Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

As you may receive care from other organisations as well as the NHS (eg Social Services), we may need to share some information about you so that we can all work together for your benefit. We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it.

Information will not be disclosed to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances or the information is to be provided in an anonymised, encrypted or aggregated form (eg for research or statistical analysis).

Your information may be used by the practice for management, audit and research purposes.

In responding to complaints we may need to provide information about the patient and/or the treatment received to our insurers or legal advisors.  When providing information to these third parties, personal information that could identify or help to identify the patient concerned will be removed or blanked out.

Your information may be used by the NHS to assess the needs of the general population, review services, review care standards, for teaching purposes, to conduct health research and development, to audit NHS accounts and services, to pay your GP for the care they provide, to prepare statistics on NHS performance, to investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents. Information for these purposes is generally supplied in an anonymised, encrypted or aggregated form.

You have the right to know what information we hold about you. If you would like to see your records, please refer to our Access to Medical Records policy available on our website or from reception.

For further information on the NHS Care Records Service and to assist you in making a decision about whether to opt out or not, please ask the receptionist for an information leaflet.

Raising Concerns:

In the first instance please raise your concern, using the practice’s own complaints procedure.

However, there are external bodies to whom you can refer for advice and support:

• The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) – If you are considering whether to make a formal complaint but need confidential information and advice about the options to help you decide, you can contact PALS on 0845 111-0080 or 01392 267665.

• The practice’s services are commissioned by Devon Primary Care Trust and you can contact them for further help and advice at Newcourt House, Old Rydon Lane, Exeter or telephone the Complaints Administrator on 01392 207819.

• The Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) provides free help and support for people bringing complaints to the NHS. This is an independent and confidential service available in this area through South England Advocacy Projects (DEAP) who can be contacted on 0845 120-3782 or visit their website at www.icassoutheast.org.uk.

We aim to give a friendly and professional service to all our patients. However, if you have any concerns about any aspect of our service, please let us know by speaking to your GP or our Practice Manager. In the majority of cases, concerns can be resolved quite easily. However, if you feel we have not dealt with the issues you have raised as you would wish, please refer to our formal Complaints Procedure a copy of which is available on our website or from reception.

Complaints Policy

Behaviour

We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat us in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our doctors, staff, patients or visitors to the practice. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be warned to stop their behaviour. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action, report patients to the Police, and have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients.

Further information regarding the Violent Patient Service is available on our website or from reception.

Patient Responsibilities

• Be courteous to our staff at all times. Please remember they are trying to help you. We do not tolerate aggressive or rude behaviour towards our doctors, staff, patients or visitors to the practice.
• Inform us when you move home or change your name, so that our records are correct and up to date.
• Be on time for your appointments and check in with the receptionist
• Let us know if you need to cancel your appointment
• Make separate appointments for each member of the family that needs to be seen
• Call for a home visit or urgent appointment before 11.00am
• Read the practice leaflets and other information we give you. They are there to help you use our services. Please ask if you do not understand them, this will help us make them easy to read.
• Let us have your views. Your ideas are important in helping us make our practice a friendly and safe place to visit for medical treatment.