Confidentiality & Medical Records
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 annonymmised 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.
Freedom of Information
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.
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager via a subject access request form, this form is available from reception . No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
Violence Policy
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.
Home Visit Policy
Most patients who need to consult a clinician and require a face-to-face appointment will be seen at the practice, but we continue to make a limited number of home visits where appropriate.
Home visits are reserved for the following groups of patients:
- Terminally ill patients
- Housebound patients (a patient who is unable to leave the home due to medical reasons)
A patient who is able to leave the house for any reason is not considered to be housebound
To ensure the best quality of care and most efficient use of our resources, home visits are only offered under exceptional circumstances and are not available routinely.
The quality of medical care offered to our patients is of paramount importance. Given our limited resources, clinical effectiveness must take precedence over patient convenience. Additionally, consultations at the practice facilitate a far more suitable environment for assessment and examination of patients, with direct access to the clinical notes.
Please only request home visits if you are physically incapable of attending the practice.
- Requests for home visits must normally be made by 9am and can either be made by telephone or via eConsult on the practice website
- Please provide as much information as possible about your symptoms/concerns as it helps our triaging clinicians to judge the urgency of your condition. Receptionists are trained to collect this information, and all information is treated confidentially. Please also provide a contact number as the triaging clinician may wish to call you to gather more information
- The triaging clinician will make an assessment as to the most appropriate further assessment and management: this may include the offer of a home visit, a surgery appointment, a telephone consultation or signposting to a more appropriate care provider
- Visiting will take place in the morning between 9am and 12pm
Due to our limited capacity, home visit requests received later in the day will not usually be seen the same day and will instead be triaged to a more appropriate time or to an alternative care provider.
Medical Emergencies
In the case of serious medical emergencies, please do not contact the practice - please call 999.
The following list is not exhaustive, but conditions which are considered to be a medical emergency include:
- Loss of consciousness
- Acute confused state
- Fits that are not stopping
- Persistent, severe chest pain
- Breathing difficulties
- Severe bleeding that cannot be stopped
- Severe allergic reactions
- Severe burns or scalds
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Patient Transport Issues
The practice cannot arrange patient transport or provide home visits due to transport difficulties. If you struggle with transport, please seek help from relatives, friends, community transport schemes or taxi services.
Poor Mobility
Whilst we understand and appreciate that having poor mobility is both inconvenient and disabling, our GP practice is designed to cater for patients with restricted mobility. We are wheelchair accessible, have disabled toilet facilities and have designated ‘Blue Badge’ parking spaces. Patients who are able to attend appointments at other healthcare settings (including hospital outpatient clinics), will not be eligible for home visits and will be expected to attend appointments at the practice.
Unwell Children
We do not provide home visits for unwell children. If your child is unwell, please contact the practice via eConsult. All eConsults relating to children are reviewed and triaged by a clinician on the same day. If your child is too unwell to wait for a response from the practice, please contact 111 or 999 for advice.
Useful information regarding common childhood illnesses can be found via the link below, which includes advice on when and how to seek the most appropriate assessment. If you are a parent or carer of a young child, please ensure that you are familiar with this advice.
When should I worry-Booklet_Wales-with NHS Direct_Oct2016.pdf
Pets
To ensure the safety of our staff, we kindly ask that any family pets are kept in a separate room during home visits. We understand that most family pets pose no risk under normal circumstances.
When an owner is unwell, it can create a stressful environment where pets may react unexpectedly to new visitors or during examinations. For the safety of our staff, all visiting healthcare professionals will not enter a patient's home if pets are not secured separately.
Mailbox Policy
2 way communication Mailbox Policy – digital solutions
An email from a patient is classed as a medical record and will need to be added to their notes at all times and read coded as such.
The Practice enquires email address is enquiries.w94034@wales.nhs.uk
• The mailboxes are checked regularly by the reception team during working hours.
• The enquiries mailbox automatically sends an automated reply during the first contact.
• The enquiries mailbox is designed only for :
1. Requests for call back from a member of the clinical team
2. Request for an appointment
3. General enquiries.
Patients will receive an auto response from the email at all times.
E Consult
• The mailboxes are logged and checked daily by the reception team and passed to the on call Traige GP – all digital requests are triaged by a GP.
• The E consult mailbox is designed for:
1. Requests for GP advice and self help advice.
2. General administrative enquires
3. Sick notes
Patients will receive an automated E consult response and allocated a reference number.
E Consult is automatically imported into the patients records.
E Consult Lite – for those unable to complete an econsult or contact the practice through a digital solution, receptionists will be able to complete an econult lite for patients via telephone. Though Econsult is the preferred method as it gives patients the ability to provide as much information as it required.
MHOL
• Patients are able to contact the practice to order their prescriptions via vision MY HEALTH ONLINE. Patients need to be signed up for this service by contacting a member of the reception team