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.

Your information

We keep medical information about you on paper and on the computer system under the requirements of the Data Protection Act.  You have a right to see your records if you wish.  Please ask at Reception if you would like further details.  An appointment will be required if you wish to view your notes.  if you wish to have a copy of your notes a fee will be payable. 

Surgery Standards

Leckhampton Surgery – Our Commitment to you

Our aim at the Leckhampton Surgery is to give you the best possible service. In order to achieve this we need to work together.

• You will be treated with courtesy and at all times be given the opportunity to take part in decisions made about your health.
• Treatment will not be given to you without prior discussion and your informed consent.
• Your health records are confidential. You have the right to see your records subject to any legal limitations. Please note that patient’s records may be used by the Health Authority auditors to verify payments to GPs.
• We will ensure that all practice staff are suitably qualified.
• We would like you to understand all the information given to you about your prescriptions. If anything is unclear, please ask.

Appointments

• We aim to see you within 30 minutes of your appointment time.
• We offer routine appointments within 2 working days.

Telephone Access (during office hours)

• If your need is urgent you will be able to speak to a doctor or nurse within 30 minutes.
• Telephone calls to the doctor may be booked for a set time during the day. Your doctor will try to call you as close as possible to the time arranged.

Visits

• The on-call doctor will aim to visit you within 4 hours of your call.
• Urgent requests will be dealt with within 1 hour.
• Routine reviews will be undertaken by your usual doctor wherever possible.

To help us achieve these standards

• Please try to keep appointments. If you are not able to attend, let us know as soon as possible.
• If you are late for an appointment you may be asked to re-book.
• Please do not use urgent appointments for routine problems.
• Please avoid telephoning in on Monday between 9.00 am and 11.00 am unless you need an urgent appointment.
• Attend the surgery whenever possible and only request home visits when you feel it is really necessary.

Violence Statement

Staff who treat patients have a right to work free from any form of threats, fear, abuse or violence. The GP practices in Gloucestershire have agreed a Zero Tolerance Policy. Depending on the level of the incident a patient who is verbally rude or mildly abusive may be given a ‘Yellow Card’ as a final warning. Any further incident will result in a ‘Red Card’ with the patient being removed from the Practice list.

Following a ‘Red Card’ the patient may face police charges resulting from the incident and will not be seen by any local GP Practice. The patient will have to travel to Gloucester to the Vaughan Centre to receive any further GP services in secure conditions for healthcare staff and will not receive home visits.

The Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005. The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligations on public authorities.

FOI replaced the Open Government Code of Practice, which has been in operation since 1994.

Data Protection and FOI – how do the two interact?

The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force on 1 March 2000. It provides living individuals with a right of access to personal information held about them. The right applies to all information held in computerised form and also to non-computerised information held in filing systems structured so that specific information about particular individuals can retrieved readily.

Individuals already have the right to access information about themselves (personal data), which is held on computer and in some paper files under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The right also applies to those archives that meet these criteria. However, the right is subject to exemptions, which will affect whether information is provided. Requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

The Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act are the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor’s Department. A few of its strategic objectives being:

• To improve people’s knowledge and understanding of their rights and responsibilities
• Seeking to encourage an increase in openness in the public sector
• Monitoring the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information
• Developing a data protection policy which properly balances personal information privacy with the need for public and private organisations to process personal information