Practice Policies - Meon Health Practice

Access to Records

Complaints Policy

We make every effort to give the best service possible to our patients.

If you feel we have got something wrong, please let us know. We will try to rectify problems and find ways to improve our service. Most complaints can be resolved at a local level and can be made in the following ways:

Completing a Complaints Form, available from any of our surgery reception desks.
By letter to: Complaints Team, Meon Health Practice, 102 Highlands Road, Fareham, PO15 6JF
By telephone: 01329 845777.

Download a copy of our Meon Health Practice Complaints leaflet

Confidentiality

We respect your right to privacy and to keep all information confidential and secure. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can give you the best possible care.

The practice complies with GDPR, 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

GP Earnings

The average pay for GPs working in Meon Health Practice in the last financial year was £97,730 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 5 full time GPs, 16 part time GPs and 2 long term locum GPs who worked in the practice for six months or more.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised by 31 March 2024 at the latest. However, it should be noted that the prescribed method of 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 for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparisons with other practices.

How We Use Your Data

Your Information: What you need to know

How we use your information

Your Doctor and other health professionals caring for you keep records about your health and any treatment and care you receive from the NHS. These help to ensure that you receive the best possible care from us. They may be written down (manual records) or held on computer. These records may include:

Basic detail about you, such as address and next of kin.
Contacts we have had with you such as clinic visits.
Notes and reports about your health and any treatment and care you have received.
Results of investigations such as x-rays and laboratory tests.
Relevant information from other health professionals or those who care for you and know you well.

Your information may be used to help us:

Assess the needs of the general population.
Make sure our services can meet patient needs in the future.
Review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard.
Teach and train healthcare professionals.
Audit NHS accounts and services and prepare statistics on NHS performance
Investigate complaints, legal claims or significant events.

Some of this information will be held centrally but where it is used for statistical purposes stringent measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

How we share your information

Anonymous statistical information may also be passed to organisations with legitimate interest, including universities, community safety units and research institutions.

Where it is not possible to use economised information, personally identifiable information may be used for essential NHS purposes, these may include research and auditing services. This will only be done with your consent unless the law requires information to be passed on to improve public health.

We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by qualified health professionals. Occasions when we must pass on information include:

Notifications of new births
Where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others such as meningitis or measles (but not HIV / AIDS).
Where a formal court order has been used.

How we ensure the confidentiality of the information in your health record

Everyone working in the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

You may be receiving care from other organisations as well as the NHS (like Social Services). We may need to share some information about you so that we can all work together for your benefit. We can only ever use or pass on information about you if the others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances such as when the health and safety of others is at risk or where the law requires information to be passed on.

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

Requesting a copy of your health record

The Data Protection Act of March 2000 allows you to find information that is held on computers or in manual records, this right is called the ‘right of subject access’. Find out how to request a copy of your health record here.

.You are entitled to receive a copy but please be aware that there may be a charge for this. Also in certain circumstances your right to see some details may be limited in your own interests or for other reasons.

If you wish to register any objection to the sharing of confidential information as outlined above or wish for further information or wish to discuss any issues of confidentiality please contact us directly.

Any objection will be respected if possible unless the disclosure is required by law or is essential in order to protect you or someone else from the risk of death or serious harm.

Infection Control Statement

In line with the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on Prevention and Control of Infection and its related guidance, we are committed to maintaining a safe working environment for all of our staff, patients and visitors to help prevent the spread of healthcare associated infections.

Aims and objectives

The Practice will take the following measures to fulfil this commitment:

Staff working practices will comply with the most up-to-date Infection Control policies and procedures
Regular audits by the designated infection control team to verify outcomes and identify problems and/or areas for improvement
Risk assessments carried out as appropriate
Staff training appropriate to individual role and responsibilities
Annual review of policies and procedures to ensure national guidelines continue to be met

Infection Control Team

Our Infection Control is led by Lead Practice Nurse Laura Miller and supported by our Practice Management Team.

Named GP

The practice is required to allocate all patients with a named accountable GP under the GP contract.

The contract requires the named accountable GP to take responsibility for the co-ordination of all appropriate services required under the contract and ensure that they are delivered to each of their patients (based on the clinical judgement of the named accountable GP).

Overall responsibility for patient care continues to be “practice based”. The named GP role is predominantly to oversee and assure they have one GP within the Practice who is responsible for ensuring work is carried out on their behalf.

If you wish to be told the name of your accountable GP, please let us know.

Privacy Notice

Meon Health Practice keeps data on patients relating to the following:

who you are
where you live
what you do
your family or named contact/carers
your employers
your habits
your problems and diagnoses
the reasons you seek help
your appointments
where you are seen and when you are seen who by, referrals to specialists and other healthcare providers, tests carried out here and in other places, investigations and scans, treatments and outcomes of treatments, your treatment history, the observations and opinions of other healthcare workers, within and without the NHS as well as comments and aide memoires reasonably made by healthcare professionals in this practice who are appropriately involved in your health care.

When registering for NHS care, all patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database, the database is held by NHS Digital, a national organisation which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS.

GPs have always delegated tasks and responsibilities to others that work with them in their practice. On average an NHS GP has between 1,500 to 2,500 patients for whom he or she is accountable. It is not possible for the GP to provide hands on personal care for each and every one of those patients. For this reason GPs share your care with others, predominantly within the Practice but occasionally with external organisations.

If your health needs require care from others elsewhere outside this practice we will exchange with them whatever information about you that is necessary for them to provide that care. When you make contact with healthcare providers outside the practice but within the NHS it is usual for them to send us information relating to that encounter. We will retain part or all of those reports. Normally we will receive equivalent reports of contacts you have with non NHS services but this is not always the case.

Highlands, Jubilee and Whiteley surgeries have merged together as a Primary Care Network called Meon Health Practice. For the purposes of direct care, the organisation referred to in this privacy notice is Meon Health Practice. Your consent to this sharing of data, within the practice and with those others outside the practice is assumed and is allowed by the Law.
Staff who have access to your information will only normally have access to that which they need to fulfil their roles.

You have the right to object to our sharing your data in these circumstances but we have an overriding responsibility to do what is in your best interests. Please see below.

We are required by articles in the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections.

Data Controller

Amanda Gray, Managing Director
on behalf of the Partners
Meon Health Practice
102 Highlands Road
Fareham
PO15 6JF
Tel: 01329 845777

Data Protection Officer

Caroline Sims
Primary Care IG Consultant
Email: [email protected]

Purpose of the processing

Direct Care is care delivered to the individual alone, most of which is provided in the Practice. After a patient agrees to a referral for direct care elsewhere, such as a referral to a specialist in a hospital, necessary and relevant information about the patient, their circumstances and their problem will need to be shared with the other healthcare workers, such as specialist, therapists, technicians etc. The information that is shared is to enable the other healthcare workers to provide the most appropriate advice, investigations, treatments, therapies and or care.

Lawful basis for processing

The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this Practice and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.
Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services…”

Organisations and their employees will also respect and comply with their obligations under the common law duty of confidence

Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data

The data will be shared with Health and care professionals and support staff in this Practice and at hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centres who contribute to your personal care.

Anima Digital Software – Continuum Health Ltd (R3U6M) – For the purposes of direct patient care (consent taken directly on website)
Heidi Health Medical Scribe for Patient Care – Heidi Health Trading Pty Ltd (ZB671518) – For the purposes of enhancing clinical documentation and note taking for consultations and medical records (please inform staff prior to the start of your consultation if you do not give your consent)
Care Homes/Nursing Homes
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Child Health
Community Professionals (Social Workers/District Nurse/Health Visitors)
Continence and Stoma Service
Coroner
Care Quality Commission
Docmail – a third Party mailing company (name and address only) – to deliver vaccination campaigns
Primary Care Network – Meon Health Practice
Care and Health Information Exchange (Formerly known as Hampshire Health Record)
Individual Funding Requests
MJOG – Text messaging system for vaccination campaigns and appointment reminders ( Mobile Telephone number only)
AccuRX – individual text messaging – system verified consent to use
Multi Disciplinary Teams
Out of Hours Services
Primary Care Services England
Referrals to Private Healthcare
Safeguarding
Secondary Care (Hospitals)
National Care Records Service
Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
Fire and Rescue Services
Police and Judicial Services
Hampshire Community Mental Health Service (MIND)

Data Extraction by the Integrated Care Board

The Integrated Care Board (ICB) at times extracts information about your care, but the information they extract via our computer systems cannot identify you to them. This information only refers to you by way of a code that only your practice can identify (it is pseudonymised). We will never give the ICB access to any system or information that would enable them to identify you.
The Integrated Care Board requires this pseudonymised information for the following purposes:

For management and monitoring of the GP Practice core contract
For management and monitoring of the GP Practice enhanced services
For assurance of compliance with these contracts
For assurance of the effective spending of public funding
To conform with delegated responsibilities from NHS England
To fulfil the ICB’s role in ensuring services commissioned meet patient population need and are being delivered in accordance with commissioning intentions Other “data processors” which you will be informed of

Microtech Surgery Pod

The Surgery Pod allows patients to enter basic information which can support their health care such as blood pressure, weight and height. Information entered is added to the patient medical record via a secure link.

The Duty of Confidentiality is with explicit consent.

Legal Basis
Article 6.1.e – under authority vested in the controller.
Article 9.2.h – for the management of health or social care.

Elite Data Analysis Service

Workload and Workforce Purpose: The purpose of this project transformation is to use staff and patient data to inform where there is a need for resource to be reviewed to maximise appointment time, depending on the need and volume of patients. The data being used will be Pseudonymised and as such will not be identifiable by the organisation processing the data. It is hoped that by analysing the workflow of clinical time and appointment setting, a more robust workforce pattern can be established to provide a greater service for patients and improve quality.

Redicare Control

Patient can be referred to Redicare for lifestyle and therapy focused education to support the care of patients with chronic conditions such as High Blood Pressure, Pre-Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, Dyslipidaemia, PCOS and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Obesity and other similar conditions.

The remote consultation service will be delivered within the enhances access appointment times.

Legal basis – 6.1.e – under the authority of the NHS Contract
Lawful basis for sharing – 9.2.h – to deliver health care

GP Connect

We use a facility called GP Connect to support your direct care. GP Connect makes patient information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they need it, to support direct patients care, leading to improvements in both care and outcomes.

The NHS 111 service and Anima digital software – Continuum Health Ltd (R3U6M) (and other services determined locally e.g. Other GP practices in a Primary Care Network) will be able to book appointments for patients at GP practices and other local services.

GP Connect is not used for any purpose other than direct care.

Legal basis – 6.1.e – NHS Contract authority.

9.2.h – delivery of direct health care.

InHealth Ltd

InHealth Ltd is commissioned by Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust to provide the Targeted Lung Health Checks (“TLHC”) service. The aim of the service is to identify lung cancers at an earlier stage, which evidence shows deliver much better outcomes. InHealth Ltd has been engaged to provide support to GP Practices as a Data Processor.

Rights to object

You have the right to object to some or all the information being processed under Article 21. Please contact the Data Controller or the practice. You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection, that is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance.

Right to access and correct

You have the right to access the data that is being shared and have any inaccuracies corrected. There is no right to have accurate medical records deleted except when ordered by a court of Law. Please contact the practice.

Retention period

The data will be retained in line with the law and national guidance. Records Management Code of Practice – NHSX

Right to complain

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, you can use this link https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or calling their helpline Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate). There are National Offices for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, (see ICO website) or speak to the practice.

This document is available in large print on request or in other languages via this website.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

We aim to offer the highest standard of health care and advice to our patients, with the resources available to us. We have a team approach to patient care and endeavour to monitor the service provided to patients, to ensure that it meets current standards of excellence.

We are dedicated to ensuring that all of our staff are trained to the highest level and to provide a stimulating and rewarding environment in which to work.

To this end we have adopted the following standards:

You will be treated with courtesy and respect by all practice personnel.
An urgent appointment with a doctor, nurse practitioner or suitable health professional will be available on the same day.
An appointment with a practice nurse will be available to book 4 weeks in advance.
Requests for repeat prescriptions will be dealt with within 4 working days. More information about Prescriptions is available at: www.meonhealthpractice.co.uk/prescriptions. We strongly encourage patients to order their repeat medication online using their NHS account.
All comments and suggestions about the service are welcome. Please submit feedback at Tell us how we are doing – Meon Health Practice.
If you have a complaint please speak to a member of staff. You can read our Complaints policy at Complaints Policy – Meon Health Practice. All complaints will be dealt with in a professional and efficient manner.
We wish to make Meon Health Practice as accessible as possible. If you have hearing, visual or physical difficulties please make our receptionist aware so that we can enable you to fully use our services.

Your Responsibility to the Practice:

Help us to help you by doing the following:

If you are unable to attend for an appointment please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer it to someone else.
If you are late for your appointment you may be asked to rebook at another time. Try to let us know in advance if you are going to be unavoidably delayed, so that we can make alternative arrangements to help you.
A home visit should only be requested for those who are unable to come to come to the Practice because of serious illness or infirmity. Please contact the Practice as early in the day as possible.
An urgent appointment is for an urgent medical problem that requires treatment on the same day. Please be available to attend an urgent appointment on the day you request one.
Please be patient if our health professionals are running late. This is often due to unforeseeable emergencies. Do notify the receptionist if you have been waiting and are concerned you have been missed.
Make a separate appointment for each patient that needs to be seen. This allows the health professional sufficient time to treat each patient with the time that they need.
Please act in a responsible and courteous manner whilst on the practice premises for the safety and comfort of yourself and others.
Please treat all Practice staff, fellow patients, carers and visitors politely and with respect. Violence or verbal harassment will not be tolerated or accepted, you may be asked to register at another Practice if this behaviour occurs.

Zero Tolerance

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.