Churchfields Medical Practice is committed to providing a safe and comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that the best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of the highest importance.

If you feel that you would like a chaperone present at your consultation, please inform your doctor / nurse, who will be happy to arrange this for you. Occasionally, there may not be a suitable chaperone available, and you may be asked to re-book your appointment.

If possible, please request a chaperone when booking your appointment.

There is a Chaperone Policy with more information available in reception or to download here – chaperone brochure.pdf

There is a practice Complaints Procedure in place. If you would like a copy please ask at reception or download one from the link below:

Complaints procedure.doc

We’ve found that the process for investigating complaints is smoother if the complaint is written. However, if you are unable to put your complaint in writing please contact the practice manager.

There are external services available to assist you with advice and information. You may find the following contact details useful.

Complaints Policy

We offer a completely confidential service to all our patients. We will not discuss any information about you with anyone else, unless you ask us to do so, except in very exceptional circumstances – if yours or another person’s safety is at risk. In these exceptional circumstances you will be kept fully informed.

Our reception waiting room area was refurbished in 2006. The practice opted for an open plan design to create a friendlier atmosphere. If you wish to speak quietly and confidentially to a member of the reception staff please ask and you will be seen in more private surroundings.

Your Data Matters to the NHS

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.

How Your Data is Used

Information about your individual care such as treatment and diagnosis is collected about you whenever you use health and care services. It is also used to help us and other organisations for research and planning such as research into new treatments, deciding where to put GP clinics and planning for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital.  It is only used in this way when there is a clear legal basis to use the information to help improve health and care for you, your family and future generations.

Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.

You Have a Choice

You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your information is used. If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service. You can change your mind about your choice at any time.

Will choosing this opt-out affect your care and treatment?

No, choosing to opt out will not affect how information is used to support your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.

What do you need to do?

If you are happy for your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you do not need to do anything.

To find out more about the benefits of data sharing, how data is protected, or to make/change your opt-out choice visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

Download a copy of the patient leaflet

This Practice complies with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018. We use your information to provide you with Health Care services and share your information with other organisations involved in your care. The Practice does this under Article 6(1) and Article 9 (2)(h) of the GDPR.

For further information ask to see a copy of our Children Privacy Notice Covid-19 Privacy Policy copy of the leaflet “How we use your information” or GDPR Data Protection Privacy Notice 2023

Patient Knows Best Privacy Statement

You are entitled to see what information we hold about you on request.

There has been a recent IT upgrade across Nottingham, which brings us in line with many other areas in the country, with regard to how information from your health record is shared across services providing care for you. This upgrade is called the Enhanced Data Sharing Model.

We use a secure electronic health records system called SystmOne. With your permission, this system can allow clinicians to share your full record held here with other healthcare services who are providing care for you. These other services will ask your permission to view your record.

Many organisations may use SystmOne including other GP practices, out of hours services, children’s services, community services and some hospitals. Sharing your records will help us deliver the best level of care for you.

We strongly recommend you read the information leaflet below, and share your sharing consents with us.

Information leaflet & consent form

“The average pay for GPs working in the Churchfields Medical Practice in the last financial year was £65,013 before tax and national insurance.  This is for 6 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

It should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, it should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make a comparison with any other practice.

In view of the fact that there are few hard and fast guidelines in place we must issue a disclaimer against any actions which may or may not be taken with regard to the publication of this information”.

The NHS belongs to us all

How Churchfields Medical Practice implements the NHS Constitution

Principles

The practice:

• Provides a comprehensive service, available to all irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation and has a duty to respect their human rights.
• Promotes equality through the service, providing and to paying particular attention to groups or sections of society where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population.
• Provides access to services based on clinical need, not on an individual’s ability to pay.
• Aspires to the highest standards of excellence and professionalism, providing safe and effective high-quality care focused on patient experience.
• Ensures that it is effectively lead and managed and its staff receive relevant education, training and development.
• Its services reflect the needs and preferences of patients, their families and carers who will be involved in and consulted on all decisions about their care and treatment.
• Ensures that it works across organisational boundaries and in partnership with other organisations in the interest of patients, local communities and the wider population.
• Is accountable to the public, communities and patients that it serves.
• Supports staff when they raise concerns about the service by ensuring their concerns are fully investigated and that there is someone independent, outside of their team, to speak to.

Patient Rights

Patients have the right:

• To receive NHS services free of charge, apart from certain limited exceptions sanctioned by Parliament.
• To access NHS services and not be refused access on unreasonable grounds.
• To expect the practice to assess the health requirements of the local community and to commission and put in place the services to meet those needs as considered necessary.
• In certain circumstances to go to other European Economic Area countries or Switzerland for treatment which would be available through the NHS.
• Not to be unlawfully discriminated against in the provision of NHS services including on grounds of gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability (including learning disability or mental illness) or age.
• To access services within maximum waiting times, or to be offered a range of alternative providers if this is not possible.
• To be treated with a professional standard of care, by appropriately qualified and experienced staff, in a properly approved or registered organisation that meets required levels of safety and quality.
• To be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with their human rights.
• To accept or refuse treatment that is offered, and not to be given any physical examination or treatment unless valid consent has been given.
• To be given information about their proposed treatment in advance, including any significant risks and any alternative treatments which may be available, and the risks involved in doing nothing.
• To privacy and confidentiality and to expect the practice to keep their confidential information safe and secure.
• To access to their own health records.
• To choose their GP practice, and to be accepted by that practice unless there are reasonable grounds to refuse, in which case they will be informed of those reasons.
• To express a preference for using a particular doctor within their GP practice.
• To make choices about their NHS care and to information to support these choices.
• To be involved in discussions and decisions about their healthcare, and to be given information to enable them to do this.
• To be involved, directly or through representatives, in the planning of healthcare services, the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way those services are provided, and in decisions to be made affecting the operation of those services.
• To have any complaint you make about NHS services dealt with efficiently, to have it properly investigated, know the outcome and escalate the complaint to the independent Health Service Ombudsman.
• To make a claim for judicial review if they think they have been directly affected by an unlawful act or decision of an NHS body.
• To compensation where they have been harmed by negligent treatment.

Patient Responsibilities

• To make a significant contribution to their own, and their family’s, good health and well-being, and take some personal responsibility for it.
• To treat NHS staff and other patients with respect and recognise that causing a nuisance or disturbance on NHS premises could result in prosecution.
• To provide accurate information about their health, condition and status.
• To keep appointments, or cancel within reasonable time.
• To follow the course of treatment which they have agreed, and talk to their clinician if they find this difficult.
• To participate in important public health programmes such as vaccination.
• To ensure that those closest to them are aware of their wishes about organ donation.
• To give feedback – both positive and negative – about the treatment and care they have received, including any adverse reactions they may have had.

Practice Staff Rights

Practice Staff have the right:

• To a good working environment with flexible working opportunities, consistent with the needs of patients and with the way that people live their lives;
• To have a fair pay and contract framework;
• To be involved and represented in the workplace;
• To have healthy and safe working conditions and an environment free from harassment, bullying or violence;
• To be treated fairly, equally and free from discrimination; and
• To raise an internal grievance and if necessary seek redress, where it is felt that a right has not been upheld;
• To raise any concern with their employer, whether it is about safety, malpractice or other risk, in the public interest, without suffering any detriment.

NHS Pledge to Staff Members

The NHS Commits:

• To provide all staff with clear roles and responsibilities and rewarding jobs for teams and individuals that make a difference to patients, their families and carers and communities;
• To provide all staff with personal development, access to appropriate training for their jobs and line management support to succeed;
• To provide support and opportunities for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety;
• To engage staff in decisions that affect them and the services they provide, individually, through representative organisations and through local partnership working arrangements. All staff will be empowered to put forward ways to deliver better and safer services for patients and their families;
• To support all staff in raising concerns at the earliest reasonable opportunity about safety, malpractice or wrongdoing at work, responding to and, where necessary, investigating the concerns raised and acting consistently with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

Practice Staff Responsibilities

Practice Staff have the duty:

• To accept professional accountability and maintain the standards of professional practice as set by the appropriate regulatory body applicable to their profession or role.
• To take reasonable care of health and safety at work for themselves, their team and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.
• To act in accordance with the express and implied terms of their contract of employment.
• Not to discriminate against patients or staff and to adhere to equal opportunities and equality and human rights legislation.
• To protect the confidentiality of personal information that they hold unless to do so would put anyone at risk of significant harm.
• To be honest and truthful in applying for a job and in carrying out that job.

To play their part in ensuring the success of the NHS and delivering high-quality care by:

• Maintaining the highest standards of care and service, taking responsibility not only for the care they personally provide, but also for their wider contribution to the aims of their team and the NHS as a whole;
• Taking up training and development opportunities provided over and above those legally required of their particular post;
• Actively taking part in sustainably improving services by working in partnership with patients, the public and communities;
• Raising any genuine concern they may have about a risk, malpractice or wrongdoing at work (such as a risk to patient safety, fraud or breaches of patient confidentiality), which may affect patients, the public, other staff or the practice itself, at the earliest reasonable opportunity;
• Being open with patients, their families, carers or representatives, including if anything goes wrong; welcoming and listening to feedback and addressing concerns promptly and in a spirit of co-operation. Staff should contribute to a climate where the truth can be heard and the reporting of, and learning from, errors is encouraged;
• Viewing the services they provide from the standpoint of a patient, and involve patients, their families and carers in the services they provide, working with them, their communities and other organisations, and making it clear who is responsible for their care.