All practices, in line with government guidelines, have a ‘Zero Tolerance to Violence’ policy. This means that any violent or abusive behaviour or perceived threatening behaviour, whether verbal or otherwise to staff or members of the public on practice premises will not be tolerated. We can refuse to provide a service, report the incident to the Police and request that the patient and their family be removed from their Practice list.

Very rarely the Practice finds it necessary to remove a patient from the Practice List. This is usually on the recommendation of the British Medical Association and Royal College of General Practitioners. Should this occur, you will receive a letter stating clearly why you are being removed and with instructions on how you may register with another Doctor in the area. You can also contact South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula Clinical Commissioning Group on 01827 306 148.

The practice is committed to providing a safe and comfortable environment where patients and staff are confident that best practice is being followed.

Patients are entitled to ask for a chaperone for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel they prefer to have a chaperone.

The practice will endeavour to provide a formally trained chaperone upon request, but patients would help us by requesting a chaperone when booking an appointment where a chaperone is required. This may mean rescheduling appointments in order to meet this need.

A doctor, nurse or other health care professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.

Your GP practice holds copies of your patient health record electronically and in paper format. Both contain the healthcare information about you that your GP needs including your medical history, medications, allergies, immunisations and vaccinations.

If you have previously registered with a different GP in England, upon registering at this practice your electronic health record will, where possible, be transferred automatically from your previous practice through the use of an NHS system called GP2GP.

For further information see Transferring Your Electronic Health Record.

Information relevant to our surgery under the freedom of information act can be obtained by contacting the Practice Manager.

Our Privacy Notices explain what information we collect about you, how we store this information, how long we retain it and with whom and for which legal purpose we may share it:

• COVID-19 Privacy Notice
• Practice Privacy Notice
• Children Privacy Notice

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 form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

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 Gravel Hill Surgery in the last financial year was £73,853 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1 full time GP and 5 part time GPs who have worked in the practice for more than six months.

It is important to let us know if you are unhappy with your care or the service you have received so we have an opportunity to resolve it. We do have the NHS Friends and Family test available to give feedback or you can speak with a member of staff.

If you feel you would like to make a complaint, or discuss your feedback in more detail, please contact our Practice Manager Sarah Ness on 01902 893375, and she will advise you on the steps to take.

Our policy is to acknowledge the receipt of a complaint within three working days and to seek to resolve any concerns within 28 working days. You will be advised if more time is needed. Please note that this procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation.

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. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Please download our separate complaints form here to provide the practice with details of your complaint as this will ensure that we have enough information to begin our investigations. We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice Feedback and Complaints procedure as this gives us an opportunity to improve our practice. (the form is also available at reception too)

If you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation, you can refer your complaint to:

Patient Services Team

New Beacon Building

Stafford Education and Enterprise Park

Weston Road

Stafford

ST18 0BF

Tel: 0808 196 8861

Email: patientservices@staffsstoke.icb.nhs.uk

OR

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London,
SW1P 4QP

www.ombudsman.org.uk

To find the contact details for your local Healthwatch, see www.healthwatch.co.uk or call Healthwatch England on 03000 683 000

Complaints leaflet

Third Party Consent Form

All patients registered at Gravel Hill Surgery have a named “Usual GP” who has overall responsibility for the care and support that our Surgery provides to them.

This does not prevent you from seeing any GP in the Practice as you currently do.

Care of Patients at Gravel Hill Surgery does remain Practice based but if you would like to know who your named “Usual GP” is then please ask at Reception