Practice Policies & Patient Information

Access and Facilities

Emergency Care Summary

All patients in Scotland will soon have an emergency care summary which is copied from your GP’s computer system and stored electronically.

NHS staff can then access this quickly if they need to see it when your GP surgery is closed.

NHS staff must obtain your permission to look at this information, which includes your name, date of birth, name of GP surgery, and identifying number called a CHI number, information about any medicines you have been prescribed, and also about any bad reactions you have had to medicines that your GP knows about.

If you are unconscious NHS staff may look at your Emergency Care Summary without your agreement, this is so they can give you the best possible care.

Failure to Attend Appointments

In an effort to ensure patient appointments are used efficiently ie not wasted, the Practice has a policy for patients who fail to attend their appointment as follows:

On the first occasion a patient fails to attend he/she will receive a letter or text about this.
If there is a second failure to attend, a second letter or text will be sent, issuing a notification that they are at at risk of being removed from our patient list.
If a third failure to attend occurs in the same 6 month period, the patient will receive a letter of notification informing them that they are to be removed from our list and will require to find another doctor.

Whilst we appreciate that there are sometimes unavoidable reasons for a patient missing their appointment, there are various ways to cancel an appointment, as follows:

Call to cancel appointments as soon as possible,
If we have your mobile phone number you will receive text reminders of your appointment. On receipt of this text reminder, you can cancel your appointment via the text.

Please support us in trying to save wasted appointments by using the above guidelines.

Thank you.

General Practice Training

The practice is a GP training practice. This means a doctor who has at least 3 years hospital training spends a total of 18 months with us learning about General Practice. This means the partners have responsibility for assisting a doctor working with them to gain experience in General Practice.

From time to time consultations are video recorded for training purposes, but only with the written consent of patients. This is only for use within the practice. If, however, you do not feel comfortable participating in this video taping, please feel free to decline.

Undergraduate Training

From time to time medical students visit the practice to sit with the doctor during consultations and are occasionally given the opportunity to interview patients with patient consent.

Information for GP Trainees

The Trainers have a dedicated interest in training – we like and enjoy being trainers.

The practice has a low turnover of staff. We are a small, cohesive team who work well together. The Practice area covers a good mix of suburban housing, deprived areas, some rural farms and landed gentry. This allows exposure to a mix of patients not always seen in other practices.

The practice can be busy at times but we are well organised and the day usually always runs smoothly. The benefit to you is that you will see lots of patients, which is the best possible preparation for passing the CSA.

Trainers have been on a CSA preparation course to help you pass this part of the MRCGP.

We have had consistent good feedback from our trainees and many of them would be happy to be contacted by you to discuss the benefits of training with us.

We have dedicated time arranged through the week for tutorials. The trainer will always available through the day to be asked about uncertainties or dilemmas. We aim to have an informal feedback session at the end of every surgery.

Our trainees enjoy an introductory programme involving in house IT training, time spent with our local allied health professionals like the local pharmacy, the older people’s team and physiotherapy.

We encourage our trainees to attend the local day release educational programme and we are supportive of study leave.

Information Sharing

The practice complies with Data Protection and Access to Medical Records legislation. Identifiable information about you may be made available 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.

Use of Personal Health Information

It may be necessary to disclose your personal Health information for the following purposes:

For care and treatment

Routine record keeping, consultation of records etc, in the course of the provision of care and treatment.
Processing of records in the event of a medical emergency;
Disclosure made by one health professional or organisation to another, eg where a GP refers a patient to a specialist
Clinical audit eg the monitoring of a patient care pathway against existing standards and benchmarks.

For administration

Processing for administrative purposes, eg disclosure by GP made in order to receive payment for treatment provided and post payment verification of payments.
Administrative audit, which may include studies designed to improve the efficiency of the NHS as an organisation

For research

Statutory disclosures to disease registries and for epidemiological research;
Non statutory disclosures to disease registries and for epidemiological research
Clinical trials

Legal and National Requirements

Staff are sometimes required by law to obtain or pass on information, for example to notify a birth or death or report certain infectious diseases for public health reasons or report information in relation to the Mental Health Act.

The Scottish Executive Health Department also requires information from the NHS to help monitor health services and plan for the future.

Staff may send basic personal details of all patients being cared for, along with information about their hospital or clinic attendance, to the NHS Information and Statistics Division, Scottish Centre for Infection and environmental Health, National Services Division and Practitioner Services Division.

Patient Feedback/Complaints

We are always interested to have patient feedback about the Practice.

We also welcome any suggestions patients may have which they feel would improve what we do.

If you have any feedback you wish to provide to us please do not hesitate to let us know what you think about the surgery.

Complaints

If you have any complaints you wish to register with us please contact the Practice Manager, Ms Rosaleen Kelly.

You can telephone to speak to her or to arrange an informal appointment to see her.

Alternatively, if you wish to put your complaint in writing please write to Ms Rosaleen Kelly, Practice Manager and your complaint will be investigated fully.

Privacy Notice

Private Service Fees

Rights and Responsibilities

Rights and Responsibilities

Please keep any appointments made. Be realistic about how many medical problems the doctor can deal with in one appointment. Please promptly advise us of any change to your name, address, or telephone number, by telephoning the practice on 0141 880 6505 or using the appropriate form on our website.

A copy of our Practice Charter, which provides further information on patient and Practice rights and responsibilities, is available on request. Should you wish a copy, please request this from Rosaleen Kelly, our Practice Manager (contact details: telephone 0141 880 6505, email: [email protected]).

The Scottish Government “Charter of Patient’s Rights and Responsibilities” can be accessed via the following web pages:

The Charter of Patients Rights and Responsibilities | NHS inform

The Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities My health, my rights, my NHS – Charter of patient rights and responsibilities – revised: June 2022 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Sending Images via Email

SENDING PHOTOGRAPHS/IMAGES TO THE PRACTICE VIA EMAIL

It can be helpful, for some GP/nurse telephone consultations, for photographs to be emailed to us. If you are asked to submit any photographs/images, please send these to the secure email address below.

[email protected]

Please note: the above email address is not routinely monitored and is only for the purposes of sending in photographs, we cannot respond to any enquiries via this email address.

Disclaimer

Before you email any photographs, please note the following:

· We cannot guarantee your email will be delivered to the Practice, as they are sent via a public internet, they could fail to reach the Practice.

· Received emails may be viewed by administrative as well as clinical staff and images may be be saved in your medical record. These images will not be shared with anyone other than those directly involved in your care.

Please ensure you are happy with the above information prior to sending emails containing images to the practice.

Zero Tolerance Policy

This Practice operates a strict ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY – Patients are asked to keep calm and respect the staff at all times.

Hardly a day goes by without one or more of our staff being subjected to verbal abuse or shouting either face to face or on the telephone.

Our staff have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and should be able to do their jobs without being physically or verbally abused.

They will always do their utmost to help all our patients as best they can.

However, staff have certain procedures and protocols which they must follow, mostly to ensure the effective, smooth running of the Practice for all patients and also for clinical safety reasons.

Anyone attending or telephoning the surgery who abuses the GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any threatening manner whatsoever are at risk of being removed from the Practice list and will require to seek a new GP.

Thank you.

Neilston Medical Centre