Practice Policies

We keep your medical information safe and private.

Sometimes we need to share information about you to:

• help give you medical care, like with nurses or hospitals
• help you get other support, like social services (we will ask you first)
• keep people safe, such as in child protection cases

We may also use information without your name on it to help the NHS and the government plan better healthcare.  If you do not want your information used this way, please tell us.

Reception and office staff may need to look at your medical records to do their job.  They follow the same privacy rules as doctors and nurses.

When you phone the surgery, your call is recorded.

This helps us:

• train our staff
• make sure we do things properly
• keep patients safe

Only approved staff are allowed to listen to the recordings, and they are kept secure.

Some information about the doctors and the surgery can be shared with the public.  If someone wants this information, they should ask the practice manager.

Seeing Your Medical Records

You can ask to see your medical records if you want to. To do this, you need to ask the practice manager. There may be a small charge.

We will not share your information unless you give permission or the law says we must.

The NHS does not allow violence or abuse.

This means that hurting people, threatening them, or shouting in a way that makes others feel scared is not allowed.

If this happens, the surgery can remove the patient straight away to keep staff and other patients safe.

If someone is removed, we will:

• tell them in writing
• make a note in their medical record about what happened

Video and Audio Recording

Sometimes we may record a visit between a doctor and a patient to help with teaching.

• This will only happen if you say yes.
• Examinations are never recorded.

If you change your mind, the camera or recorder can be turned off at any time.

We want everyone at Highparks Medical Practice to feel safe and respected.

To help with this, please follow these rules:

• Phones and tablets: Please use them kindly and think about other people. Do not use them during a doctor or nurse visit unless the clinician agrees.
• Privacy: Do not share information about other patients unless they say it is okay.
• Online posts: Do not post things that are unkind, untrue, rude, or against the law. If this happens, it may be reported.
• Photos: Do not take photos in waiting areas or of staff unless you have permission.
• Talking about staff: Please do not name staff members in social media posts.
• Untrue comments: Do not post false or harmful comments about the surgery or staff. Action may be taken if this happens – Untrue statements are messages that are made on purpose to hurt someone’s reputation or make others think badly of them.

Using Social Media the Right Way

Doctors do not use social media to talk about patients or their care.

If a patient sends a doctor a message on social media asking for medical help, the doctor will ask them to contact the surgery instead.

This helps keep patient information safe and private.

Some people use social media to talk about problems with the surgery. This often leads to unkind messages instead of helpful feedback.

If we see rude or offensive posts about our staff or surgery, we may:

• contact the patient and ask to meet and talk about the problem
• send a letter or email to explain the right way to make a complaint
• in serious cases, decide that the relationship has broken down, which could mean the patient is removed from the surgery list.

We always prefer concerns to be shared directly with us, so we can help properly.

We are happy to hear kind comments and complaints because they help us do better.

If you are worried about something, we ask that you use our proper complaints process. This helps us look at the problem carefully and sort it out as quickly as we can.

Click here to submit feedback/complaint