Practice Policies

Confidentiality

You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, whether doctor, nurse or receptionist, will remain confidential. Even if you are under 16, nothing will be said to anyone, including parents, other family members, care workers or teachers, without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission would be to protect either you or someone else from serious harm. In this situation, we would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you have any worries or queries about confidentiality, please ask a member of staff.

If you would like to discuss matters of a confidential nature, either with our receptionists or a member of the dispensary team, we have a side room available in reception for this purpose.

Chaperone Policy

We are able to offer a chaperone during examinations if you wish to have one. Please feel free to ask the GP.

Roborough Surgery is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

Our Chaperone Policy adheres to local and national guidance and policy (i.e. ‘NCGST Guidance on the role and effective use of chaperones in Primary and Community Care settings’).

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they consider one is required.

The chaperone may be a family member or friend, but on occasions a formal chaperone may be preferred.

Patients are advised to ask for a chaperone if required. The Healthcare Professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations. All staff are aware of and have received appropriate information in relation to this Chaperone Policy.

Click here to view the GMC Guidance on Intimate Examinations and Chaperones.

Data Protection

We need to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.

Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.

All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.

In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.

To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.

You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.

IT Policy

This practice is committed to preserving, as far as is practical, the security of data used by our information systems. This means that we will take all reasonable actions to;

Maintain the Confidentiality of all data within the practice by:

Ensuring that only authorised persons can gain access to our systems
Not disclosing information to anyone who has no right to see it

Maintain the integrity of all data within the practice by:

Taking care over input
Ensuring that all changes are reported and monitored
Checking that the correct record is on the screen before updating
Reporting all apparent errors and ensuring that they are resolved

Maintain the availability of all data by:

Ensuring that all equipment is protected from intruders
Ensuring that backups are taken at regular, predetermined intervals
Ensuring that contingency is provided for possible failure or equipment theft and that any such contingency plans are tested and kept up to date

Additionally we will take all reasonable measures to comply with our legal responsibilities under:

Personal Data

The following IT systems are in use at the practice:

Referral Management (using NHS numbers in referrals)
Electronic Appointment Booking (the facility to book routine appointments online and, similarly, to cancel appointments
Online booking of repeat prescriptions
Summary Care Record (uploading details of your current medication and allergies to the national “spine” so that these are available for doctors involved in your care elsewhere)
GP to GP transfers (the electronic transfer of records from practice to practice when you re-register
Patient Access to records (the facility to view your medical records online).
AccuRx Patient Triage (online consultations with the Practice)
AccuRx (secure text messaging service and video consultation service)

If you are not already registered for online access and would like to be please speak to reception.

If you would like access to your medical records enabled or would like to opt out of the local or national summary care record, please contact reception.

Social Media

All Roborough Surgery social media accounts are managed by senior members of staff at the surgery. All posts are created individually and there are no feeds connected to the accounts.

Posts

Roborough Surgery will generally post updates during normal office hours 9am -5pm. They will include:

News releases and events relevant to people and services in Devon from the CCG/NHS England.
General information about health from NHS England.
‘Retweets’ or ‘likes’ of other posts from health and social care agencies, voluntary sector organisations and partners.
Any posts mentioning other organisations or products are not an endorsement of any kind – political, commercial or otherwise.

Following

Roborough Surgery will follow users who are relevant to the organisation. These include health and social care agencies and voluntary sector organisations so that we can share their updates/ information. Anybody can follow the pages for updates.

Availability

Roborough Surgery monitors and updates its accounts weekdays, between 9am and 5pm excluding Bank Holidays. No responsibility is accepted for lack of service during internet downtime.

@replies and direct messages

The sites are set up for communication of relevant news to the surgery’s members, staff, stakeholders and the general public. You are welcome to leave comments, unsuitable comments will be reported.

Please note that we are unable to give medical advice via social media.

Media

If you are a member of the media and have a query or concern, please contact NEW Devon ICB on 01392 674 801 or email D-CCG.Communications@nhs.net

Violence Policy

The NHS and Roborough Surgery operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse, whether physical or verbal 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.