Confidentiality & Medical Records
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.
Freedom of Information
Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so. SEE PRIVACY NOTICE
CCTV Images
Images will not be retained longer than is considered necessary, and will be then be deleted. All images will be held securely, and all access requests, and access to images will be documented. Images may record individuals and / or record incidents. Not all recordings are designed to identify persons.
Other than in accordance with statutory rights, the release or availability of images will be at the discretion of the Partners to the practice, who are Data Controllers for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. Images are held to improve the personal security of patients and staff whilst on the premises, and for the prevention and detection of crime, and images may be provided to police or other bodies.
Where access is granted in response to an application received, the image may be edited to exclude images of third parties who may be also included 0within the requested image. This may be necessary to protect the identity of the third parties. In these circumstances the image released as part of the application may record / identify the “data subject” only.
Images will be located by the Data Controller or authorised person.
When assessing the content of the image released the decision will be taken by the Data Controllers having due regard to the requirements of the Data Protection Act and Code of Conduct.
Complaints
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.
However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.
To pursue a complaint please contact the practice manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available regarding the complaints procedure from reception.
Violence Policy
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.