Complaints Procedure
Practice complaints procedure
We always try to give you the best services possible but there may be times when you feel this has not happened.
If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. We cannot deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. Our complaints system meets national criteria and aims to settle complaints under Local Resolution.
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 you 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. If it is not possible to do that please let us have details of your complaint:
within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be addressed to Miss Rosie Duke, Practice Business Manager, Valley Medical Centre, Valley Road, Hebden Bridge, HX7 7BZ. It will be a great help if you as specific as possible about your complaint. Please feel free to submit your complaint as a letter or print and submit the form below.
We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of the date when you raised it with us. Where the complaint is complex -for example if it involves more than one clinician, the response may take a little longer.
- 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 sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
- identify what we can to make sure the problem doesn’t happen again.
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so.
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is made up of five places: Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. Each place has its own team of staff who are responsible for working with partners within the place to organise health and care services.
Click here for more information on how to submit your complaint
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome (not simply the decision) of your complaint or we do not complete our investigation within six months of you making your complaint, you have the right to refer the matter to the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) 0345 015 4033. www.ombudsman.org.uk
Declaration of GP mean earnings
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 GP’s working in Hebden Bridge Group Practice in the last financial year was £41,344 before tax and national insurance. This is for 3 full time GPs and 10 part time GPs and 9 locum, who worked in the practice for more than six months.
GDPR Your Rights & Your Options
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IT – Statement of Intent
IT / ELECTRONIC PATIENT RECORDS
STATEMENT OF INTENT FOR HEBDEN BRIDGE GROUP PRACTICE
New contractual requirements came into force from 1 April 2014 requiring that GP practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:
- Summary Care Record (SCR)
- GP to GP Record Transfers
- Patient Online Access to their GP Record
- Data for Commissioning and other secondary care purposes
The same contractual obligations require that we have a statement of intent regarding these developments in place and publicised by 30 September 2014.
Please find below details of our position with regards to these developments.
Summary Care Record (SCR)
NHS England require practices to enable successful automated uploads of any changes to patient’s summary information to the summary care record (SCR) or have published plans in place to achieve this by 31st of March 2015.
Having your Summary Care Record (SCR) available will help anyone treating you without your full medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any drugs that you have a recorded allergy or sensitivity to.
If you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record.
The Practice confirms that your SCR is automatically updated when changes are made to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.
GP to GP Record Transfers
NHS England require practices to utilise the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers (not for temporary registration).
It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded on to your new GP via NHS England. It can take your paper records several weeks to reach your new surgery.
With GP to GP record transfers your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner.
The Practice confirms that GP to GP transfers will be active from 21st January 2015
Patient Online Access to their GP Record
NHS England require practices to promote and offer the facility to enable patients online access to appointments, prescriptions, allergies and adverse reactions or have published plans in place to achieve this by 31st of March 2015.
The Practice confirms that we currently offer the facility for booking and cancelling appointments and also for ordering your repeat prescriptions on-line. This is done by the SystmOne Online facility. If you do not already have a user name and password for this system – please ask reception.
Data for Commissioning and other secondary care purposes
It is already a requirement of the Health and Social Care Act that Practices must meet the reasonable data requirements of commissioners and other health and social care organisations through appropriate and safe data sharing for secondary uses, as specified in the technical specification for care data.
We have specific arrangements in place to allow patients to “opt out” of care.data which allows for the removal of data from the Practice.
The Practice confirms that these arrangements are in place and that we undertake annual training and audits to ensure that all our data is handled correctly and safely via the Information Governance Toolkit.
NHS Data Matters
Patient Participation Group
What is the Patient Participation Group?
The Patient Participation Group aims to work towards improving and developing patient services.
The group is there to voice the views, needs and requirements of our patients, and to help influence positive change in the services provided by Hebden Bridge Group Practice.
The group comprises the volunteer members, the Practice Business Manager and other health professionals.
Join our Patient Participation Group
We are always looking for enthusiastic volunteers for the group.
Please speak to our reception staff for further information or email [email protected].
If you have ideas or issues you would like to the group to discuss, you can also raise these via [email protected].
For any other issues, please contact the Practice on 01422 415777, via post to Hebden Bridge Group Practice, Valley Medical Centre, Valley Road, Hebden Bridge HX7 7BZ, or in person via reception.
Don’t forget we also have the Friends & Family Survey so that if you wish to contribute but cannot attend in person and do not have access to email you can still provide feedback and recommendations when you are at the practice.
Have your say!
Aims of the Patient Participation Group
The PPG aims to:
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- act as an advisory group providing perspectives and concerns from patients that can influence how services operate at the Practice
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- seek patients’ views and communicate general areas of patient concern to the Practice, with a view to influencing change
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- act as a consultative group for significant changes at the Practice
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- encourage and support the Practice in involving patients in their own care
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- identify and publicise channels of communication between patients and the Practice
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- be aware of comments received about the Practice
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- periodically review patient survey results and suggest changes as appropriate
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- facilitate links with voluntary groups and services within the community
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- In partnership with the Practice, provide up-to-date material for any PPG noticeboard and the PPG pages on the Practice website.
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- Maintain an awareness of plans and developments at national and regional level.
Benefits of having a Patient Participation Group
Good for patients who will:
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- Take more responsibility for their own health
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- Have a clearer understanding and knowledge of the practice and staff
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- Benefit from improved communications with staff
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- Have a forum to voice their concerns and suggest how to address these
Good for practice staff who will:
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- Be able to plan services jointly with patients in order to make services more effective
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- Be able to help patients with non-medical and social care issues
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- Be able to get help from patients in meeting targets and objectives
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- Have a forum to voice concerns, ideas and suggestions to patients
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- Build stronger links with their community
Practice Booklet
Practice Charter
The Responsibilities Of Patients
- To treat all the staff with respect and courtesy at all times. The Practice will not tolerate any form of verbal or physical abuse.
- To ask for a home visit only when the patient is unable to attend the surgery through illness or infirmity. If a home visit may be required please make this request before 11.00am.
- To ask for an out-of-hours visit only when necessary.
- To keep your appointments and contact the Practice in advance if you cannot.
- To be punctual for appointments and to make separate appointments for each patient wishing to see the Doctor.
- To inform the Practice staff of any alterations in your circumstances, such as change of address, surname or telephone number.
- To be patient when the health worker you have come to see is delayed for any reason.
The Responsibilities Of The Practice
- To treat you with respect and courtesy at all times.
- To treat you as an individual, and to discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide.
- To give you the most appropriate care by suitably qualified staff.
- To provide you with emergency care when you need it during the times we are open.
- To refer you to a consultant acceptable to you when necessary.
- To give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law.
- To give you absolute confidentiality and privacy in accordance with professional guidelines.
Public And Patient Involvement Group
The practice has an established Patients Group. We are always seeking new members and all are welcome. The group meets every two months and is chaired by one of our patients.
If you are:
- A patient of the practice
- Able to attend up to six meetings per year
- Willing to participate in constructive discussion about the practice and the patients we serve
- Committed to improving the service we provide
Then this is your chance to have your say about your Practice.
Confidentiality
Computers are used extensively throughout the Practice. They are a vital tool for all Doctors and staff and are used for administration, appointments, prescriptions and maintaining medical records.
Occasionally, GPs are contacted by outside agencies for access to medical records; no information is ever released without prior consent from the patient.
Patient confidentiality and the patient’s rights in relation to disclosure of information is maintained by all staff in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Caldicott Principles.
Complaints Procedure
The Practice operates its own complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints.
A leaflet giving full details is available from reception at each surgery or view online.
Violence And Abuse
The Practice will not tolerate violent or abusive behaviour towards any person present on Practice premises.
Any such behaviour will be reported to the Clinical Commissioning Group and this may result in removal from the practice list.
Practice Health Champions
Information about the work of Practice Health Champions is in development.
Privacy Notice
Proud To Be A Safe Surgery
We are proud to be a safe surgery for everyone in our community, and pledge to ensure that everyone in our community receives the quality healthcare they are entitled to.
In partnership with Doctors of the World UK, we will ensure that our practice offers a welcoming space for everyone who seeks to use our services. We will ensure that a lack of identification, proof of address, or immigration status do not prevent patient registration.
As a member of the Safe Surgeries community, we will endeavour to support other Safe Surgeries and the development of the network. Don’t have documents? Don’t worry, view the Safe Surgeries Documents poster for more information.
For more information on what it means to be a Safe Surgery, please view the Safe Surgeries Welcome poster.
If you wish to register, please speak to a member of staff who can help and support you with the process of registration.
You can learn more at Doctors of the World UK.
Research Practice
We are a Research Practice for the NHS Primary Care Research Network and participate in several research studies annually. In medicine we are constantly striving to find the most effective treatments for common conditions and research is the key factor that helps up to provide this knowledge. As a practice we take great care to choose studies which will feel will benefit our patients. From time to time you may be invited to take part in one of our studies. There is no obligation to take part and if you decline it will not affect your treatment in any way.
Safeguarding
Summary Care Record
If you are registered with a GP practice in England, you will already have a Summary Care Record unless you have previously chosen not to have one. It includes the following basic information:
- Medicines you are taking
- Allergies you suffer from
- Any bad reactions to medicines
It also includes your name, address, date of birth and unique NHS Number which helps to identify you correctly.
Detailed Coded Record
Your Detailed Coded Record may consist of the following elements from your medical record:
- Blood Pressures
- Diagnoses
- Drug sensitivities
- Medication
- Pathology requests
- Pathology results (via the View Test Results page)
- Referrals
- Vaccinations
Access to your Detailed Coded Record
Once you have been registered for Online Services, you may request access to your ‘detailed coded record’. You will need to request this service online via the SystmOnline application.
Please refer to the SystmOnline user guide ‘Managing Online Services’ section. The user guide is available from here
Please be aware that access to your Detailed Coded Record may take the Practice up to 40 working days (as applicable to Subject Access Request and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998) to review your application and grant access if appropriate.
Considerations / Approval of Access
Access to your Detailed Coded Record is approved by a doctor on an individual basis. The Practice will not approve on-line access to detailed coded information if it is deemed that it may cause undue distress.
- In extreme circumstances, we may refuse access to the whole record. In these circumstances the named GP responsible for the care of the patient will have a conversation with the patient to explain the reasons for refusal of access.
Please note that clinical and non-clinical staff are required to access your medical records when necessary. All staff are bound by the Data Protection Act.
Where a patient has a concern about an incorrect entry or error on their record, they should be advised to discuss this with a GP at their next routine consultation.
The Practice reserves the right to review and remove access to online services at any point in the future if it is thought that it is in the best interests of the patient or if the services are being misused.
Summary Care Record Opt-Out Form
The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Hebden Bridge Group Practice is registered CQC provider ID: 1-199697279
The current ratings for Hebden Bridge Group Practice are:
The full report is available from the CQC website, here: https://api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/2710065f-67fe-4d07-83ea-b26571a393cb?20210124180106
The Purpose and Role of The CQC
The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC makes sure health care serviecs provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.
The CQC monitors, inspects and regulates services and publishes what they find.
The way the CQC regulates care services involves:
- Registering care providers (such as GP Practices).
- Using data, evidence and information throughout their work.
- Using patient feedbackto help them reach judgements.
- Inspections carried out by experts.
- Publishing information on their judgements. In most cases the CQC also publishes a rating.
- Taking action when they judge that services need to improve.
The CQC gives ratings bassed on each of their five key questions:
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Upper Calder Valley Primary Care Network
Hebden Bridge Group Practice, Todmorden Group Practice and Calder Community Practice are working together as Upper Calder Valley Primary Care Network.
A primary care network consists of groups of general practices working together with a range of local providers, including across primary care, community services, social care and the voluntary sector, to offer more personalised, coordinated health and social care to their local populations.
Networks would normally be based around natural local communities typically serving populations of at least 30,000 and not tending to exceed 50,000. They should be small enough to maintain the traditional strengths of general practice but at the same time large enough to provide resilience and support the development of integrated teams.
Our network will serve a patient population of around 35,000 patients
Primary care networks will provide proactive, coordinated care to their local populations, in different ways to match different people’s needs, with a strong focus on prevention and personalised care.
This means supporting patients to make informed decisions about their own health and care and connecting them to a wide range of statutory and voluntary services to ensure they can access the care they need first time.
Your Records
The Practice is pleased to provide patients with online access to its clinical system via the secure ‘SystmOnline’ web interface.
We offer access to the following online services:
- Appointment Booking
- Medication Requests
- Summary Care Record
- Detailed Coded Record
How to register
Please complete your details on the attached registration form below and bring it along to your surgery reception. You will need to provide us with a valid e-mail address and two forms of identification, one of which must contain a photograph. Acceptable documents include passports, photo driving licenses, photo bus passes, birth certificates, and bank statements (this list is not exhaustive). If none of the above are available, household bills may be accepted at the discretion of the Practice Manager, IT Manager or GP Partner.
Access will usually be granted as soon as your identification is verified. Practice reception staff will issue you with your user name, password and website details. Please allow up to 2 hours for your new user account to become active.