Patient Confidentiality

Confidential patient data will be shared within the practice health care team and with other health professionals to whom you are referred for care. Your anonymised data may be used by those clinical teams providing your care for the essential purpose of clinical audit.

Confidential patient data may also be required for the broader purposes of public health and audit, research, the provision of health care services, teaching and training. Data disclosed will be kept to the minimum required.

Confidential and identifiable patient information will not be disclosed otherwise without explicit consent, unless: 

1. it is a matter of life and death or serious harm to you or another individual 
2. it is overwhelmingly in the public interest to do so 
3. there is a legal obligation to do so.

In all these circumstances the minimum identifiable information that is essential to serve the purpose may be revealed to someone with a legal entitlement to access the data for that purpose.

All individuals with access to your data have a professional and/or contractual duty of confidentiality.

Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

If you are concerned about any of the ways your confidential data may be used further information is available from the Practice Manager.You are entitled to register an objection, which will be respected if this is possible.

HAMPSHIRE HEALTH RECORD

The Hampshire Health Record is an electronic summary record for people living in Hampshire.  The record includes information from GP surgeries, hospitals, social care and community care teams.  This record helps health care professionals provide you with the best posssible care.

Our practice does submit patient summary information to the Hampshire Health Record.

If you are happy for your information to be stored on the Hampshire Health Record you do not need to do anything. 

Please note that if you are not happy for your information to be submitted to the Hampshire Health Record please inform the practice and you will be asked to provide a signed form confirming that you don't want your information submitted.

Suggestions & Complaints

This Practice follows the NHS Complaints Procedure when dealing with complaints. If you have a complaint please address it to Mr Mike Saunders who will deal with your concern through the Practice Complaints Procedure.

A copy of the Complaints Procedure is available from Reception.

You may also comment on the service direct to Mr Saunders, who will follow up any concerns appropriately.

Patient Rights

You have a right to expect a high standard of medical care from our Practice and we will try at all times to provide the very best care possible within our resources.

In order to assist us in this we require that you take full responsibility for ensuring that you do not abuse the service. For example, it is your responsibility to ensure that you keep medical appointments and respect other patients and surgery staff.

Very occasionally a practice/patient relationship breaks down completely. In this situation the patient may choose to register with a different practice. The practice also has the right to remove that patient from their list. This would generally only follow a warning that had failed to remedy the situation and we would normally give the patient a specific reason for the removal.

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Our Practice Charter:

We aim to provide the best possible service to our patients and hope you will feel that we achieve that aim.

The care of your health is a partnership between yourself and the Primary Health Care Team.

The success of that partnership depends on an understanding of each other’s needs and co-operation between us.

Our Responsibilities to you:

• You will be treated courteously
• You have a right to confidentiality
• You will be seen the same day if your problem is urgent
• You will be seen by your usual doctor whenever possible
• You will be referred to a consultant when your GP thinks it necessary

Your Responsibilities to us:

• Please treat all surgery staff with respect
• Do not ask for information about anyone other than yourself
• Only request an urgent appointment if appropriate
• Please cancel your appointment if you are unable to attend
• Only request a home visit if you are too ill to attend the surgery
• Please be punctual, but be prepared to wait if your own consultation is delayed by an unexpected emergency.

Teaching and Training

In addition to providing general medical services the practice also helps with continuing education and training and nursing, health visitor and medical students are often based at the Practice. 
In addition to this we train GP registrars.

Zero Tolerance

The NHS operates 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 are obliged to notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patients medical records the fact of the removal and circumstances leading to it. The Primary Care Trust is then responsible for providing further medical care for such patients.