All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where one is considered to be required. A chaperone may be a family member or friend, but on some occasions a formal chaperone may be necessary.

Patients are advised to ask for a chaperone if required, at the time of requesting an appointment, so that arrangements can be made and the appointment is not delayed in any way. The healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.

If you feel that you would like to make a comment or complaint about the service we offer, please get in contact with us.

Firstly, if something is not going right whilst you are with us, tell us straight away. We want to put it right if we can.

We welcome constructive criticism. We want to hear about it if something goes wrong and if something goes well. The practice operates a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.

Giving feedback

To provide feedback:

• fill out a feedback form
• take part in the Friends and Family Test
• phone us on 01953 602220

Making a complaint

Please fill in either a feedback form or ask for a complaints pack from the Patient Care Team. The practice manager will look at your complaint and decide how best to resolve it. This may mean one or more of the following:

• a verbal explanation
• a written reply
• a meeting with the practice manager
• a meeting with a doctor

We will try to address your concerns with a full explanation and discuss any action which could follow.

It is our aim to answer all your questions. If there are any outstanding issues to your complaint and a resolution has not been achieved, please request a further response from the practice to address your concerns or attend a meeting to try and achieve a resolution.

If, following a second response or meeting, a resolution has still not been achieved, you can approach the Ombudsman to request that they investigate the complaint.

Alternatively, if you do not wish to make your complaint directly to the practice, you should contact NHS England as follows:

Customer contact centre NHS England

P O Box 16738,
Redditch,
B97 9PT

Phone 0300 311 2233 (Mon-Fri)
Email england.contactus@nhs.net
FAO The complaints manager

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Phone 0345 015 4033
Website www.ombudsman.org.uk

Care Quality Commission

Phone 03000 616161
Website www.cqc.org.uk

Advocacy service for NHS complaints

This is a national service that supports people who want to make a complaint about their NHS care or treatment.

For patients in Norfolk

Phone 0300 456 2370
Website www.pohwer.net

Information about the General Practitioners 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.

Wymondham Medical Centre takes privacy seriously and we want to provide you with information about your rights, who we share your information with and how we keep it secure.

Please use the links below to find more information about the practice and data protection.

• • Transparency
  • CCTV
  • Telephone recording
  • Information sharing Norfolk and Waveney

All GP Practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver GP services to patients at each practice. The average pay for GPs working at Wymondham Medical Centre in the last financial year was £66,488 before tax and National Insurance.

This is for 15 part time GPs and 1 locum GP who worked in the Practice for more than six months.

However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the Practice and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

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.

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

We assign all new and existing patients with a named accountable GP to oversee their care.

For patients aged 75 and over, the named accountable GP is responsible for:

• working with health and social care professionals to deliver a care package that meets the needs of the patient
• ensuring that these patients have access to a health check

Patients can still choose to see any GP in the surgery. We will make reasonable efforts to accommodate their preference.

If you have a preference or want to know who your named GP is, you can contact us for more information.

What we will do for you

• Treat you with courtesy and respect at all times.
• Treat you as a partner and discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide.
• Give you full information on the services we offer.
• Give you the most appropriate care by suitably qualified staff.
• Provide you with emergency care when you need it.
• Try to ensure our system for contacting the duty doctor is easy to follow, reliable and effective.
• Try to ensure surgeries start on time.
• See patients within 20 minutes of their appointment time and offer an explanation in the event of a delay.
• Inform patients if a doctor is called away on an emergency and offer an alternative appointment or, if preferred, another doctor.
• Refer you to a hospital of your choice when your GP thinks it is necessary.
• Refer you for a second opinion when you and your GP agree it is needed.
• Give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law.
• Keep the contents of your health records confidential.
• Give you a full and prompt reply to any complaints you make about our services.

What you can do for us

• Tell us if you are unsure about the treatment we are offering you.
• Use the duty doctor service only for urgent problems.
• Ask for a home visit only when the patient is unable to attend the surgery through illness or infirmity.
• Keep your appointments and let us know as early as possible if you are unable to attend.
• Try to give us at least 24 hours notice for repeat prescriptions. These are signed between 11am to midday every day.
• Be patient if your appointment is delayed. Delays are often caused by patients needing emergency attention.
• Let us know when you change name or address.
• Your privacy is respected at all times. However, reception staff have been asked by the clinicians to ask for a brief reason for your appointment to help doctors assess the degree of urgency.
• Staff at the surgery are here to help you. It is a difficult job so please be co-operative and patient.
• Tell us about any complaints or misunderstandings as soon as possible to allow us to deal with them.
• Let us know when we have done well.
• We welcome suggestions as to how our service can be improved.

Why do I need a Summary Care Record?

Most people have a Basic Summary Care Record which lets authorised healthcare staff treating you anywhere in the NHS across England to securely access key health information about your current medications, allergies and sensitivities to medicines.

Some additional information can be accessed with your permission through an Enhanced Summary Care Record.

Your Enhanced Summary Care Record contains more details about your long term conditions, medications, relevant medical history and personal preferences regarding you healthcare needs.

This allows ambulance staff, 111 service or hospital staff anywhere in England to access vital health information about you, which could help them treat you more quickly and effectively without you having to remember all of the details of your past care.

It is quick, safe and secure for health staff to access your Enhanced Summary Care Record, but your consent is needed to activate this part of your record. Please contact reception to obtain the necessary form.

Do I have to have one?

No, it is not compulsory. For further information, please the NHS care records website.

The practice is involved in the teaching of medical and nursing students and from time to time, you may be asked if you consent to a student observing your consultation.

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.