Failing to turn up to an appointment – don’t be a DNA

A DNA is someone who “Did Not Attend” an appointment at the surgery and did not tell us beforehand. The Doctor or Nurse were waiting, but the patient did not attend.

DNAs are a serious problem for the NHS. Research shows that around 13 million GP appointments and 6 million practice nurse appointments are missed each year.

At Bewdley Medical Centre, on average, in the last 6 months, 207 patients DNA appointments each month, that’s nearly 2,500 appointments each year.

If you are unable to attend your appointment, please let us know as soon as you can, it only takes a phone call. Just telephone 01299 402157 and tell us you are unable to attend.  We can then offer that appointment to another patient.

Thank you for your cooperation

Your Health Record

Confidentiality And Access To Patient Information

Any information that the doctor holds about you is very strictly confidential. Your doctor will not divulge ANY information about you to ANYONE, including your employer, insurance company or relative, without your written permission.

If you are referred to another doctor or health professional at the hospital or within the practice then necessary information will go with the referral and it is assumed that you agree with this if you have agreed to the referral.

If you don’t, you must say so to your doctor.  ALL health professionals and staff within the practice are bound by the rule of confidentiality.

If you move to another practice your written and electronic records are transferred automatically to your new practice after you have registered with it.

There may be certain unusual circumstances where the doctor can be obliged to break the confidentiality rule, for instance if the patient is mentally incapacitated, or if it is in the interest of public safety, or if he or she is required by a court of law to do so.

 

National Data and Research

This practice is one of over 600 practices in England contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance. These data enable continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research. The RCGP RSC is the main source of information for Public Health England (PHE) and helps with prediction and management of flu out-breaks and pandemics. Providing pseudonymised data does not affect patients, their care or privacy, however if you no longer wish to allow your information to be used, please speak to your GP.

 

WFHP & Bewdley Medical Centre’s Patient Privacy Policy May 2018

Your Personal Data

We take your personal data extremely seriously and take every precaution to ensure it is safe and secure. When you attend an appointment or contact the surgery you may be asked to confirm your contact details with a receptionist or clinician. This is to ensure that we have your correct details such as address, mobile number and email address associated with your clinical record; to enable us to communicate with you about your health in a quick, efficient and secure manner.

 

Our policy is that normally every young person 14 and above has their own mobile number on their records for confidentiality reasons. If this applies to you or a family member, please contact the surgery to make the necessary changes

 

WFHP Privacy Policy

WFHP COVID_19 Privacy Notice – to be updated

 

Below are 2 leaflets that explains how NHS England and our surgery are sharing your medical information to enable to offer the best possible care:

Patient Leaflet

About your Medical Records

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 Site Manager.

 

Access to Records

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, you are entitled to know what information is held about you and if you wish to know you should simply ask your doctor or make an arrangement with the site manager.  No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

About health records

Health records play an important role in modern healthcare. They have two main functions, which are described as either primary or secondary.

Primary function of health records

The primary function of healthcare records is to record important clinical information, which may need to be accessed by the healthcare professionals involved in your care.

Information contained in health records includes:

• the treatments you have received,
• whether you have any allergies,
• whether you’re currently taking medication,
• whether you have previously had any adverse reactions to certain medications,
• whether you have any chronic (long-lasting) health conditions, such as diabetes or asthma,
• the results of any health tests you have had, such as blood pressure tests,
• any lifestyle information that may be clinically relevant, such as whether you smoke, and
• personal information, such as your age and address.

Secondary function of health records

Health records can be used to improve public health and the services provided by the NHS, such as treatments for cancer or diabetes. Health records can also be used:

• to determine how well a particular hospital or specialist unit is performing,
• to track the spread of, or risk factors for, a particular disease (epidemiology), and
• in clinical research, to determine whether certain treatments are more effective than others.

When health records are used in this way, your personal details are not given to the people who are carrying out the research. Only the relevant clinical data is given, for example the number of people who were admitted to hospital every year due to a heart attack.

 

Types of health record

Health records take many forms and can be on paper or electronic. Different types of health record include:

• consultation notes, which your GP takes during an appointment,
• hospital admission records, including the reason you were admitted to hospital,
• the treatment you will receive and any other relevant clinical and personal information,
• hospital discharge records, which will include the results of treatment and whether any follow-up appointments or care are required,
• test results,
• X-rays,
• photographs, and
• image slides, such as those produced by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerised tomography (CT) scanner.

 

Confidentiality

There are strict laws and regulations to ensure that your health records are kept confidential and can only be accessed by health professionals directly involved in your care.

There are a number of different laws that relate to health records. The two most important laws are:

• Data Protection Act (1998), and
• Human Rights Act (1998).

Under the terms of the Data Protection Act (1998), organisations such as the NHS must ensure that any personal information it gathers in the course of its work is:

• only used for the stated purpose of gathering the information (which in this case would be to ensure that you receive a good standard of healthcare), and
• kept secure.

It is a criminal offence to breach the Data Protection Act (1998) and doing so can result in imprisonment.

The Human Rights Act (1998) also states that everyone has the right to have their private life respected. This includes the right to keep your health records confidential.

 

Important changes

The NHS is currently making some important changes to how it will store and use health records over the next few years. See the Service description section for more information.

 

Data Extraction

For more information please follow the links below.

• Sharing your information
• Care.data – modern data service for the NHS

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (i.e. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.  The average pay for GPs working in Wyre Forest Health Partnership in the last financial year was £63,880 before tax and National Insurance.  This is for 19 full time GPs, 35 part time GPs and 0 locum GPs who worked in the practice for longer than six months.

All patients that are now registered at Bewdley Medical Centre have a named allocated GP who will oversee your care. You are still entitled to see whichever Clinician you choose to.

There are several ways for you to find out who your allocated GP is:

ON THE RIGHT HANDSIDE OF YOUR REPEAT PRESCRIPTION SLIP

ENQUIRE DURING YOUR CONSULTATION WITH ANY CLINICIAN

ENQUIRE AT RECEPTION

ENQUIRE WITH THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

This link is showing Bewdley Medical Centre’s intent to provide patient access to various online services.

https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk

We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can give you the best possible advice and care.

Patient information is confidential. Practice staff can access this information but all have signed a confidentiality statement. The practice will need patients’ written consent before releasing information to outside agencies. This information is only available to those involved in your care and you should never be asked for personal medical information by anyone not involved in your care. You have a right to know what information we hold about you.

New Patient Privacy Policy in response to GDPR.

Your Personal Data

We take your personal data extremely seriously and take every precaution to ensure it is safe and secure.

When you attend an appointment or contact the surgery you may be asked to confirm your contact details with a receptionist or clinician. This is to ensure that we have your correct details such as address, mobile number and email address associated with your clinical record; to enable us to communicate with you about your health in a quick, efficient and secure manner.

Our policy is that normally every young person 14 and above has their own mobile number on their records for confidentiality reasons. If this applies to you or a family member, please contact the surgery to make the necessary changes

Attached is a document outlining WFHP and Bewdley Medical Centre’s Patient Privacy Policy. 

Patient Privacy Policy May 2018

Below are 2 leaflets that explains how NHS England and our surgery are sharing your medical information to enable to offer the best possible care:

Care Data Patient Leaflet

Medical Record Leaflet

Access to patient details & patients rights

Patients’ records, whether stored on computer or on paper, will be held in the strictest confidence. All reasonable steps will be taken to prevent unauthorised access to records however they are stored. All reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that information recorded about a patient is accurate. Checks will be made to try to prevent errors. If an error is discovered, it will be corrected promptly. Measures will also be taken to prevent the loss of patient information held by the Practice.

Identifiable patient information will only be shared within the practice team and, in the case of referral, to the clinician to whom the patient is referred. Release of identifiable patient information to any other outside agencies will only take place after receiving written permission from the patient.

If you would like to see your records, please contact reception.

This practice is one of over 600 practices in England contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance.

These data enable continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research. The RCGP RSC is the main source of information for Public Health England (PHE) and helps with prediction and management of flu out-breaks and pandemics.

Providing pseudonymised data does not affect patients, their care or privacy, however if you no longer wish to allow your information to be used, please speak to your GP.

Bewdley Medical Centre has partnered with the
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

Research is an incredibly important way of moving medicine forward and Bewdley Medical Centre is very excited to become involved with the National Institute of Health and Research.

If we identify any patients that are suitable for medical trials (e.g. those of you with recent back pain or those with CKD) then you may be contacted about whether you are interested in taking part.

Join Dementia Research – Event

On Thursday 26^th March 2020, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health and Research (NIHR) we are inviting our patients to Join Dementia Research, a database that registers patients and carers’ interest in taking part in dementia research. At Bewdley Medical Centre we are passionate about supporting our patients with dementia and their carers. We want to raise the profile of dementia and hope that by encouraging patients and carers to sign up to Join Dementia Research, we can better understand and manage this life changing condition.

The event will be held in the Community Learning Space from 11.30am and we have invited local volunteer, Nick Hoyle back to the surgery to host another Dementia Friends session.  In addition, Sister Kathy Lee, one of our most experienced Practice Nurses and advocate for dementia will be giving a short talk about how we support those living with dementia at Bewdley Medical Centre.

You can sign up anytime for Join Dementia Research – For more information about Dementia Friends or to sign up to Join Dementia Research via their website, please visit https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk or www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk/ respectively.

For more information about how we use your information for research, please click here

Shared Care Record – Partner Organisations

Shared Care Record – Privacy Policy

New Shared Care Record delivering better, safer care for all our patients

We wanted to let you know that we are finally connecting our systems to offer joined-up health and care records, which will enable better, safer care and treatment for all our patients.

As a GP, it is difficult to provide joined-up care with so many separate systems for handling patient information. These were not connected, meaning that you often had to repeat your story each time you received care at a different organisation, or with a different health professional. The Shared Care Record means up-to-date records will be immediately available to professionals caring for you as a patient, when you need direct care.

It will mean, for instance, a doctor in a hospital, or a paramedic who attends a 999 call will be able to confidentially access the same crucial information that we can at the Practice, such as details of any allergies and current medications, bringing potentially life-saving benefits.

Robust security measures are in place to protect your health information and all staff must follow the law on keeping your information confidential.

The Shared Care Record is not the same as the General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions (GPDPR), which is a national NHS Digital initiative to use GP practice data for research and planning purposes.

The Shared Care Record is a local initiative to share information with organisations directly involved in your care to ensure that you receive prompt and appropriate treatment when you need it.

For more information, please visit: https://herefordshireandworcestershireccg.nhs.uk/health-services/shared-care-record

What is the Shared Care Record?

The Shared Care Record is a way of bringing together all your separate records from the different organisations involved in your health and care. It’s confidential and different to anything you might have heard of before.

It will let health and care professionals see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all services.

We know you only want to tell your story once when receiving care from any health or social care organisation across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. That’s why we’ve developed the Shared Care Record.

A new series of videos raising awareness of the Shared Care Record are available for our patients.

The videos feature recordings from clinicians and social work professionals, and explain the benefits of joined-up health and care records.

The Videos, entitled: ‘An introduction to the Shared Care Record’, ‘Why the Shared Care Record matters’, and ‘The Shared Care Record and your Care’ can all be found by following the link;

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ccg – Shared Care Record

There is also an additional video on: ‘Your right to object to the Shared Care Record’, which explains to our patients the consequences of opting out of data sharing. You have the right to object at any time. We don’t recommend this, as information that could be vital when you need health or social care support – for instance, during a visit to a hospital Emergency Department – might not be immediately to hand as a result. To view this video follow the link;

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ccg – Right to Object

Shared Care Record – Partner Organisations

Shared Care Record – Privacy Policy

New Shared Care Record delivering better, safer care for all our patients

We wanted to let you know that we are finally connecting our systems to offer joined-up health and care records, which will enable better, safer care and treatment for all our patients.

As a GP, it is difficult to provide joined-up care with so many separate systems for handling patient information. These were not connected, meaning that you often had to repeat your story each time you received care at a different organisation, or with a different health professional. The Shared Care Record means up-to-date records will be immediately available to professionals caring for you as a patient, when you need direct care.

It will mean, for instance, a doctor in a hospital, or a paramedic who attends a 999 call will be able to confidentially access the same crucial information that we can at the Practice, such as details of any allergies and current medications, bringing potentially life-saving benefits.

Robust security measures are in place to protect your health information and all staff must follow the law on keeping your information confidential.

The Shared Care Record is not the same as the General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions (GPDPR), which is a national NHS Digital initiative to use GP practice data for research and planning purposes.

The Shared Care Record is a local initiative to share information with organisations directly involved in your care to ensure that you receive prompt and appropriate treatment when you need it.

For more information, please visit: https://herefordshireandworcestershireccg.nhs.uk/health-services/shared-care-record

What is the Shared Care Record?

The Shared Care Record is a way of bringing together all your separate records from the different organisations involved in your health and care. It’s confidential and different to anything you might have heard of before.

It will let health and care professionals see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all services.

We know you only want to tell your story once when receiving care from any health or social care organisation across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. That’s why we’ve developed the Shared Care Record.

A new series of videos raising awareness of the Shared Care Record are available for our patients.

The videos feature recordings from clinicians and social work professionals, and explain the benefits of joined-up health and care records.

The Videos, entitled: ‘An introduction to the Shared Care Record’, ‘Why the Shared Care Record matters’, and ‘The Shared Care Record and your Care’ can all be found by following the link;

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ccg – Shared Care Record

There is also an additional video on: ‘Your right to object to the Shared Care Record’, which explains to our patients the consequences of opting out of data sharing. You have the right to object at any time. We don’t recommend this, as information that could be vital when you need health or social care support – for instance, during a visit to a hospital Emergency Department – might not be immediately to hand as a result. To view this video follow the link;

Herefordshire and Worcestershire ccg – Right to Object

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.

Simply contact the Site Manager, Ian Brookes by letter addressed to him at the surgery or by email to wyreccg.bewdleymedicalcentre@nhs.net or telephone him on 01299 402157 and he will set all the necessary wheels in motion.

Further written information is available on the complaints procedure from reception. We are continually striving to improve our service. Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

Complaints & Suggestions leaflet