Statement of Intent – IT Requirement

Contractual requirements came into force from 1st April 2014 requiring that GP Practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following I.T. developments:

Summary Care Record (SCR)

NHS England require practices to enable successful automated uploads of any changes to patient’s summary information, at least on a daily basis, to the Summary Care Record (SCR) or have published plans in place to achieve this.

Having your Summary Care Record (SCR) available will help anyone treating you without your full medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any drugs that you have a recorded allergy or sensitivity to.

Of course if you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record.

Dr Rahman confirm that your SCR is automatically updated on at least a daily basis to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.

GP to GP Record Transfers

NHS England requires practices to utilise the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers (not for temporary registration).

It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded on to your new GP via NHS England. It can take your paper records up to two weeks to reach your new surgery.

With GP2GP record transfers your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner.

Dr Rahman confirms that GP2GP transfers are already being undertaken at Acorn Medical Practice.

Patient Online Access to Their GP Record

NHS England require practices to promote and offer the facility to enable patients online access to appointments, prescriptions, summary care record, allergies and adverse reactions or have published plans to achieve this.

We currently offer the facility for booking, cancelling appointments and for ordering repeat prescriptions online. This is done by the SystmOnline facility. If you do not already have a user name and password for this system – please register for them at the practice reception.

However, online access to your medical records has not yet been enabled.

Data for Commissioning and Other Secondary Care Purposes

It is already a requirement of the Health and Social Care Act that practices must meet the reasonable data requirements of commissioners and other health and social care organisations through appropriate and safe data sharing for secondary uses, as specified in the technical specification for care data.

At Acorn Medical Practice we have specific arrangements in place to allow patients to “opt out” of care.data which allows for the removal of data from the practice. Please contact reception for further information on this.

Dr Rahman confirm these arrangements are in place and that we undertake annual training and audits to ensure that all our data is handled correctly and safely via the Information Governance Toolkit.

Please view our Chaperone Policy here.

Practice Complaints Procedure

Patient feedback is important to us as it helps us to improve the service we provide to patients. We take patient complaints seriously and will attempt to address your concerns to your satisfaction.

How do I make a complaint?

If you wish to complain please contact the Practice Manager Mrs Alison Bailey either in person, by phone or in writing:

• Tel: 01623 428412
• Address: Acorn Medical Practice, 11-13 Wood Street, Mansfield, Notts, NG18 1QA
• Online Complaints Form

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the practice needs to know that you have their permission to do so.

 What happens next?

The complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days.  The practice will respond, after investigation, within the timeframe specified to you at the acknowledgement stage of the process.  Some complaints may take longer to address but you will be informed of a response time.  If this cannot be met, the practice will keep you informed.

Please be assured making a complaint will not adversely affect your ongoing healthcare at the practice.  We will deal with you fairly, compassionately and will endeavour to resolve the situation to a satisfactory conclusion.

Wherever possible, we aim to learn from complaints and take action to avoid similar occurrences.

How do I complain to someone Independent?

GP Practices would prefer to have the opportunity to answer complaints ourselves in the first instance. However, you may pass your complaint directly to:

Patient Experience Team
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board
Sir John Robinson House
Sir John Robinson Way
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 6DA

Tel: 0115 8839570
Email: [email protected]

If you would like further information please follow the link to the ICB website: Patient Experience and Complaints – NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

However, please note, patients cannot raise the same complaint with the practice and ICB.

Is there a time limit?

A complaint must be made within 12 months of the date of the incident that caused the problem or the date of discovering the problem.

Please remember, the quicker you complain, the easier it will be to investigate the facts.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome?

You can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) on 0345 015 4033.

For more information see their website www.ombudsman.org.uk.

Other Useful Contacts

POhWER, NHS Complaints Advocacy, on 0300 456 2370. For more information see their website www.pohwer.net.

All patients of the Practice will be marked with ‘Implied Consent’ unless they wish to inform us otherwise.

The data sharing will only be between the Practice and any other health care professional who is directly involved with that patient’s care.

Please see the poster and leaflet below for further information.

‘Happy To Share’ Poster
‘Happy To Share’ Leaflet

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came into force on the 25th May 2018 and the Practice is committed to being compliant with the new regulations. Our Data Protection Privacy Notice and information regarding how this affects patients can be found here.

Please view our Practice Privacy Notice here.
View what information we hold on you here.
Please view our Covid-19 Privacy Notice here.

The Practice will not discuss any information with family members unless we have explicit consent from the patient or the relevant Power of Attorney information.

The Practice send text message reminders to patients regarding pending appointments. However, unfortunately sometimes, due to technical difficulties out of hours, these messages do not send. Therefore please ensure that you keep a written record of your appointment.

It is the patient’s responsibility to ensure they attend or cancel their appointment.

• The Caldicott Guardian is Dr K A Rahman
• The Clinical Governance Lead is Dr K A Rahman
• The Information Governance Lead is Mrs Alison Bailey

The clinical records the Practice holds are held in accordance with Clinical and Information Governance guidelines.

Should you require access to your medical records, please contact the practice in writing. An appointment will be made for you to view your records with an appropriate member of staff.

Should an outside agency require a copy of your medical records, they will need to request them in writing to the Practice. Written consent from you as the patient will be required to be forwarded with the address and the reasons why they require the information will also be necessary.

Your medical records are not used unless your permission has been requested and granted in writing.

All staff has a code of confidentiality in their contracts and all records are completely confidential in all instances.

All staff are regularly trained on these matters.

If a person rings the Practice for information and they are not the patient, we are unable to discuss anything in respect of the patient, unless we have written consent from the patient. This is in keeping with the code of confidentiality.

In order for us to provide a good service we also require patients to act responsibly by following the procedures below:

• Remember to keep your appointment. If you are not able to attend, please inform the surgery as soon as possible.
• If more than one person needs to be seen, make a separate appointment for each patient.
• Please remember a prescription is not always necessary with every consultation. Your doctor will advise you accordingly.
• Please request out of hours consultations for emergencies only. Home visits are at the doctor’s discretion.
• Please treat the reception team with the respect they deserve. They work very hard and can be very busy. Your patience is appreciated.
• Look after your own health. Exercise regularly, eat healthily and try not to smoke.
• Ensure you have enough medication at all times.

Please view our Statement of Purpose here.