledges in place simply and clearly. By knowing and exercising their rights, the public, patients and staff can help the NHS improve the care it provides
Confidentiality
The practice complies with Data Protection legislation and we make every effort to preserve patient confidentiality. We ask you for personal information to ensure that you receive appropriate care and treatment. For the practice to function effectively it is sometimes necessary for medical information about you to be shared between members of the practice team. It will be shared with others only to provide further medical treatment for you, e.g. from hospital services, or to enable you to access other services, e.g. from the social work department.
Complaints
We aim to give a friendly and professional service to everyone who attends our practice. However, if, for any reason, our service should fall below our patients’ satisfaction, we take all complaints very seriously. If you would like to make a complaint regarding the surgery or the services we offer, please contact the Practice Manager, either by telephone or in writing, who will make every effort to respond to your concerns as soon as possible. All complaints will be treated as confidential.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website contains detailed information on raising a complaint about any aspect of the NHS in England. There is also a leaflet explaining the procedure of bringing a complaint to the ombudsman.
Freedom of information
freedom-of-information-act-policy
Data Protection
Everyone working for the NHS has a legal obligation to ensure all information about you is kept in a secure, confidential manner.
There may be other people outside of the practice who are involved in your care. The practice may need to share certain information about you in the interest of this care. Only appropriate, relevant information will be shared.
Whenever possible, we will remove all identifiable information about you. The law strictly controls the sharing of certain types of very sensitive information.
Any one who receives any information from us about you is under legal obligation to ensure its confidentiality only if you explicitly agree your relatives, friends or carers have information about you shared with them.
Data Protection POLICY AND POSTER
care.data – NHS England
How Information About You Helps Us Provide Better Care
Confidential information from your medical records can be used by the NHS to improve services offered so we can provide the best possible care for everyone.
The information along with your postcode and NHS number but not your name, are sent to a secure system where it can be linked with other health information.
This allows those planning NHS services and those carrying out medical research to use information from different parts of the NHS in a way which does not identify you.
You have a choice. If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything. If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to the practice staff. A leaflet is available below or at the practice.
Equality and Diversity
The practice is committed to both eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce and relation to our patients and service users.