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.

The Spring Hall Medical Practice does not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, disability, social class, age, sexual orientation or medical condition. The practice does not normally refuse patients. However, it does not tolerate violence, theft or abusive language.

This practice contributes to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicines. This practice supports medical research by sending some of the information from patient records to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

CPRD is a Government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve patient and public health. Identifiable data flows to NHS Digital but you cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD.

If you do not want anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by speaking to one of our team.

For more information about how your data is used visit www.cprd.com/public

We welcome feedback about your experiences, as it lets the practice know what we are doing well and where we could improve.

Talk to us.

The Practice is committed to providing high-quality, person-centred care and treatment that’s both safe and effective. However, we understand that there are times when things go wrong. If something goes wrong, or you’re dissatisfied with what we have or haven’t done, tell us and we’ll do our best to put things right. If we can’t resolve matters in the way you want, we’ll explain why it’s not possible to do as you suggest.

Understandably, you might be upset or distressed when formally raising concerns about you or your loved one’s care. As a result of this, our practice team will treat you with respect and dignity throughout this emotional time. It’s expected you show the same courtesy to them.

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and allow us to improve our services.

Who to talk to

You can speak to any member of staff initially about your concerns. This allows us to work with you to resolve any concern you may have without going through a formal process. Most complaints are best resolved within the practice, and formal complaints should be made via our Practice Manager

Please click the following link [Complaints Leaflet ]

Click here for our complaint form

Once the form has been completed you can drop the form into reception, or you can email the form to [email protected].

For more information, please read our [Complaints policy].

If you feel unable to raise your complaint with us directly or if you believe this is not appropriate, you can raise your complaint with the ICB who commission and pay for the NHS services you use by:

Email: at [email protected]

Telephone: 01924 552150            Monday to Friday 9-4:30 pm, excluding bank holidays.

Please note that the team receives a high number of telephone calls daily and may not be able to respond instantly to each one.

In writing: Patient Advice and Liaison Service,

West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board,

White Rose House West Parade,

Wakefield

WF1 1LT

Please note: The ICB is unable to consider or reconsider the same concerns or complaints you have raised with us.

Citizens Advice Bureau also provides information and advice about making complaints.

Take it Further.

If you remain unhappy after receiving our final reply, you can ask the Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint independently.

The Ombudsman is independent of the NHS and free to use. It can help resolve your complaint and tell the NHS how to put things right if it has got them wrong.

The Ombudsman only has legal powers to investigate certain complaints. You must have received a final response from the Practice before the Ombudsman can look at your complaint. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, it will generally not investigate your complaint if it happened more than 12 months ago.

Address:

Manchester

All post should be sent to their main office in Manchester:

Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman

Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ

Phone: 0345 015 4033

Their lines are open: Monday to Thursday 8.30 am to 5.00 pm | Friday 8.30 am to 12 pm.

Before considering taking this step, we hope you would let us know what aspect of the complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily and provide an opportunity for us to consider whether there is anything further that could be done locally to resolve matters.

For more information, Click here to download our Complaints Policy

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 anonymous 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.

Introduction

The purpose of this protocol is to set out the Practice’s approach to consent and the way in which the principles of consent will be put into practise. It is not a detailed legal or procedural resource due to the complexity and nature of the issues surrounding consent.

Where possible, a clinician must be satisfied that a patient understands and consents to a proposed treatment, immunisation or investigation. This will include the nature, purpose, and risks of the procedure, if necessary by the use of drawings, interpreters, videos or other means to ensure that the patient understands, and has enough information to give ‘Informed Consent’.

Implied Consent

Implied consent will be assumed for many routine physical contacts with patients. Where implied consent is to be assumed by the clinician, in all cases, the following will apply:

• An explanation will be given to the patient what he / she is about to do, and why.
• The explanation will be sufficient for the patient to understand the procedure.
• In all cases where the patient is under 18 years of age a verbal confirmation of consent will be obtained and briefly entered into the medical record.
• Where there is a significant risk to the patient an “Expressed Consent” will be obtained in all cases (see below).

Expressed Consent

Expressed consent (written or verbal) will be obtained for any procedure which carries a risk that the patient is likely to consider as being substantial. A note will be made in the medical record detailing the discussion about the consent and the risks. A Consent Form may be used for the patient to express consent (see below).

Obtaining Consent

• Consent (Implied or Expressed) will be obtained prior to the procedure, and prior to any form of sedation.
• The clinician will ensure that the patient is competent to provide a consent (16 years or over) or has “Gillick Competence” if under 16 years. Further information about Gillick Competence and obtaining consent for children is set out below.
• Consent will include the provision of all information relevant to the treatment.
• Questions posed by the patient will be answered honestly, and information necessary for the informed decision will not be withheld unless there is a specific reason to withhold. In all cases where information is withheld then the decision will be recorded in the clinical record.
• The person who obtains the consent will be the person who carries out the procedure (i.e. a nurse carrying out a procedure will not rely on a consent obtained by a doctor unless the nurse was present at the time of the consent).
• The person obtaining consent will be fully qualified and will be knowledgeable about the procedure and the associated risks.
• The scope of the authority provided by the patient will not be exceeded unless in an emergency.
• The practice acknowledges the right of the patient to refuse consent, delay the consent, seek further information, limit the consent, or ask for a chaperone.
• Clinicians will use a Consent Form where procedures carry a degree of risk or where, for other reasons, they consider it appropriate to do so (e.g. malicious patients).
• No alterations will be made to a Consent Form once it has been signed by a patient.
• Clinicians will ensure that consents are freely given and not under duress (e.g. under pressure from other present family members etc.).
• If a patient is mentally competent to give consent but is physically unable to sign the Consent Form the clinician should complete the Form as usual, and ask an independent witness to confirm that the patient has given consent orally or non-verbally.

Other aspects which may be explained by the clinician include:

• Details of the diagnosis, prognosis, and implications if the condition is left untreated
• Options for treatment, including the option not to treat.
• Details of any subsidiary treatments (e.g. pain relief)
• Patient experiences during and after the treatment, including common or potential side effects and the recovery process.
• Probability of success and the possibility of further treatments.
• The option of a second opinion

Immunisations

Informed consent must be obtained prior to giving an immunisation. There is no legal requirement for consent to immunisation to be in writing and a signature on a consent form is not conclusive proof that consent has been given, but serves to record the decision and discussions that have taken place with the patient, or the person giving consent on a child’s behalf.

Consent for children

Everyone aged 16 or more is presumed to be competent to give consent for themselves, unless the opposite is demonstrated. If a child under the age of 16 has “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him/her to understand fully what is proposed” (known as Gillick Competence), then he/she will be competent to give consent for him/herself. Young people aged 16 and 17, and legally ‘competent’ younger children, may therefore sign a Consent Form for themselves, but may like a parent to countersign as well.

For children under 16 (except for those who have Gillick Competence as noted above), someone with parental responsibility should give consent on the child’s behalf by signing accordingly on the Consent Form

COVID 19 Privacy Notice

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.

All patients regsitered at the practice now have a named GP (the one you are registered with). You are still able to see the GP of your choice as before.

All patients now have a named GP (the one you are registered with) who is responsible for your overall care at the practice. You are still able to see the GP of your choice as before. If you are unsure who your named GP is and have not been contacted yet please call the surgery and the receptionists will be happy to advise.

New contractual requirements came into force on 1 April 2014 requiring that GP practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments.

Click here to read more

This is the statement of purpose for Spring Hall Group Practice which details the full name and address of the provider and all branch sites, the legal status of the provider, the aims and objectives of the provider and the range of services provided to its patients.

View Statement of Purpose (pdf)

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.