All incoming and outgoing telephone calls from the practice are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Further information can be found in the Call Recording Policy

The surgery is committed to providing a safe and comfortable environment and strives to achieve good practice at all times.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present during any appointment.

Patients will be advised that a chaperone is necessary during an intimate examination. This is to safeguard the Healthcare Professional and the patient. We have trained staff for this role. Family and friends cannot act as chaperones but they can be present if you wish. If a chaperone is not available, the Healthcare Professional will ask you to make an appointment and request a chaperone at the time of booking.

Before carrying out an intimate examination, the Healthcare Professional will:

• explain to the patient why the examination is necessary and provide an opportunity to ask any questions
• explain what the examination involves, so the patient understands what to expect, including any pain or discomfort
• obtain consent from the patient and record this in the medical record
• offer the patient a chaperone
• give the patient privacy to undress and dress and keep them covered as much as possible to maintain their dignity, the Healthcare Professional will not help to remove clothing unless asked to do so by the patient or unless they have checked that help is needed

If the patient is a young person or child, the Healthcare Professional will assess their capacity to consent to the examination. If they do not have capacity, then the Healthcare Professional will ask for parental consent.

If you have any questions, please speak to Reception and further information is available in our Chaperone Policy

In line with the Accessible Information Standard we aim to tailor our communications to the specific needs of individual patients. This includes people who have communication needs related to a disability.

All registration forms with a communication need noted is dealt with by the Administration Team as part of the registration process.  Patients can inform the Reception Team regarding any communication difficulties.

We offer large font letters, use of  a hearing loop, British Sign Language interpreter or contact via another person such as a carer or family member.

Relay UK helps deaf, speech-impaired, and hearing people talk to each other over the phone using the relay service.  The Relay UK app can be used with a mobile phone, tablet or computer, or can be used via a Minicom or Uniphone. The cost is the same as normal call charges and there is no charge to use the service itself.

Practice Complaints Procedure 

Patient feedback is important to us as it helps us to improve the service we provide to patients. Most issues can be sorted out quickly and easily, at the time they occur, with the person concerned. 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 Management Team either in person, by phone or in writing: 

Tel: 01773 304700  

Address: Eastwood Primary Care Centre, 11b Church Street, Eastwood, Nottingham, NG16 3BS. 

 The Complaint Form  can be posted or brought into surgery.

You can find further information in our Complaints Leaflet and our Easy Read Complaints Leaflet

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: nnicb-nn.patientexperience@nhs.net  

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 http://www.pohwer.net

Why do we need your information?

The Healthcare Professionals who provide you with care keep records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously.  These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and treatment.

NHS health records may be electronic, paper-based or a mixture of both.  We use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.

Records about you may include the following information;

• Details about you, such as your address, your carer or legal representative and emergency contact details.
• Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments.
• Notes and reports about your health.
• Details about your treatment and care.
• Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, x-rays etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you.
• Contact details (including email address, mobile telephone number and home telephone number)

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive, including contacting you. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS and the services we provide. Limited information may be used within the GP practice for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service we provided.

How do we lawfully use your data?

We need your personal, sensitive and confidential data to provide you with healthcare services as a General Practice.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with: –

Article 6, e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;”

Article 9, (h) processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems

We use your personal and healthcare information in the following ways:

• when we need to speak to or contact other doctors, consultants, nurses, or any other medical/healthcare professional or organisation during your diagnosis or treatment or ongoing healthcare; this includes the use of telephone or video consultation.
• when we are required by law to hand over your information to any other organisation, such as the police, by court order, solicitors, or immigration enforcement.
• In a de-identified form to support planning of health services and to improve health outcomes for our population.

We will never pass on your personal information to anyone else who does not need it, or has no right to it, unless you give us consent to do so.

More information can  be found in our Privacy Notice

We welcome patient feedback to tell us what we are doing well and where we can improve.

This can be done by completing the NHS Friends and Family Test form and returning this to the practice.

We are keen to hear from our young patients too. They can complete a Young People’s Form or the parent or carer can complete the Parent or Carer Form for them.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.  The average pay for GPs working in Eastwood Primary Care Centre in the last financial year was £73,826 before tax and national insurance.  This is for 2 full time GPs and 14 part time GPs and 2 locums who worked in the practice for more than six months .

If you would like the surgery to be able to discuss your health information with someone else ie partner or family member, then we ask for a consent form to be completed.

The completion of the Sharing of Information Consent Form enables the surgery to discuss information about your health with the named person (or third party in section 2).

The consent will be scanned into your medical record but you can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting the practice.

Information on accessing your medical records online can be found in the Online Access Leaflet

You can allow a third party to access your online medical record by completing a Proxy Consent Form (third party access)  To access this service, you must have online access set up. Please complete the form and return, in person, to the surgery bringing evidence of identification.

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse.

The surgery has the right to remove violent patients from the patient list with immediate effect to protect staff, patients and other people.

This includes actual violence or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety.

If this occurs we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list. We will record details of the removal and circumstances in the patient’s medical record.