ACCESS TO PATIENT INFORMATION

Confidential patient data will be shared within the practice heath care team and with other health care professionals to whom you are referred for care. Your 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 to serve the purpose and if possible will be anonymised before disclosure.

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

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

In all of 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.

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

PATIENTS' RIGHTS

Patients with problems which are considered urgent will be seen the same day.
Patients will be provided with information about the services provided in the practice via the practice booklet and this website.
Protocols will be followed for the management of common chronic conditions when appropriate.
NHS treatment should be readily available locally when this is feasible.
If the practice/patient relationship breaks down, patients have the right to register with another 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.

PATIENTS' RESPONSIBILITIES

Patients should attend their appointments at the arranged time. If this is not possible they should notify the surgery as soon as possible.
Patients should be aware that individual appointments are for one person only.
Requests for visits and advice during out of hours should be for true emergencies only.
Patients should be aware that home visits are made at the doctors' discretion.

SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

We aim to provide a high quality service for our patients. Should you have any useful suggestions or indeed any complaints regarding the service we provide, please contact the practice manager, Linda Pratt, who will be happy to help you.

We welcome any comments about the practice and its services. A suggestion box is situated adjacent to the public telephone.

For independent advice you can speak to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) at Worcestershire Primary Care Trust on 0800 917 7919.

Violent Patients - Zero Tolerance

The NHS operates a Zero Tolerance Policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove 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 patient's medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it. The PCT is then responsible for providing further medical care for such patients.

Patient Choice

If a patient requires a referral for further care, a choice of provider will be offered by their doctor and a booklet explaining this choice will be given to the patient.

Freedom of Information - Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the 'classes' of information the practice intends to routinely make available. This scheme is available from the practice manager.