THE PATIENT'S CHARTER
Our Responsibilities
We aim to provide the best care for every patient regardless of age or state of health.
You will be treated with courtesy and respect. Your treatment remains confidential.
You may be able to express a preference of practitioner subject to availability, but it is our policy that a doctor within the practice can see any patient.
We will explain the likely effects of drugs and review long-term medical needs as necessary.
If we think you need a second opinion we will help you get one.
If you need a doctor in an emergency we will arrange for you to be visited outside normal surgery hours.
We have the right to remove patients from our lists if there is a breakdown of trust in the surgery/patient relationship, violent, racial or abusive behaviour and if patients continually ignore their responsibilities towards any practice staff, community staff or any of our patients.
The Patient's Responsibilities
We expect you to follow our advice.
You may be asked to see another GP if one of our doctors is unavailable due to holidays, study days, training, illness etc.
Please do not call outside normal surgery hours unless you perceive the situation to be a genuine emergency.
You have the right to leave our list and register with another practice if you are unhappy with our services. You have the right to complain about any services related to the practice and may do so by writing to our practice/business manager.
PROTECTING PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY
We ask for information about yourself so that you can receive the correct care and treatment. This information is kept together with details of your care on computer and within your paper records. It will be needed if we need to see you again. The NHS has a common law duty to safeguard the confidentiality of information it holds, particularly with regard to personal health data. The Avenue Medical Centre will respect patients’ right to privacy and confidentiality of information.
Sometimes we need to pass on information to third parties. We will only ever use or pass on information about you if there is a genuine need and we will anonymise this information where possible.
The main reasons why your information may be used:
• For continuing health and treatment
• Safeguarding the health of the general public (in this instance the information can be
anonymised)
• The managing and planning of our service (to ensure we meet the patients’ needs)
• Investigating complaints or legal claims
• To review current practice to provide a high quality of care
• To provide training and continuing education to raise standards of care
• Auditing and statistics
Where possible all personal identifiers will be removed.
COMPLAINTS
PROCEDURE
If for any reason you may need to make a complaint about our service, please contact the practice manager on 01753 542549 or write to:
Mr Steve Gowing,
The Practice & Business Manager
The Avenue Medical Centre
Wentworth Avenue, Britwell Estate
Slough, Berkshire
SL2 2DG.
The Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) also has a role to advise people about the complaints process. They can be contacted between 9:00am and 5:00pm on 01753 635615 or by email to pals.berkseast@berkshire.nhs.uk or write to:
PALS
Beech House
Upton Hospital
Albert Street
Slough
SL1 2BJ
For more information about primary care services in the area please contact either Berkshire East Primary Care Trust (address above), or the Thames Valley Primary Care Agency at:
Thames Valley Primary Care Agency
7 - 9 Cremyll Road, Reading
Berkshire
RG1 8NQ
Telephone: 0118 918 3333
Freedom Of Information Act 2000
The Freedom Of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available. The Freedom of Information legislation gives the right of access to all types of information held by the NHS and its partners. It gives the public the right to be told whether the information exists and the right to receive the information.
For more about this please contact the practice/business manager or visit www.ico.gov.uk/ and follow the links to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 page.
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