If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this GP surgery, please let us know. This includes Primary Care Network staff working as part of our GP surgery. We operate a complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly when they arise and with the person concerned. For example, by requesting a face-to-face meeting to discuss your concerns.

If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible. By making your complaint quickly, it is easier for us to establish what happened. 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 the GP surgery team verbally or in writing to Email: cpicb.nonurgentpatientqueries.albram@nhs.net    Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the GP surgery to discuss your concerns. They will explain the complaints procedure to you and make sure your concerns are dealt with promptly. Please be as specific as possible about your complaint.

What we will do

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will aim to have investigated your complaint within ten working days of the date you raised it with us. We will then offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved, if you would like this. When we investigate your complaint, we will aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong.
• Make it possible for you to discuss what happened with those concerned, if you would like this.
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate.
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

We take medical confidentiality seriously. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must 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.

Complaining to NHS England

We hope that you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure if you are unhappy. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our GP surgery.

However, if you feel you cannot raise the complaint with us directly, please contact NHS England. You can find more information on how to make a complaint at https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/complaining-to-nhse/.

Unhappy with the outcome of your complaint?

If you are not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the GP surgery and NHS England and would like to take the matter further, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO makes final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. It is an independent service which is free for everyone to use.

To take your complaint to the Ombudsman, visit the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website or call 0345 015 4033

Need help making a complaint?

If you want help making a complaint, Healthwatch Hounslow can help you find independent NHS complaints advocacy services in your area.

Alternatively, POhWER is a charity that helps people to be involved in decisions being made about their care. Call POhWER’s support centre on 0300 456 2370 for advice.

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons.

Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge.

No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.

The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:

• To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
• To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
• When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases. Anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.

If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.

Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.

From 1st September 2021 Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries, like all GP surgeries, will legally have to allow sharing of patient identifiable data with NHS digital for health and social care planning and research purposes. We are not allowed by law to refuse to share the information.

NHS Digital will also collect information from other healthcare providers, and will be able to publish and share this data. NHS Digital hope to use this data to help NHS planning of local services and to share with research organisations.

You can find out more about how and why NHS Digital want to use your data here: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research#additional-information-for-patients-and-the-public

As a patient you can decide whether or not you wish your data to be shared, and you can tell us not to share your data with NHS Digital.

It is important for you to understand there are two different opt out options:

Option 1 – Known as a Type 1 Opt out:

• This is to opt out of GP data sharing with GDPR.
• Your information will not be shared from our clinical system.
• If you opt out before the end of August 2021, NHS Digital will not extract any of your data.
• You can opt out at a later stage, and no further data extractions will then take place.
• You can opt in again at any stage.
• You can use this online form to indicate your type 1 opt out: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/manage-your-choice/
• You will find the relevant paper forms here (and shortly on our website too): https://digital.nhs.uk/your-data/opting-out-of-data-sharing
• You can email or write to us at hhcdata.alconburyandbramptonsurgery@nhs.net clearly stating you wish to record a Type 1 opt out.

Option 2 – Known as National Data Opt out:

• This does not stop sharing from GP records to NHS Digital.
• This controls what NHS Digital is allowed to do with your data, you are opting out of NHS Digital sharing your health data (this includes any health data from other providers as well).
• There are several ways to compete the National Data opt out:
• Via the NHS App
• By calling 0300 303 5678
• Online at: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/manage-your-choice/

General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) Update August 2021

In July we advised patients about a new NHS Digital framework for data extraction called GDPR which planned for safe and secure access to GP Practices in England to collect data in order to analyse and publish statistical data to be used for health and social  care purposes. This data will inform the planning & commissioning of services, policy development and be used for public health purposes and research.

Following concerns raised in response to the Department of Health and Social Care initial plans for NHS Digital to upload GP data to their central database the implementation of this data collection has been postponed.

NHS Digital are working with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British medical Association (BMA) to revise their plans with the following assurances;

1. Patient data will be deleted if a patient opts-out of sharing their patient data with NHS Digital at any time, even if this is after it has been uploaded. Patients can opt in or out at any stage and the data held will reflect their current decision;
2. The back-log or opt-out requests recently received has been cleared so that all current preferences are recorded;
3. A Trusted Research Environment (TRE) will be developed and implemented at NHS Digital solely for the purpose of storing this data which is to be used for the purpose of improving health and care only. All data will be pseudonymised and encrypted by the GP clinical system prior to transfer to NHS Digital and is not and never will be ‘for sale’;
4. Patients are made aware of the scheme via an initial consultation with a further engagement and communication campaign.

There is no longer a specific start date for the collection of data as this process will not commence until the above assurances have been met. In addition to this NHS Digital are working on a process that enables patients to opt out centrally.

The value and importance of the data upload programme is undeniable given the recent achievements made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Neither the discovery that the steroid Dexamethasone could save the lives of a third of the most vulnerable patients on ventilators or the speed of the vaccine rollout in the UK would have been possible without data from GP Practices.

We would like to reassure patients at the Practice that if you have previously registered a type 1 opt-out to decline the upload of data to NHS Digital then this still stands. As more information becomes available from NHS Digital we will share these with our patients.

Melanie Gearing

Practice Manager

Online Access to Your Medical Record

All practices nationally have been asked to provide patients with prospective access to their medical record from 31st October 2023. Access is via the NHS app and/or NHS website if you have a suitable NHS login.

Your GP medical record contains consultation notes based on conversations between you, your GP and their team: medicines prescribed to you; all test results including hospital investigations; allergies; vaccines; and your medical conditions along with documents that may have been sent from local hospitals, clinics or other agencies, eg. the police. There is likely to be sensitive and personal information within your medical record.

We are supportive of providing you with access to your record, but we wish to do this safely. You will need to understand the risks which may be involved in having such confidential data either on your smartphone with the NHS app installed or online if there is a possibility that other people might have access to that information through your devices. If you are in a difficult or pressured relationship for example, you may prefer your records to remain accessible only to those treating you, with them not appearing on your smartphone or online. Government has been clear that if a patient does not wish to have access, then we do not have to provide it.

For those who would like access, there are now different levels:

• Everyone already has access to their medication history and allergies, and can order their repeat prescriptions, if they use the NHS App or have an NHS login set up.

• As of 31st October 2023 you will be able to request access to your prospective record which will allow you to see everything which gets added to your record starting from the date your request is approved. Requesting access to prospective records – what do I need to do?
  The easiest way to get access is to create an NHS login through the NHS app. Although you can also access your GP records via the internet on a computer, the first bit is easiest if done through a smartphone. If you don’t have one, you may have a family member or friend that can help. We also have monthly drop in sessions where our digital champions can help and advise. If you wish to complete and hand in a form please click here for a printable form.

• For several years now it has also been possible to request access to what we call your retrospective ‘coded record’ where you can see historical data contained in your record. The application process for this level of access can take much longer due to the workload involved and the need for a GP to review the whole of your medical record as part of the application process. Patients that wish to have full online access to their historic records will need to complete a form to request this, have read and understood their responsibilities as a patient as detailed in the leaflet ‘it’s your choice’ and will be asked to provide photographic identification as proof of identity.

It’s important to remember that medical documents may, at times, contain information that could be upsetting, especially if they contain news of a serious condition. It can also be a cause for worry seeing results online when it isn’t clear what the results might mean, and no one is available to ask, as can be the case during the evening or at weekends, for example.
Sometimes people might prefer not to see information that remind them of difficult times in their life. Letters from healthcare providers sometimes need to go into detail about past events, and great consideration would be needed in deciding whether you would want to see these letters. Consideration is also needed if there is a possibility that private details might cause harm at home, should people in a difficult or pressured relationship be forced to show their medical record to an abusive partner.

If you use the NHS app, you’ll have to set up an account using a unique e-mail address and then ‘authenticate’ yourself to the NHS system to prove you are who you say you are. This will involve confirming your name, date of birth and contact details. The NHS login has several levels of authentication and to gain access to your records you’ll need the highest level of authentication. This generally involves you recording a short video of yourself to prove you are a real person as well as uploading a copy of a suitable identification document.
Once you have suitably authenticated yourself to the NHS app and created your NHS login you can contact us and ask for access, being mindful of the risks associated with access and the importance of not sharing passwords or having them stored in your smartphone if you think other people might want to see them without your permission. We will provide you with an application form (or you can download it here) to complete and bring back to the surgery with relevant items of identification. Your application will then be passed to a GP for review. As we are unsure as to how many people will ask for prospective access there may be a wait, but we will do our best to get you online access as soon as we can.

We currently offer patients the opportunity to book appointments and request repeat medication online automatically. If you are a Brampton patient and opt to request repeat prescriptions this way then please allow an extra day for us to action this for you as requests are processed by our Dispensary at Alconbury and dispatched to Brampton via our internal mail.

Patients who wish to have online access to repeat prescriptions and appointment booking need to request this from reception who can generate a letter detailing the login information they will need to access these services. Proof of residency address and photo ID are required.

We have also recently commenced with the offering of patients online access to summary information from their medical records. This includes your demographics, medications, immunisations and allergies.

Our online services for patients are accessed via the partnership website  https://www.patientaccess.com/gp-features.

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 Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries in the last financial year was £89,489 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 4 full time GPs and 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 into 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.

Our Supplementary Privacy Notice on Covid-19 for Patients/Service Users can be found under our the our documents page.

The Practice Privacy Notice can be found here.

National Data Opt Out

Patients can choose to opt out of their data being used for research and planning purposes. For more information visit: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/.

Summary Care Record