The practice has a chaperone policy which is designed to protect both patients and staff from abuse or allegations of abuse and to assist patients to make an informed choice about their examinations and consultations. As a patient you can always request to have a chaperone   present if you wish.

Commissioner address:

ICB NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, No 1 Lakeside, 920 Centre Park, Warrington, WA1 1QY- email address- [email protected]

Weaverham Surgery’s complaints procedure complies with the “NHS complaints procedure”. We hope that the complaint can be resolved through our practice complaints procedure, by telephoning or writing to the Practice Manager. A leaflet is available at reception to explain the procedure in more detail. Your complaint will be acknowledge within 5 working days and you will receive a response within 28 working days or the timescale agreed with you.

The practice management team hope that if you have a problem, you will use the Practice Complaints Procedure.

Patients can either complain direct to the provider (GP practice) or to the commissioner (C&M ICB) but cannot complain to both and also can’t complain to one first then then the other.

However, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the response received from us, you can contact the following teams:

Patient Experience Team,

Cheshire & Merseyside ICB (replaces NHS England)

T: 0800 132 996 E-mail: [email protected]

Healthwatch Cheshire CIC

Healthwatch Cheshire CIC offers an NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS).

ICAS advocacy works within the NHS complaints regulations and can help you to use the NHS complaints process

to have your voice heard. Tel: 0300 323 0006 Email: [email protected]

Patients can either complain direct to the provider (GP practice) or to the commissioner (C&M ICB) They cannot complain to both and the can’t complain to one first then then the other.

The email address is [email protected]

Your records are kept mainly on the Practice Computer. The Practice Team may need to access your information but all NHS staff have a legal duty to keep your information secure and confidential.

Anonymous information is taken by outside parties for planning, statistics and public health matters. Under the Health and Social Care Act of 2012,

NHS England has the power to direct the HSCIC to collect information from all providers of NHS care, including general practices.

Please pick up a leaflet at reception for more information

The practice may ask you for consent depending on what procedure or treatment you may be having. Once

consent has been received this will then be documented on your consultation to protect both you as the patient and the clinician obtaining the consent.

Access to Health Records Click Here

Children’s Privacy Click Here

Privacy Leaflet Click Here

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised and the required disclosure is shown below.  However, 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 and should not be used to for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparisons with other practices.

The average earnings for GPs working in the Weaverham Surgery in the last financial year ending in 2022/23 was £96,960 before taxation and National Insurance.  This is for 3 full time GPs, 1 part time GP and 1 locum GP who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK.

From 1 July 2023 the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing.

 By primary care services we mean GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services.

There are two ways you can make a complaint:

• You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery.

• You can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.

After 1 July 2023 if you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will now contact NHS Cheshire and Merseyside integrated care board instead of NHS England.

You can do this by:

• Telephone: 0800 132 996

• E-mail: [email protected]

• Writing to us at:  Patient Experience Team, No 1 Lakeside, 920 Centre Park Square, Warrington, WA11QY.

If you want to make a complaint directly to the provider of the primary care service, you still can – that does not change on the 1 July 2023.

Members of the public with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that NHS Cheshire and Merseyside is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.

Members of the public with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.

Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service 

Be provided with services in a courteous, civil and co-operative manner.

Be given an explanation of, and advice on, their medical condition and proposed treatment.

Be referred appropriately to a specialist or other second opinion after discussion.

Patients can access their medical records by signing up to NHS app/ Patient access app.

Our Patient—GP Charter defines our functions and helps patients and staff to understand how we will conduct ourselves. This is our promise to you and we expect our patients will act in such a way as described in return.

What the Patients can expected from the practice:

 The practice will ensure it meets the appropriate doctor-to-patient ratio to ensure we can provide the best service to our patients.

 The practice will be efficiently managed, ensuring it maintains sufficient staff across all areas

 The leadership team will work hard to provide a vision of patient-centred innovative healthcare to the local area.

 The practice will provide promptly answered and appropriately manned phones at all times, signposting patients towards other methods of contact at peak times (online services).

 The practice will provide a website that is current, containing essential information and effective sign-posting.

 To provide the tools for patients to contact the practice in various ways: phone, text, email and online choices.

 The practice will provide availability of sufficient appointments within appropriate timescales

 Staff will be courteous at all times, displaying empathy and sensitivity to patients needs

 The practice will adhere to confidentiality and data protection guidelines at all times and submit an IG Toolkit each year.

 Cancer referrals will be completed the same day of the appointment; Urgent referrals will be within 3 working days, and non-urgent referrals between 7-10 working days.

What the practice can expect from patients:

 We expect that patients attend in enough time for their appointment.

 We expect that patients inform us with enough notice if they cannot attend for an appointment. Patients understand that failure to attend appointments on a number of occasions may result in warnings issued by the Practice.

 Patients understand that there are ’peak’ times for phone calls and patients requesting results or with queries should avoid calling during these times.

 Patients are expected to actin a polite and courteous manner with practice staff. Patients understand that the practice has a Zero Tolerance policy when it comes to aggressive behavior’s and this type of behaviour may result in sanctions being put in place or removal from the practice list.

Patients understand that using social media inappropriately against practice and staff counts as part of the Zero Tolerance Policy and sanctions may apply.

Patients will use the approved complaints procedure for addressing any issues.

Patients understand that the Practice Nurses and Doctors require necessary information needed on occasion prior to the patient appointment and staff may request this.

Patients will embrace new communication technologies to improve the patient experience, wherever possible.

Download our Patient Privacy Notice

A GP surgery can give someone proxy access so they can help another person manage their GP health and care. A proxy may be able to act for the person they support, by: ordering repeat prescriptions. booking appointments. contacting the surgery or speaking to surgery staff.

Download a copy of the Proxy Access Form.

Download Our Statement for using call recording 

Any violent or abusive behaviour to any member of staff or other patients will result in immediate removal from the practice.

This Practice considers aggressive behaviour to be:

• any personal comments directed at staff
• abusive and/or aggressive comments or attitude to staff
• using bad language, cursing and/or swearing at practice staff or other service users
• raised voices
• verbal, non-verbal, slights, snubs and insults which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages
• physical contact and aggressive gestures.
• In summary, any behaviour, verbal or physical that make the staff or patients uncomfortable, embarrassed, or threatened

No abuse of the staff is acceptable in all forms of communication – i.e., face to face, social media, or any other form of electronic communication with the surgery.

All abuse will be reported to the Practice Operations Manager who will keep a log of all incidents.

All physical abuse of any of our staff is reported to the police.

• The patient will then be removed immediately from our patient list.
• The health authority will inform the patient of the need to register with a new doctor.

Any incident of verbal abuse whether in person or on the telephone will be

• reported immediately to the Practice Operations Manager and
• Recorded in the logbook kept in the zero-tolerance folder on the computer system shared drive.
• If appropriate, the Practice Operations Manager will discuss the incident with one of the Partners and a formal letter will be sent to the patient.
• A copy will be kept with the medical records.
• Any response to the letter will be recorded in the logbook and the letter will be kept on file.
• The logbook will be reviewed weekly and discussed, if necessary, at the staff meeting.

Common themes resulting in a breakdown in relationship between the practice and the patient include:

• Multiple DNA’s
• Unrealistic expectations
• Unreasonable demands
• Unnecessarily persistent or unrealistic service demands that cause disruption
• Behavioural issues – the Practice will not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, or victimisation
• Use of racist or other offensive language
• Social media – abusive or derogatory posts about staff or the surgery – see Social Media Zero Tolerance Policy.

All break-down in relationship issues are viewed as serious matters and will be reported to the Practice Operations Manager, who will keep a log of all incidents, and this may result in you being removed from our patient list.

Reporting of Patients

• If the patient’s name appears once in the logbook, a letter will be written warning him/her that any further abusive behaviour will result in removal from the list, (the yellow card).
• On the second occasion, the patient will be removed immediately from the list and a letter will be sent to the patient confirming this, (the red card).
• Where a patient has been asked to leave the premises because of unacceptable behaviour and refuses to do so the Police will be called to remove the patient. Where the Surgery must call the Police, this incident will warrant a (red card) response from the Surgery immediately. The patient will be informed in writing that they have breached the Zero Tolerance Policy and have been removed from our list.
• From this point on,
  • the patient will not be welcome at this practice and
  • will be removed from the premises by the police if they present here.
  • We will refuse to treat them

REFUSAL TO TREAT

The possibility of leaving a patient without any access to healthcare, despite his or her behaviour is not ethically acceptable even where there have been repeated violent incidents.

This policy envisages that no patient will be removed formally from a GP’s list until a red card is issued.

In the interests of staff safety, patients will be removed after a red card warning. They will then be referred to Primary Care Support England (PCSE) and may be seen in a secure place in accordance with PCSE procedures.

FAMILIES OF AGGRESSIVE PATIENTS

It is not acceptable for the innocent relatives of a violent person to be removed from a list or refused treatment because of the behaviour of a relative.

A home visit to such a family to treat a relative of the offender may require the supervision of the police.

INFORMATION TO PATIENTS

• A poster outlining the Practice’s Zero Tolerance to Violence will be displayed on the premises.
• A copy of this “Zero Tolerance to Violence Policy” will be available to patients at no charge.