Patient/Client Confidentiality

Please ask if you wish to speak to one of the receptionists in private. The practice holds personal details about you together with details of the care you receive because it may be needed if we see you again. Other healthcare workers or the Health Board may sometimes request information for clinical, administrative or audit purposes. The person receiving the information will be subject to a duty of confidentiality or the data will be anonymised. If you object to this please let the doctor know. If at any time you wish to know more about your notes or how we use this information please speak to one of the doctors.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005. The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligations on public authorities.

FOI replaced the Open Government Code of Practice, which has been in operation since 1994.

Data Protection and FOI – how do the two interact?

The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force on 1 March 2000. It provides living individuals with a right of access to personal information held about them. The right applies to all information held in computerised form and also to non-computerised information held in filing systems structured so that specific information about particular individuals can retrieved readily.

Individuals already have the right to access information about themselves (personal data), which is held on computer and in some paper files under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The right also applies to those archives that meet these criteria. However, the right is subject to exemptions, which will affect whether information is provided. Requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

The Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act are the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor’s Department. A few of its strategic objectives being:

• To improve people’s knowledge and understanding of their rights and responsibilities
• Seeking to encourage an increase in openness in the public sector
• Monitoring the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information
• Developing a data protection policy which properly balances personal information privacy with the need for public and private organisations to process personal information

The Data Protection Act does not give third parties rights of access to personal information for research purposes.

The FOI Act does not give individuals access to their personal information, though if a request is made, the Data Protection Act gives the individual this right. If the individual chooses to make this information public it could be used alongside non-personal information gained by the public under the terms of the FOI Act.

Complaints

If you have comments, suggestions, or complaint about the service we provide, please let us know.

We do appreciate that we can all make mistakes, and that misunderstandings can occur. If so we apologise, but please let us know so we can put it right in the future. 

HOW DO I MAKE A COMPLAINT?

Complaints may be made either verbally or in writing to any member of staff or doctor. This can be done by:

• Speaking in person
• Telephoning the surgery on 028 9028 6800
• Writing, giving full details of the complaint to David Fowler (Practice Manager).

If you do wish to make a complaint we would ask you to let us know as soon as possible after the event, normally within six months. Please include contact details, who or what is being complained about, where and when the events of the complaint happened and where possible what you would like us to do – offer an apology, or an explanation or make changes to services.

We have a duty of confidentiality to patients. Complaints from a third party must, where possible, have the written consent of the individual concerned.

If you do not feel able to approach someone in the practice, you may contact the Health and Social Care Board.

You can download a full copy of our complaints procedure by clicking on the link below.

It explains how your concerns will be handled and contact details for the Patient and Client Council who offer support for complainants, if required.

Complaints Procedure

Unacceptable Behaviour

The primary healthcare team is a frontline service. Unacceptable behaviour from a patient that is directed towards any member of the primary healthcare team (on or off the practice premises), or towards patients or others on practice premises may justify removal from the practice list.

As a Patient of this Practice we expect you to:

• Treat the Doctors and Practice Staff with courtesy and respect
• Be punctual for appointments
• Give the Practice as much notice as possible if you are unable to keep your appointment.
• Be patient if appointment times are running late. On occassions we may have to deal with emergencies.
• Plan ahead when ordering prescriptions; 48 hours notice is required for collection

In keeping with the rest of the NHS, we operate a 'zero tolerance' policy with respect to the protection of all staff

On occassion, Medical Students and Doctors in training (Registrars) are attached to the Practice for their training.

The Reception/Doctors will ask your permission before Student or Doctor in training sits in on a consultation.

Every year we invite patients to attend student teaching sessions to discuss their case history.

We are very grateful for your cooperation as it is very valuable learning for our students.

Hillhead Family practice

Chaperone Policy

We are committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. This chaperone may be a family member or friend. On occasions you may prefer a formal chaperone to be present, i.e. a trained member of staff.

Wherever possible we would ask you to make this request at the time of booking appointment so that arrangements can be made. Where this is not possible we will endeavour to provide a formal chaperone at the time of request. However occasionally it may be necessary to reschedule your appointment.

Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.

If you would like to see a copy of our Chaperone Policy or have any questions or comments regarding this please contact David Fowler practice manager.

Aim

As a practice we would like to reduce the rate of DNAs, by the use of education, a certain amount of pressure, and by considering the removal of those who persistently waste our time.

Objectives

·   To free up appointments for those who genuinely need them

·   To reduce the waste of clinical time

·   To reduce the pressure on all staff in being able to offer prompt appointments

Introduction

The issue of Did Not Attends (DNAs) is a huge problem in the NHS and is a frustration for both patients waiting to get an appointment and for those working in the practice.

On average the practice has approximately 120 missed appointments every month, i.e. the patient does not show up for the appointment and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel or change the appointment.

In an attempt to try and address this problem we have agreed the following policy:

DNA Policy

• Receptionists will confirm patients’ contact details.
• When booking an appointment the receptionist will remind the patient of the importance of keeping the appointment. The patient will be asked to telephone the practice if they are unable to attend the appointment. The patient will be given an appointment card as a reminder.
• Monthly DNA figures will be updated on Envisage and the practice website.
• Where possible the receptionist will identify a patient who attends at open surgery and who has a booked appointment and check if the appointment is still required.
• Patients should notify the Surgery if they cannot attend an appointment giving as much notice as possible. The receptionist will then cancel this appointment and it can be offered to another patient.
• DNA occurs when an appointment is not attended and the patient has not notified the surgery in advance to cancel or where the cancellation is so late that it is not possible to offer to another patient.
• This will be coded as a DNA so the practice can audit the number of DNAs that a patient has.
• Where a patient has 3 DNAs, i.e. fails to attend the surgery on 3 occasions within a year, for any clinical appointment, the Practice Manager will send a letter to the patient. The letter will give the various ways that the Surgery can be contacted to cancel an appointment and the patient will be asked to inform the practice in the future if they cannot attend.
• If the patient fails to attend a further appointment following receipt of the first letter, the Practice Manager will write to the patient advising them of the missed appointment and the practice manager will bring this to the attention of the Partners who will decide the next course of action.

Practice Area
The practice covers an area of a 4 mile radius, covering from the Antrim Road in North Belfast to Forestside in South Belfast.

What happens if I move outside of the Practice Area?

As your GP Surgery we take the health and wellbeing of all our patients as a priority and strive to provide and an excellent level of service at all times.

As part of the care we provide, we will offer a home visit service to those patients who are not well enough to attend the surgery in person.

Over recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of patients re-locating to addresses outside of our defined practice area, which has made it more difficult to provide an appropriate level of service if a home visit be required.

The surgery accepts registration of patients who live within a 4 mile radius of the Practice.

The GP’s plan home visits between the morning and afternoon surgery and the further they have to travel, the greater the impact it may have on the care provided to all other patients registered.

If you move to an address outside of our practice area, we will notify BSO (Business Services Organisation) that your address is outside our 4 mile practice area and will continue to provide care until you are able to register with a more suitably located GP surgery.