We have been asked provide you with access to your full medical record from 1st November 2023 via the NHS app and/or the NHS website if you have a suitable NHS login.

We are supportive of providing you with access to your record, but we wish to do this safely. We have an obligation under GDPR to safeguard the information we hold about you and have carried out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to make sure we are able to legally honour our data safeguarding obligations

We believe, and are supported by the BMA, that there are insufficient safeguards in place so we will not be automatically allowing patients access to their records after 1st November 2023.

Everyone will have access to their medication history and allergies and will be able to order their repeat prescriptions (subject to you having NHS login).

If you should require access to your full record where you will be able to see everything, including the notes which have been written by doctors, nurses and others involved in your care at the GP surgery and elsewhere, we ask you to complete the application form below so your request can be assessed by your GP. Remember, you will only see your records from the date of your application, access will not typically be available for historic patient records.

If you already had access to your medical records before the 1st November 2023 you will still have this – your records have already been reviewed. However, you may see a message on your record 1364731000000104 “Enhanced review indicated before granting access to own health record”– please ignore this as your review has already been undertaken and access allowed.

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.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any staff working in this practice, please let us know.  We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.  Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

• Within12 months from the date on which the event occurred,
• Within 12 months from the date on which the event, which is the subject of the complaint, comes to the complainant’s notice.

Complaints should be addressed to the Practice Manager.  Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the Practice Manager to discuss your concerns.  The Practice Manager will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you are specific as possible about your complaint.

What we shall do

We shall write to you to acknowledge your complaint.  We will look into the matter and will contact you again once we are in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.  When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:-

• Find out what happened and what went wrong;
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this;
• Make an apology, where this is appropriate;
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.

Complaints to outside agencies

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure.  We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

This does not affect your right to approach NHS England if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the results of our investigation.  You can contact NHS England by post; NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97, 9PT, or phone on 0300 311 22 33 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm) or email [email protected] for further advice.

NHS Complaints Advocacy

Cloverleaf Advocacy has been appointed as the new NHS Complaints Advocacy service provider for Derbyshire residents from 1st April 2024. This is a service for anyone who need support to make a complaint about an NHS or NHS funded service. Support from an Advocate can be accessed at any point in the complaints process.

Please find a link to their website below and their contact details:

Cloverleaf Advocacy: cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk

Tel: 01924 454874

Email: referrals@cloverleaf-advocacy

To make a referral, or find out more about the support they can provide, please contact Cloverleaf on 0300 012 4212 or via email to: [email protected].

Complainants who remain unhappy following a response may also contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (also known as the Health Service Commissioner):

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Citygate,
51 Mosley St,
Manchester
M2 3HQ

http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint

PHSO Customer Helpline 0345 015 4033 (8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday), or text the ‘call back’ service on 07624 813 005

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 anonymised 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.

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 practice manager.

Please see below our practice guidance on the lawful basis for Data Collection and processing Patient Information under GDPR 2018 and Data Protection Act 2018, including individuals information rights.

Littlewick Medical Centre GDPR Privacy Notice v2.8 May 2023

Littlewick Medical Centre COVID19 Privacy Notice v5 May 2023

GPDPR Extract

The current NHS Digital (NHSD) extract of GP data for Research purposes (known as the GPDPR) has been delayed due to NHSD wishing to review the way in which this data will be collected, to conduct more public involvement and information about the plans and change the way in which patients can opt out of the extract of their GP data.

Currently the only way to opt out is to complete a Type 1 opt out form and return this to the practice by the 1^st September (this can be found further down on this webpage).  However, this extract will not be taken until the NHSD have changed the way it will take the data and respect the patient’s choice for using their data.  NHSD are introducing the following changes to the opt out process which will mean that patients will be able to change their opt-out status at any time:-

• Patients do not need to register a Type 1 opt-out by 1st September to ensure their GP data will not be uploaded.
• NHS Digital will create the technical means to allow GP data that has previously been uploaded to the system via the GPDPR collection to be deleted when someone registers a Type 1 opt-out.
• The plan to retire Type 1 opt-outs will be deferred for at least 12 months while we get the new arrangements up and running and will not be implemented without consultation with the RCGP, the BMA and the National Data Guardian.

This means that you can opt out at any time in the future and NHSD will delete data that they already have taken for research purposes, the deadline of the 01/09/2020 has been delayed until a new system of opt out is developed.  Hopefully, this will be a simple centralised approach via the NHS app or NHS website to avoid paper form and administration work for your GP.

We will update you when we know more about the NHSD plans to change how you can control who has access to your data.

Click here to download our Type One Opt-Out-Form

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 Littlewick Medical Centre in the last financial year was £67,348 before tax and national insurance.  This is for 14 part time GPs who worked in the practice for longer than six months.

We are a training practice for medical students and doctors shortly to be GPs. We also help in the training of nurses. The practice has seven partners and a purpose-built branch surgery in West Hallam. In 2010 we moved into a brand-new purpose-built surgery on the site of the original Littlewick surgery with disabled and patient car parking at the rear of the building accessed via Orchard Street. We hope this will help us to continue to provide a better standard of care for our patients.

For more information, please find our most recent practice leaflet from the link below:

Click here to view the Littlewick Medical Centre practice leaflet.

We are unable to accept patients who live outside of our practice boundary. This is due to the following considerations:

• Sometimes urgent treatment is needed, and the patient doesn’t have the ability to travel to the GP surgery at that time. This can be particularly relevant in the instances when a patient has become suddenly unwell or had an accident.
• We cannot provide home visits to out of area patients due to the distances and time involved in travelling
• There can be fragmentation and impact on availability of community and social services to out of area patients, for example; health visiting, school nursing and district nursing services
• There can be issues with referrals to hospitals and other secondary care services when a patient lives outside of the practice boundary
• There can be gaps in care due to the differences in enhanced services depending on the area the patient lives in which can have an impact on holistic care

To find a GP in your area, please follow the link – https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp

We work very closely with our Patient Participation Group (PPG) to help improve the quality of service that we provide. Please take the time to look at their notice board in reception to find out how you could get involved or alternatively email [email protected]

Our privacy notice lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any that we may collect from or about it.

Click here to view our Practice Privacy Notice

Most services that the NHS provides to people are free of charge, but there are some exceptions to this e.g., prescription charges.  Sometimes a charge must be made to cover some of the costs as the service isn’t covered by the funding GP’s receive from the NHS for example, medical reports for insurance companies, private health insurance claims and other letters and forms that need completing that require the GP to review the patient’s medical records.

The contract GP’s have with the NHS covers medical services to patients, but GP’s also do a lot of non-medial work as well which is not funded examples of non-NHS services for which GP’s can charge their patients include but not limited to:

• Holiday cancellation forms
• Private medical insurance forms
• Some travel vaccinations
• Letters requested by or on behalf of, the patient.

The time the GP spends completing forms and preparing reports takes the GP away from direct medical care.  In addition, non-NHS work must be undertaken outside of NHS contracted time.  GP’s have a very high workload which can add up to them working 60 hours plus a week and paperwork, such as, filling insurance forms in and writing medical reports for insurance companies adds to this workload.

When a GP signs a certificate or completes a report it is a condition of their medical registration that they only sign what they know to be true.  Therefore, to complete a very simple form the GP must review the patients entire medical record. Inaccuracy in a report can have serious consequences for a GP with the General Medical Council or even the Police.

How are charges decided?

The British Medical Association (BMA) is the registered Trade Union for doctors, it recommends that GPs tell patients in advance if they will be charged for any work.

Erewash Health Practices, follow the guidelines set by the BMA using their fees calculator.  The fees calculator takes into consideration how much time it takes the GP to complete the work to ensure the cost covers the work undertaken.  Our charges have recently been reviewed for the first time in 5 years.

New charges from 1 July 2024

*The Practice reserves the right to amend the fees , based on the complexity of the work

Shared care is a process whereby responsibility for a patient’s medication is shared between a GP and a consultant. In such cases, the consultant assesses the patient’s suitability for the medication, performs any necessary baseline investigations, and provides full counselling on the medication. The consultant then prescribes the medication and adjusts the dose until the patient is stable.

Once the patient is stable, the consultant writes to the GP to request consideration of shared care. If the GP accepts, they take over the prescribing and monitoring of the patient, notifying the consultant if any issues arise. The patient must remain under the care of the consultant. For shared care to be valid, there must also be a written agreement outlining the duties and responsibilities of each party.

The primary goal of shared care is to facilitate appropriate clinical oversight and maintain patient safety, all in the best interests of the patient.

It should be noted, however, that shared care is entirely voluntary for GPs, and they are not obliged to participate.

We do not participate in shared care arrangements with private providers, in line with BMA guidance:

“Shared care with private providers is not recommended due to the general NHS Constitution principle of keeping as clear a separation as possible between private and NHS care. Shared care is currently set up as an NHS service, and entering into a shared care arrangement may have implications regarding governance and quality assurance, as well as promoting health inequalities. A private patient seeking access to shared care should therefore have their care fully transferred to the NHS. Shared care may be appropriate where private providers are delivering commissioned NHS services and where appropriate shared care arrangements are in place.”

We will consider patients referred to private providers under the NHS Right to Choose Scheme on an individual basis. We get a lot of questions regarding ADHD providers. For an up-to-date list of providers participating in the Right to Choose Scheme for ADHD, please follow this link: https://adhduk.co.uk/right-to-choose/

Medical Students / Nursing Students / GP Registrars

We have a particular interest in training the doctors and nurses for the future. Some of the GP Registrar and student consultations may be videoed or recorded, with the patient’s consent, for training purposes only.

If you do not wish to be seen by a registrar or medical student, please inform a member of the reception team. This will not affect your treatment in any way.

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.

Information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

Please read the document below to find out how your data can and cannot be used from May 2018.

Click here to view Your Data Matters leaflet

The Practice takes it very seriously if any member of team is treated in an abusive, aggressive, intimidating or violent way.

The Practice supports the government’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ campaign for Health Service Staff. This states that GPs and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. To successfully provide these services a mutual respect between all the practice team and patients has to be in place. All our team aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances. They would respectfully remind patients that very often the team could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time.  The team understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint.

However, aggressive and/or intimidating behaviour, will not be tolerated in any way and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police being contacted.

In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all its patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour that would be found unacceptable:

1. Using bad language or swearing at practice staff
2. Any threats or acts of physical violence towards any member of the Primary Health Care Team or other patients
3. Verbal abuse towards the staff in any form
4. Racial abuse and sexual harassment will not be tolerated within this practice
5. Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted. Requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot
6. Causing damage/stealing from the Practice’s premises, staff or patients
7. Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently

We ask you to treat the practice team with courteously at all times.

Removal from the practice list

A good patient clinician relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is the cornerstone of good patient care. The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship. When trust has irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of the practice, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved, or those behaviours mentioned above

Removing other members of the household

In rare cases, however, because of the possible need to visit patients at home it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household. The prospect of visiting patients where a relative who is no longer a patient of the practice by virtue of their unacceptable behaviour resides, or being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it too difficult for the practice to continue to look after the whole family. This is particularly likely where the patient has been removed because of violence or threatening behaviour and keeping the other family members could put the practice team at risk.