The practice adheres to the data protection act of 1998. Within this we observe strict confidentiality in the Practice. Details from your medical records cannot be released without your permission unless requested by a court or if there is a danger of serious harm to your self or others. We would advise, however that necessity of disclosure of information to others Health professionals for the purpose of referrals or other clinical procedures. Plus Verification of Post Payment within the NHS.

The practice endeavours to give the highest level of care to the patients. To make this possible the practice uses Databases in relation to various conditions: This assists us in staying in contact with our patients when it is necessary and also enables us to review their medical care on a regular bases. if you should have any queries on the above they should be put in writing to Jacqui Munro, Practice Manager

We operate a practice complaint procedure and a patient information leaflet can be obtained from reception. Initially any complaints should be put in writing to Jacqui Munro, Practice Manager.

As a patient you have the right to be treated with respect by the surgery staff, and at the same time the responsibility to treat staff in the same way. In particular, we request patients to keep appointments and where this is not possible, inform us with us much notice as possible. This will enable the allocation of the appointments to others who may need them urgently, and minimise wastage of valuable appointment time.

Violent or abusive behaviour is fortunately rare in our practice however, we do 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.

We appreciate the effort our patients make to attend their appointment on time and therefore do our best to run as close to the booked appointment times as possible. Therefore enforcing a late attendance policy ensures the practice runs as smoothly as possible.

Our Policy:

If a patient is more than 6 minutes late the clinician will be asked if they have time to see the patient or whether the patient will need to be rescheduled and recorded as a ‘did not attend’. The patient might be asked to wait until the end of the clinic. We advise if you are running late to advise reception to avoid any inconvenience.

As a practice, we enforce a ‘Did Not Attend’ policy, due to a minority of patients who have failed to attend their appointments. One missed appointment can have a significant setback on our appointment availability and causes a great deal of disruption for both our staff and our patients.  

By enforcing our policy, we aim to monitor the number of unattended appointments on a regular basis, to ensure we keep them to a minimum. If a patient has missed 4 appointments within a 12 month period, they will receive a written warning from the practice.  If they then miss a 5^th appointment within the 12 month period, the patient will be removed from the practice.

We are enforcing this policy to ensure that all of our patients receive the appropriate care and treatment they deserve, and to help open up our appointment availability to avoid excessive waiting times.

How can you help?

1. Keep a note of your appointment, add to your calendar or set up a reminder.
2. Encourage friends or family members to attend or cancel their appointment.
3. Please call us no matter how late to cancel your appointment.
4. Make sure you have signed up to receive SMS messages and we will send a reminder which you can reply to if you need to cancel your appointment

Exclusions

No patient will be removed from the practice list without due consideration of their individual circumstances and reasons for non-attendance. The purpose of this policy is not to penalise patients with valid medical reasons for non-attendance.

If the practice is aware of special circumstances surrounding a patients non- attendance, for example patients who have been admitted to hospital or have dementia, the medical team reserve the right to exclude the patient from management under this policy.

Patients concerned regarding their management under this policy or who are having problems attending should speak to the surgery. Lack of organisation or forgetting is not an acceptable reason for non-attendance.

We appreciate the effort our patients make to attend their appointment on time and therefore do our best to run as close to the booked appointment times as possible. Therefore enforcing a late attendance policy ensures the practice runs as smoothly as possible.

Our Policy:

If a patient is more than 6 minutes late the clinician will be asked if they have time to see the patient or whether the patient will need to be rescheduled and recorded as a ‘did not attend’. The patient might be asked to wait until the end of the clinic. We advise if you are running late to advise reception to avoid any inconvenience.