You have a right, under the General Data Protection Regulation, to access the personal data we hold on you.

To do so, you should made a subject access request, and this policy sets out how you should make a request, and our actions upon receiving the request.

• Subject access request form
• Access to medical records

The practice is fully computerised and all information held here whether electronically or paper is covered by our registration with the Information Commissioners Office which controls how we use our data.  All staff undergo annual training in confidentiality issues and data protection.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 people have a right to see any files any organisation holds about them, including their health records held by GP, hospital, optician or dentist. All requests to see this information should be in writing.  Access can only be denied if there are compelling reasons.

For medical records of deceased patients, the legal personal representative should contact the practice in writing so that we have a signature.

From April 1st 2013 we are registered and following the guidelines issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  The CQC are the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England.  Their job is to make sure that care provided by hospitals, general practices, dentists, ambulances, care homes and services in people’s own homes and elsewhere meets national standards of quality and safety.

We were inspected on Thursday 9th July 2015. We thank any patients who were visiting on the day who may have been intervied by the visiting inspectors. We have received our report which we are delighted to report is GOOD across all domaines. The full report can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Click here for the latest CQC Report

Please ask the reception team when you book an appointment if you require an interpreter or a chaperone. If you require an interpreter please book a double appointment.

You are very welcome to be accompanied by a trusted friend or relative at your consultation if you wish, and this is all the more important if English is not your first language, or if you feel you might not be able to express what you need clearly to the doctor or nurse.

In additon, for intimate examinations, you will be offered the choice of having another professional clinician present at the examination. This is called chaperoning.

In order to ensure that you get the best possible continuity of medical care we keep records of every consultation.  Your written records are locked when the surgery is shut and your computer records can only be accessed by secure passwords.  All doctors and staff are governed by strict rules of confidentiality and training is given to all new staff members. Training in data protection and confidentiality is repeated annually for all staff.

Your records are managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and no information given to us can be divulged to any third party unless you give us explicit permission to do so.  Relevant details of your medical history may be passed to another clinician to whom you are being referred, if you have any concerns about this, please speak to your GP.

We cannot give out any information about you to friends, family, partners, employers, police, Social Services, benefits agencies, insurance companies, solicitors, etc, without your permission. You have a right of access to your own records should you wish to read them and are also entitled to see any written reports about you before they are sent.

Your privacy, data and the law.How we use your medical records information-

Some of your data will be shared via summary care records.This with your consent will be shared with hospitals they will have a summary of your medication, acute problems and any adverse reactions
For national screening programmes such as bowel screening,cervical cytology recalls, diabetes prevention and Flu initiatives
We share information when the law requires us to do for instance for the safety of public or reporting certain illnesses or safeguarding vulnerable people.
We may also share data medical research purposes where data will be generic and unidentifiable without any patient data to identify people
We will share data with local emergency services to offer you care also out of hours
We share medical records with health people who are involved in providing you with care and this is on a need to know basis
By navigating on the website you can view leaflets and policies on the practice GDPR
Ask reception for details how to opt out of data sharing activities

All our new premises have disabled access.

At the Violet Melchett Health and Wellbeing Hub this is situated to the left of the main entrance (which has three small steps up to it). There is a ramp to access the door to the left.

At 1A Chelsea Manor Street there is a lift up to the patient area accessible via the side entrance which is the main patient entrance to this building.

At Earl’s Court Health and Wellbeing Hub there is a ramp up to the main patient entrance.

The  Freedom of Information Act creates a right of access to recorded information and obliges a public authority to:

Click here to view the Freedom of Information Act

• Have a publication scheme in place
• Allow public access to information held by public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded organisational information such as reports, policies or strategies, that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland, however it does not cover personal information such as patient records which are covered by the Data Protection Act.

Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces.

The Act is enforced by the Information Commissioner who regulates both the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.

The Surgery Publication Scheme

A publication scheme requires an authority to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities. The scheme lists information under seven broad classes, which are:

• who we are and what we do
• what we spend and how we spend it
• what our priorities are and how we are doing it
• how we make decisions
• our policies and procedures
• lists and registers
• the services we offer

You can request our publication scheme leaflet at the surgery.

Who Can Request Information?

Under the Act, any individual, anywhere in the world, is able to make a request to a practice for information. An applicant is entitled to be informed in writing, by the practice, whether the practice holds information of the description specified in the request and if that is the case, have the information communicated to him. An individual can request information, regardless of whether he/she is the subject of the information or affected by its use.

How Should Requests be Made?

Requests must:

• be made in writing (this can be electronically e.g. email/fax)
• state the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence
• describe the information requested

What Cannot be Requested?

Personal data about staff and patients covered under Data Protection Act.

For more information see these websites:

• Legislation GOV.UK
• Information Commissioners Office

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 The Redcliffe Surgery in the last financial year was £72,073 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 3 full time GPs and 7 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

We have attached here on this document the practices Fees and charges. Please look through to understand the charges introduced by the practice for medical examinations and forms alongside travel vaccinations etc.

We understand some patients may wish for more information on the data processing we undertake and how this complies with the General Data Protection Regulations. We have developed a library of notices below. If you feel anything is missing then please contact surgery by 02074602222

During the COVID pandemic we have signed an agreement with our Local Authorities to allow trained Public Health personnel access to a limited amount of patient information. This has been restricted to the contact details of North West London patients over 50 years old, who do not live in the Grenfell area, who are eligible for but have not received COVID vaccination. The purpose is to provide those patients with direct care and to save lives by increasing the update of COVID vaccination. The legal basis for sharing is the short term COPI legislation (introduced by the secretary of state for health for just this purpose) and when the COPI legislation expires the data will be deleted. We have taken measures to ensure this data is safely transmitted and managed securely and that PH personnel are trained to understand their professional responsibilities of confidence.”

Please find below all of our Privacy Notice and further information on how we handle Data safely and securely:

Click here for GPES Digital transparency notice:GPES Data for pandemic planning and research (COVID 19)

Click here for Privacy Notice-DirectCare

Click here for Privacy Notice-Emergencies

Click here for Privacy Notice-National screening

Click here for Privacy Notice-Payments

Click here for Privacy Notice-Public Health

Click here for Privacy Notice-Police

Click here for Privacy Notice-SMS Text Messages

Click here for Privacy Notice-Pharmacy Collection of FP10s

Click here for Privacy Notice-Open-Exeter

Click here for Privacy Notice-DVLA

Click here for Privacy Notice-CQC

Click here for Privacy Notice-Payments

Click here for Privacy Notice-Summary Care Record

Click here for Privacy Notice-NHS Digital

Click here for Privacy Notice-Safeguarding

Please see below patient information leaflet that provide with information about the data we hold about you and how we process this data fairly. There are two version leaflets below one for Adults and other for children and young persons. If you have any questions about the policies please contact the practice on 02074602222

Click here to download our Privacy Notice

Click here to download our Child and young person Privacy leaflet

Suggestions and Comments

If you have any suggestions or comments on your experience at Health Partners at Violet Melchett please fill out the feedback form. Alternatively please put any ideas or comments into the suggestion box found at reception, with your name, address and telephone number if you would like a direct response.

Complaints

We hope you will either fill out the feedback form or discuss any problems relating to the running of the practice with the practice manager in the first instance.

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible. You can make a complaint either verbally or in writing. Please ask to speak to the practice manager should you wish to make a complaint in person.

We shall acknowledge your complaint within two working days, giving an indication of a timescale for a fuller response, depending on the complexity of the issue. We welcome complaints, and learn as much as possible from them – without them we cannot improve.

You can request a copy of our complaints procedure from reception.

GP Registrars

GP Registrars work as part of the team. GP Registrars are fully qualified doctors with at least 2 years experience of working in hospitals and who wish to specialise in general practice. GP Registrars have daily surgeries (often with longer appointment times), undertake home visits and help with on-call doctor duties. Their placements with us vary in length, depending on their stage of training, from 4 months to over 12 months. They are supervised and assessed on a regular basis. Patients may, on occasion, be asked whether they mind having their consultation videoed for assessment purposes and/or to complete patient satisfaction questionnaires.

Foundation Doctors

Foundation Doctors are fully qualified doctors who are rotating around various specialities to increase their experience. Some of them may choose to go on to do further training to become a GP. Each Foundation Doctor will be with us for a 4 month placement. They will be closely supervised and assessed throughout their time with us. They will have longer appointment times.

Medical Students    

The surgery provides placements for medical students who are training to become doctors. Patients may be made aware of students sitting in with GPs, observing a surgery or may sometimes be asked if they mind being interviewed by a student as part of their training.

Patients do, of course, have the right to decline in helping with assessment & training. However, we hope that most will feel happy to assist in the education and training of our future health professionals.

Department of Health Connecting Programme

To understand the needs of patients and the pressures NHS staff face, every Department of Health civil servant will be expected to gain first hand experience of life in health or social care for at least 1 month every year.

A key recommendation in the Francis report was changing the culture of the department to make sure the needs of patients are always the first priority. As an important step, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in 2013 that he wants his staff to lead the way across Government, by gaining a personal understanding of life on the front line and using that experience to shape policies that serve patients and their families. The surgery supports this programme by participating and placements are overseen by our Practice Manager.

Click here to visit the Department of Health Website

We all have bad days, and when we feel ill we may feel ‘down’ and a little more irritable than normal. All our staff are here to help you. Reception staff are following procedures that help the practice to function efficiently. Staff have the right to work in a safe and secure environment and we, as employers, have the legal responsibility to provide that safe and secure environment.

The practice will not tolerate:

• Verbal abuse to staff which prevents them from doing their job or makes them feel unsafe.
• Threats of violence or actual violence to a GP or a member of his or her staff.

The GPs have the right to remove from their list with immediate effect any patient who behaves in the above manner.