Violent or Abusive Patients

Staff have the right to work in a safe and secure environment and we as employers have the legal responsibility of proving that environment. The Practice will not tolerate:

Verbal abuse to staff which prevents them from doing their job or makes them feel intimidated or unsafe

Threats of violence or actual violence to any member of the Practice

The GPs have the right to remove with immediate effect any patient who behaves in the above manner.

Third Party Access to Medical Records

For routine audit purposes, representative of the Mid Sussex PCT will be required to look at patients’ medical records. The auditors may not be medically qualified but are all bound by their contract of employment to respect confidentiality. However, if you do not wish your notes to be used in this way, please inform a receptionist.

Insurance Companies and Solicitors will ask for access to your medical records in certain circumstances e.g. mortgage application and accidents. We will only release this information if you have signed the required consent form.

You have a right to see your medical records, subject to certain legal limitations. If you wish to have access to your records you should speak to the Practice Manager, who will advise you of your rights under the Access to Medical Records Act 1990.

Patient Responsibilities

You will be treated as an individual with dignity, courtesy and respect at all times, irrespective of your ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of your health problems. A patient’s need for privacy will be respected at all times.

Wherever possible, we will provide an area set aside for confidential conversations between patients and reception staff.

Patients should extend the same courtesy and politeness to the practice team as they would expect to receive.

Please remember that appointments are for one person only. Where another family member needs to be seen, even for the same symptoms, you need to make a separate appointment.


If you are unable to attend for your appointment please cancel promptly so that the appointment can be made available for someone else.

Please remember to tell us if you change your name, address or telephone number.

The Practice Charter

Our aim is to serve the whole person, provide individual, curative, preventative and promotional health care in the community.

On the majority of occasions, the doctor will see patients promptly. Please remember there may be times when a doctor has to leave to attend an emergency or the doctor may need to give additional time in surgery to a patient because of the nature of the problem presented. If this should happen an explanation will be available from the receptionist.

You have a right to confidentiality and privacy. Our practice is fully computerised and is registered under the Data Protection Act 1984.

Computers

Our Practice is fully computerised and the Doctors/Nurses will have to use the computer during consultations. This enables us to develop a very efficient register of all the patients and is an invaluable tool in preventive medicine, screening and education. The computer also allows the Doctors/Nurses to access your medical records from either surgery.

Chaperones

There are occasions when patients need to be examined by a doctor which may involve intimate examinations. It is sometimes necessary for another person to be present at these times to safeguard the doctor and the patient. This person is called a chaperone.

A doctor will usually suggest a chaperone for these examinations, although you may choose to decline. At any time, if you wish a chaperone to be present, please do not hesitate to ask the doctor or nurse. It may not be possible for a chaperone to be provided immediately and if this is the case you may have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

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