The Surgery prides itself on maintaining professional standards. For certain examinations during consultations an impartial observer (a “Chaperone”) will be required.

This impartial observer will be a practice Nurse or Health Care Assistant who is familiar with the procedure and be available to reassure and raise any concerns on your behalf. If a nurse in unavailable at the time of your consultation then your examination may be re-scheduled for another time.

You are free to decline any examination or chose an alternative examiner or chaperone. You may also request a chaperone for any examination or consultation if one is not offered to you. The GP may not undertake an examination if a chaperone is declined.

The role of a Chaperone:

• Maintains professional boundaries during intimate examinations.
• Acknowledges a patient’s vulnerability.
• Provides emotional comfort and reassurance.
• Assists in the examination.
• Assists with undressing patients, if required.

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.

The Freedom of Information Act creates a right of access to recorded information and obliges a public authority to:

• Have a publication scheme in place
• Allow public access to information held by public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded organisational information such as reports, policies or strategies, that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland, however it does not cover personal information such as patient records which are covered by the Data Protection Act.

Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces.

The Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner who regulates both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

The Surgery publication scheme

A publication scheme requires an authority to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities. The scheme lists information under seven broad classes, which are:

• who we are and what we do
• what we spend and how we spend it
• what our priorities are and how we are doing it
• how we make decisions
• our policies and procedures
• lists and registers
• the services we offer

You can request our publication scheme leaflet at the surgery.

Who can request information?

Under the Act, any individual, anywhere in the world, is able to make a request to a practice for information. An applicant is entitled to be informed in writing, by the practice, whether the practice holds information of the description specified in the request and if that is the case, have the information communicated to him. An individual can request information, regardless of whether he/she is the subject of the information or affected by its use. 

How should requests be made?

Requests must:

• be made in writing (this can be electronically e.g. email/fax)
• state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence
• describe the information requested.

What cannot be requested?

Personal data about staff and patients covered under Data Protection Act.

For more information see these websites:

• Legislation GOV.UK
• Information Commissioners Office

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.

If you have a complaint about the service you have received from any member of staff working in this practice, please let us know. The practice operates a Complaints Procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria. 

Note: If you make a complaint it is practice policy to ensure you are not discriminated against, or subjected to any negative effect on your care, treatment or support. 

HOW TO COMPLAIN 

In the first instance please discuss your complaint with the staff member concerned. Where the issue cannot be resolved at this stage, please contact the Practice Manager, who will try to resolve the issue and offer you further advise on the complaints procedure. If your problem cannot be resolved at this stage and you wish to make a formal complaint please let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days. This will enable the practice to get a clear picture of the circumstances surrounding the complaint. 

If it is not possible to raise your complaint immediately, please let us have details of your complaint within the following timescales: 

• Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem

OR 

• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months

The practice will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. At this stage you should be offered an explanation or a meeting with the person(s) involved. When the practice looks into your complaint it aims to: 

• Ascertain the full circumstances of the complaint
• Make arrangements for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what the practice can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

COMPLAINING ON BEHALF OF SOMEONE ELSE 

Please note that Westbourne Green Surgery keeps strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the practice needs to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be required, unless they are incapable of providing this due to illness or disability. 

COMPLAINING TO OTHER AUTHORITIES 

The practice management team hope that if you have a problem you will use the Practice Complaints Procedure. However, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the response received from us, you can contact any of the following 3 bodies: 

NHS COMPLAINTS AND ADVOCACY SERVICE 

VoiceAbility provided NHS Complaints Advocacy in London.  It supports people through the process of making a complaint about the NHS.   

LONDON OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS 

VoiceAbility 

United House 

39-41 North Road 

London N7 9DP 

Tel: 0300 330 5454  

Textphone: 0786 002 2939 

email: nhscomplaints@voiceability.org  

website: http://www.nhscomplaintsadvocacy.org     

NHS ENGLAND  

NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33 email: england.contactus@nhs.net 

OMBUDSMAN 

As a last resort, if you are not happy with the response from this practice, you can refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who investigates complaints about the NHS in England. You can call the Ombudsman’s Complaints Helpline on 0345 015 4033 or Ombudsman Website or Textphone (Minicom): 0300 061 4298 

CONTACTING THE CARE QUALITY COMMISSION 

If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity carried on by this Practice then you can contact the Care Quality Commission on 03000 616161, or alternatively visit the CQC Website.