Practice Policies

Confidentiality & Medical Records

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.

Freedom of Information

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.

Access to Records

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.

Complaints

Making a complaint

If you have any complaints or concerns about the service that you have received from the doctors or staff working for this practice, please let us know.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise with the person concerned. If the problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible- ideally within a matter of days or at most a few weeks- because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. 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 that is within 12 months of the incident

Mrs Julie Howells, Practice Manager, will be happy to deal with any complaint. She will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. You can make your complaint:

In person – ask to speak to the Practice Manager

In writing – some complaints may be easier to explain in writing – please give us as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the practice for the attention of the Practice Manager as soon as possible.

What we will do

Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we settle any complaints as quickly as possible.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 20 working days of the date that you raised it with us. We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the person/s involved.

When we look into a complaint we will aim to:

find out what happened and what went wrong
make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
make sure that you receive an apology, where appropriate
identify what we can do to make sure that the problem doesn’t happen again

At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail, either in person or in writing.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

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 his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

What you can do next

We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and the opportunity to improve our practice.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you have the right to ask the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales to review your case (see below)

Contact Details:

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales:

Phone: 0300 7900203

Email: ask@ombudsman.wales

Website: www.ombudsman.wales

Address: Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, 1 Ffordd Yr Hen Gae, Pencoed. CF35 5LJ

Hywel Dda Community Health Council:

Phone: 01646 697610 (option 3)

Email: Complaints.Advocacy2@waleschc.org.uk

Website: Hywel Dda Community Health Council

Address: Hywel Dda Community Health Council, Suite 5, 1st Floor, Ty Myrddin, Old Station Road, Carmarthen. SA31 1BT

Patient Support Services:

Phone: 0300 0200 159

Email: hdhb.patientsupportservices@wales.nhs.uk

Website: www.hduhb.nhs.wales

Address: Freepost Feedback @ Hywel Dda, Withybush General Hospital, Fishguard Road, Haverfordwest. SA61 2PZ

Policy for Removal of Patients from Practice List

Llangennech Surgery aims to provide the best possible health care for their patients. However there may be circumstances when it would be considered reasonable, or in the best interests of the patient, to remove patients from the list.

The purpose of this policy, therefore, is to define the practice guidelines for when it is reasonable to remove a patient from the practice list and to ensure that any concerns about removing patients from the list are dealt with fairly.

Situations Which Justify Removal

Violence

When a patient:-

Is physically violent or threatening towards a doctor, practice staff or other patients on the practice premises.
Causes physical damage to practice premises or other patient’s property.
Gives verbal abuse or makes threats towards the doctor, practice staff or other patients.
Gives racial abuse, verbally or physically.
Is violent, uses or condones threatening behaviour to doctors (or any other members of the primary health care team) while visiting the patient’s home. Such behaviour may involve the patient, a relative, a household member, or pets (such as unchained dogs).

Crime and Deception

Where a patient:-

Fraudulently obtains drugs for non-medical reasons.
Deliberately lies to the doctor or other member of the primary health care team (e.g. by giving a false name or false medical history) in order to obtain a service or benefit by deception.
Attempts to use the doctor to conceal or aid any criminal activity.
Steals from the practice premises.

Distance

Where the patient has moved out of the designated area and has failed to register with another GP.

Embarkation

Where a patient has moved abroad for a period of 3 months or more.

Failure to attend pre-booked appointments

Where a patient fails to attend pre-booked appointments on a number of occasions during a given period.

Irretrievable Breakdown of the Doctor – Patient Relationship

Where a patient’s behaviour falls outside of that which is normally considered reasonable and leads to an irretrievable breakdown of the doctor-patient relationship.