If you feel that you have not received the service you should have from us, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  You can either call us, write to us or e-mail the Practice Manager. We do try our best to give our patients the best service possible but we would want to know if we are failing somewhere. We are eager to learn from any complaints or feedback.

If you have any complaints, please contact us directly in the first instance so we can try to resolve your complaint before escalating it further.

If you are coming into the surgery, please ask for a complaints procedure form and leaflet from Reception and if you would like to see the Practice Manager, please enquire at reception.

Our contact details are:

Email: lisa.cunliffe@nhs.net (Practice Manager)

Parbold Surgery

4 The Green

Parbold

Wigan

WN8 7DT

Tel No. 01257 440817

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If you are dissatisfied with our response you may contact:

NHS England Lancashire Office here

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Lancashire Office

Preston Business Centre
Watling Street Road
Fulwood
Preston
Lancashire
PR2 8DY

Tel: 01772 420150 or 0300 311 2233

Email: England.lat.complaints@nhs.net

or if you are unhappy with our or NHS England’s response:

• the NHS Ombusman here

 Tel No: 0345 015 4033

Click here Guidance on making a complaint to the NHS:

Click here for our GDPR Data Protection Policy

From the 25th May 2018, there will be a change in the Date Protection laws in the UK. If you would like more details please go here:

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PRIVACY NOTICE PARBOLD SURGERY

Who are we?

Parbold Surgery are a partnership of general practitioners serving NHS patients in the Parbold locality.

What do we do with your information?

We collect your demographic data (name age sex address etc) and use your medical records with details such as diseases, operations and investigations to provide medical care. We may use your data to plan and improve services. We will process your data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and successor laws.

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How We Use Your Information

In order to provide for your care, we need to collect and keep information about you and your health on our records. Your records are used to:

• Provide a basis for all health decisions made by care professionals with and for you
• Make sure your care is safe and effective
• Work effectively with others providing you with care

We also may use, or share, your information for the following purposes:

• Looking after the health of the general public
• Making sure that our services can meet patient needs in the future
• Auditing accounts
• Preparing statistics on NHS performance and activity (where steps will be taken to ensure you cannot be identified)
• Investigating concerns, complaints or legal claims
• Helping staff to review the care they provide to make sure it is of the highest standards
• Training and educating staff
• Research approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee. (If anything to do with the research would involve you personally, you will be contacted to provide consent).

If you do not wish your Confidential Personal Information (CPI) to be used for these or other purposes please access the NHS Digital website and fill in the opt out form.  It will explain fully the reason for opting out or staying in.  You will need to make a choice.  Anyone from the age of 13 years can make this choice. Or telephone the helpline on 0300 303 5678.

Who will it be shared with?

The staff of Parbold Surgery and any services we refer you to for your further treatment for example referrals to other parts of the NHS such as hospital services, GP Out of Hours services, ambulance, pharmacies, district nurses and other community nursing services.

We are obliged to share data collected as an NHS patient with NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which gives NHS Digital statutory powers to require data from health or social care providers in England where NHS Digital has been directed to do so by the Department of Health (on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health) or NHS England.

The Department of Health has directed NHS Digital to perform this work but you can opt out by accessing the NHS digital website and filling in the form which is on there.

Disclosure of Information to Other Health and Social Professionals

We work with a number of other NHS and partner agencies to provide healthcare services to you. Below is a list of organisations that we may share your information with:

Our partner organisations

• other NHS hospitals
• relevant GP Practices
• dentists, opticians and pharmacies
• Private Sector Providers (private hospitals, care homes, hospices, contractors providing services to the NHS)
• Voluntary Sector Providers who are directly involved in your care
• Ambulance Trusts
• Specialist Trusts
• Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• NHS 111
• Out of Hours medical service
• NHS walk in centres
• NHS England
• The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)

We may also share your information, with your consent, and subject to strict sharing protocols, about how it will be used, with:

• Local authority departments, including social care and health (formerly social services), education and housing and public health
• Police and fire services

Computer System

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This practice operates a Clinical Computer System on which NHS Staff record information securely. This information can then be shared with other clinicians so that everyone caring for you is fully informed about your medical history, including allergies and medication.

To provide around the clock safe care, unless you have asked us not to, we will make information available to trusted organisations. Wherever possible, their staff will ask your consent before your information is viewed.

We consider patient consent as being the key factor in dealing with your health information.

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Shared Care Records

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To support your care, and improve the sharing of relevant information to our partner organisations when they are involved in looking after you, we will share information to other systems. The general principle is that information is passed to these systems unless you request this does not happen, but that system users should ask for your consent before viewing your record.

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How we keep your information confidential and secure

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We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security.

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Everyone working in, or for, the NHS must use personal information in a secure and confidential way.

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We will only ever use or pass on your information if there is a genuine need to do so. We will not disclose information about you to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the law requires.

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To protect your confidentiality, we will not normally disclose any medical information about you over the telephone, or by fax, unless we are sure that we are talking to you. This means that we will not disclose information to your family, friends, and colleagues about any medical matters at all, unless we know that we have your consent to do so or there is a clear best interest urgent medical reason.

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Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential and secure

All persons in the practice sign a confidentiality agreement that explicitly makes clear their duties in relation to personal health information and the consequences of breaching that duty.

Please be aware that your information will be accessed by non-clinical practice staff in order to perform tasks enabling the functioning of the practice. These are, but not limited to:

• Typing referral letters to hospital consultants or allied health professionals
• Opening letters from hospitals and consultants
• Scanning clinical letters, radiology reports and any other documents not available in electronic format
• Photocopying or printing documents for referral to consultants
• Handling, printing, photocopying and postage of medico legal and life assurance reports and of associated documents

Right of Access to your Health Information

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The Data Protection Act 1998 allows you to find out what information about you is held on computer and in manual records. This is known as “right of subject access” and applies to personal information held about you. If you want to see the information about you that the practice holds:

• This can be viewed on Patient Access or make an appointment at reception informing them the nature of your appointment.
• You will be required to provide ID before any information is released to you.

Who else may ask to access your information

• The law courts can insist that we disclose medical records to them
• Solicitors often ask for medical reports. These will always be accompanied by your signed consent for us to disclose information. We will not normally release details about other people that are contained in your records (eg wife, children, parents etc) unless we also have their consent
• Limited information is shared with Public Health England to help them organise national programmes for Public Health such as childhood immunisations
• Social Services. The Benefits Agency and others may require medical reports on you from time to time. These will often be accompanied by your signed consent to disclose information.

Failure to co-operate with these agencies can lead to loss of benefit or other support. However, if we have not received your signed consent we will not normally disclose information about you.

Life assurance companies frequently ask for medical reports on prospective clients. These are always accompanied by your signed consent form. We must disclose all relevant medical conditions unless you ask us not to do so. In that case, we would have to inform the insurance company that you have instructed us not to make a full disclosure to them.

You have the right, should you request it, to see reports to insurance companies or employers before they are sent.

Sharing your information without consent

We will normally ask you for your consent, but there are times when we may be required by law to share your information without your consent, for example:

• Where there is a serious risk of harm or abuse to you or other people
• Where a serious crime, such as assault, is being investigated or where it could be prevented
• Notification of new births
• Where we encounter infectious diseases that may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS)
• Where a formal court order has been issued
• Where there is a legal requirement, for example if you had committed a Road Traffic Offence.

Parbold Practice is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• Information you supply using any electronic form(s) on this website will only be used for the purpose(s) stated on the form
• Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes

We use the NHS Account Messaging Service provided by NHS England to send you messages relating to your health and care. You need to be an NHS App user to receive these messages. Further information about the service can be found at the privacy notice for the NHS App managed by NHS England.

We also use the Accurx Messaging Service to send direct messages to you concerning your care. See here

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice will be reviewed again on a regular basis.

Concerns

If you have any concerns about how we use or share your information, or you do not wish us to share your information, then please contact our Practice Manager who will be able to assist you

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Guide to GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

Click here for more information

PUBLICATION OF EARNINGS

It is a contractual requirement for practices to publish their mean average earnings for 2022/23. Practices must;

• Publish details on their website by 31 March 2024.
• If asked this must also be available in paper copy or you can show the patient the information posted on the website.

The calculation excludes certain types of income and the rules are complex and open to interpretation.

Full time GP’s are defined in the guidance as working eight sessions or more. The number of GP’s includes salaried GP’s and locums who worked full or part time for 6 months or more.

The required disclosure for your practice 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 for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in Parbold Surgery in the last financial year was £81,387 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1  full time GP and 4 part time GPs.

It’s Your Practice: A patient guide to GP services has been put together by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) for patients.

This guide has been produced as part of the RCGP’s aim to build stronger relationships between you and your doctors and encourage the involvement and inclusion of you in your own care.

The guide provides helpful information on all aspects of using GP services: from finding and choosing a practice and how to get the most out of a GP consultation to accessing health records and understanding patients’ rights and responsibilities.

It is split into several sections including:

• General Practice explained
• Choosing the right practice for you
• Registering with a GP practice
• Seeing your GP – consultations
• Seeing your GP – the next steps
• After your GP consultation
• Your health record
• Your rights and responsibilities as a patient
• Get involved with your practice

The publication is part of a push by the NHS as a whole to encourage you to understand how you can get the most out of primary care – which also includes how you can become more involved in monitoring your own health.

 Click here to Download A Patient Guide to GP Services

Parbold Surgery is on ground level so getting in and out of the surgery building should be easy but if you have any difficulties, please ring the door bell and one of our Receptionists will only be too happy to help.

We have a wheel chair on the premises for patient use – please ask one of our Receptionists and they will be able to get it ready for you.

We have a disabled parking space just outside the building’s main entrance of the building – this is suitable for one vehicle. Please do not use this space if you do not have a blue badge as it could prevent someone using it who needs it.

A Hearing Loop is also available on Reception and if you would like a hearing interpreter with you at your consultation, please inform the reception staff and they will arrange this for you.  We will need time to arrange this so please let us know you require this service with as much notice as possible.

We also have a ‘Language Line’ for anyone who feels they may need help with translation when they are on the premises.

Dogs for the blind or hearing impaired patients may be in the waiting room from time to time. If you have an allergy, please let us know and we will be able to isolate you until it is time for your appointment.

If you feel there are any other help aids that we are currently not using or may not be aware of, please do let us know and we will do our best to help.

Our patients with learning disabilities may benefit from using our signage documentation to explain procedures to them, please let the clinical staff know if you feel this would help.

West Lancashire GPs and the local Integrated Care Board work with local NHS care providers to allow doctors and nurses in various care settings, including A&E and Out of Hours, to view a limited but vital amount of your clinical information that is held on a GP practice’s computer system.

This is called a Summary Care Record (SCR).

Having access to a patient’s SCR will help ensure that:

1   NHS staff treating you have essential information about you

2   Your doctors and nurses, together with you, will be able to make informed decisions about your care.

At a minimum, the SCR holds important information about:

• current medications
• allergies and details of any previous bad reactions to medicines
• the name, address, date of birth and NHS number of the patient

Additional information in the SCR, such as details of long-term conditions, significant medical history or specific communications needs, is now included by default for patients with an SCR unless they have previously told the NHS that they did not want this information to be shared.

When registered with a GP practice in England, your SCR is created automatically, unless you have opted out and is uploaded to the ‘Spine‘. It will then be updated automatically. When new patients are registered, the practice should check the patient is happy to have a SCR.

Security and the SCR

Data within the SCR is protected by secure technology. Users must have a smartcard with the correct codes set. Each use is recorded. A patient can make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to NHS Digital to find out the organisation that accessed their SCR and the date/time of the access.

A patient can also opt out of having a SCR by returning a completed opt-out form to their GP practice.

Click here for a SCR opt-out form

Patient safety and confidentiality are two of our most fundamental and important concerns. Patients can choose not to allow a doctor or nurse to see their medical record by saying ‘no’ when their consent is asked for.

Your GP Practice is committed to operating in a way that complies fully with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We recognise that the personal data legitimately required in order to carry out our business must be collected, processed, stored and disposed of fairly, lawfully and with due regard to confidentiality. We fully respect your privacy.

If you have any questions about your data or how we deal with it please contact the practice and get in touch with us by clicking on the Contact Us links available on this website.