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.
Suggestions
We welcome ideas for improving our services. We would be grateful if you put your suggestions in the box provided in the reception area. We undertake regular surveys to obtain patients’ views and consider how best to implement the results. We treat all our patients as individuals, respect different cultures and welcome ethnic groups.
Complaints Procedure
We are fortunate that these are very infrequent at our practice. We hope this reflects the good service we offer to all our patients. However, there is always room for improvement and we would encourage any suggestions. Incase you have a complaint, please contact the complain manager and allow us an opportunity to set things right on an informal basis.
We have an in-house complaints procedure, please speak to a receptionist.
You can also download and print our complaints form and bring it into the surgery:
Complaints leaflet
Violence Policy
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.
How Your Information is Used
You may be aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into effect on 25th May 2018. This will give consumers strengthened rights regarding their data and how it's used.
Keeping your personal information safe and secure is our priority. That is why we are making you aware of some important changes that we have made to our Privacy Policy, in line with the new laws which better protect you and your data.
Please note that our updated Privacy Policy in no way alters the purpose for which we use your information moreover, only clarifies and makes it easier for you to understand how we collect, use and store your personal information. Our updated Privacy Policy is available at the Practice and you can find the links below.
GDPR - Poster
GDPR - Privacy Policy
Oakleaf COVID19 Privacy Notice v1.8 extended to 30 June 2022