Our team here is very proud of what we are able to offer our patients by working as a close group of professionals. We aim to offer excellent continuity of care for all our patients, in particular those patients who have complex needs. At the same time we want to offer speed and convenience to those patients who
Access to Records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager. Repeated requests for medical records by the same patient and in cases where our clinicians need to write a report may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
Chaperones
If you feel you would like a chaperone present at your consultation, please inform your Doctor/Nurse, who will be more than happy to arrange this for you.
Complaints & Suggestions
Barnsbury Medical Practice aims to provide patients with the best possible care at all times.
We value and welcome your feedback. Therefore if you have any compliments, comments, concerns or complaints about our Practice we want to hear them.
If you would like to give feedback or make a complaint this can be through any of the following methods: requesting a form from reception, e-mailing: [email protected] or you can call the practice on 020 7700 9700.
In all cases, complaints will be dealt with as swiftly and as fairly as possible.
We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within three working days and a response letter with the outcome of our investigation will be sent within 20 working days. If we are unable to complete our investigation within this period, we will agree an alternative timeframe with you.
Where to go for further independent advice:
We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaint procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice. However, this does not affect your right to approach an independent advisor if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are unhappy with the results of the investigation.
From July 2023 onwards if you would like to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will need to contact North Central London Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England. Here are the contact details
Telephone: 020 3198 9743
E-mail: [email protected]
Post: North Central London Integrated Care Board
Complaints Team
Laycock PDC
Laycock Street
London
N1 1TH
If you have a formal complaint to make, it is always advisable to try and resolve an issue directly with the provider in the first instance.
What if you’re still not happy?
If you’re unhappy with the result of your complaint you can appeal to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. This cannot be your first port of call. You must first complain to either the GP Practice or to NHS England. The Ombudsman can only help if;
- The GP Practice or NHS England have finished looking at your complaint
- Or your complaint has not been resolved after 6 months
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
- Telephone: 0345 015 4033
- Email: [email protected]
- www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint
By law you need to contact the Ombudsman within a year of the incident you are complaining about.
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 Practitioners 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.
Your request must be in writing and can be either posted or emailed.
Please write “Freedom of Information” in the subject line. We only supply relevant information that is not already available from other sources.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) & Practice Privacy Notice
The Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) govern the way organisations handle personal and sensitive information.
Barnsbury Medical Practice handles your data in line with the above laws and also in line with the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality and the 8 Caldicott Principles.
We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your data and only share your data for direct care or where we are required to by law or in order to fulfil our NHS contract or on the rare occasion when not sharing the data is deemed to be more harmful than sharing the data.
View our Data Protection and Cyber Security Policy
Our Privacy Notice contains an in depth description of how we handle your data.
View our Privacy Notice for Children
Opting-Out
You have the right to object to the sharing of your personal health data concerning your GP medical record for research purposes. This is exercised via the National Data Opt-out; see the NHS Your Data Matters page.
British Sign Language Version:
Access to your medical record
You can gain access to some aspects of your medical record online. Please contact reception for a form. You will need to provide photo proof of identity such as a passport.
If necessary you can gain a copy of your record by submitting a Subject Access Request.
Named Accountable GP
All patients at Barnsbury Medical Practice have a named accountable GP who is responsible for patients’ overall care at the practice. Your named GP will be allocated to you by the practice. If you have a repeat prescription you can find the name of your allocated GP at the bottom of this. If you do not have a repeat prescription and you wish to know who your GP is please contact the practice reception.
You can still talk to or make appointments to see any of our doctors or nurses, not just your named GP, however for any complicated problem it is helpful to see the same GP for follow-up.
If you have a preference to have a particular GP please talk to one of our receptionists. We will do our very best to accommodate your request, although this cannot be guaranteed due to the different workloads of our GP’s.
NHS Patient Data Shared
Important Information about patient data shared!
Please click the following links to find out NHS patient data shared.
Care Patient Data – Frequently Asked Qs
For more information, including a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs), please go to the website at http://www.nhs.uk/caredata You can also get further information from the website at www.hscic.gov.uk.
Patient Participation Group (PPG)
We would like to know how we can improve our service to you and how you perceive our surgery and staff.
About Our PPG
All patients are welcome to join our group, and we run regular patient participation groups face to face at the practice.
Our last PPG date was 13th September 2022.
View our September PPG meeting minutes here.
Why should you join the PPG?
- Are there things you would like to change within the practice?
- Have you any suggestions about improving patient services locally?
- Would you like to get to know other patients and share ideas?
- Would you like to link with other groups locally within the area?
The PPG group is not for the following
Discussing personal or individual healthcare issues
Not valuing other members contribution and viewpoints
Benefits of PPG
Patients will benefit through:
- The opportunity to recommend improvements and raise issues which can lead to action.
- A better awareness of how Barnsbury Medical Practice operates.
The Practice will benefit through:
- Improved communication with patients
- The potential for a mutual, respectful relationship.
Statement of Intent – Online Access
ELECTRONIC PATIENT RECORDS
STATEMENT OF INTENT FOR BARNSBURY MEDICAL PRACTICE
Nationally the way GP records are managed in the NHS is changing in three important ways.
- Summary Care Record (SCR)
- GP to GP Record Transfers
- Patient Online Access to Their GP Record
These changes do not let your records be shared outside of the team of professionals who look after you. They are designed to improve and speed up your care and let you have more access to what is in your medical records.
If you want to find out more about these, or any other way in which your records are handled, please read the leaflets available in your practice or speak to a member of practice staff.
Patient Online Access to Their GP Record
As you may know, we already offer the facility for booking and cancelling appointments and also for ordering your repeat prescriptions online. Alongside this, all patients in England will have access to their GP medical records online by 31st March 2015.
This means you can have secure online access to relevant parts (Current medications, immunisations and allergies) of your record from a device that can access the internet.
To get online access to your records you will need to come to the practice with photographic ID. We will then give you the login details you will need.
Summary Care Record (SCR)
NHS England requires GP practices to upload any changes to a patient’s summary information on their Summary Care Record by 31st March 2015.
A Summary Care Record (SCR) is a brief summary of your medical records that will help anyone treating you in an emergency who does not have your full medical record. The SCR contains information like any medicines you may be taking or any allergies you have. Your SCR is automatically updated at least daily to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.
You can find out more by watching “What is a Summary Care Record”
You do not have to have a SCR if you do not want one. If you don’t, then let us know. You can do this by informing our reception team at the practice.
GP to GP Record Transfers
A new way of transferring patient records between GP practices has been developed to be used when a patient moves from one GP practice to another.
NHS England requires this new method to be used for all new or de-registered patients by 31 March 2015. However, we are already using this new method here at Barnsbury Medical GP practice,
For your own medical care, it is very important that you are registered with a GP practice. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be forwarded on to your new GP. It can take up to two weeks for your paper records to reach your new surgery.
With the new system, your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner.
Dr Haffiz confirms that these GP to GP transfers are already active and we send and receive patient records via this system.
Summary Care Record
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.
Why do I need a Summary Care Record?
Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.
This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example which medicines they choose to prescribe for you.
Who can see it?
Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.
How do I know if I have one?
Over half of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether Summary Care Records have come to your area by looking at our interactive map or by asking your GP
Do I have to have one?
No, it is not compulsory. If you choose to opt out of the scheme, then you will need to complete a form and bring it along to the surgery. You can use the form at the foot of this page.
More Information
For further information visit the NHS Care records website.
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.
Violent behaviour either physical or verbal would result in a report to the police and an immediate removal from the list.
Abusive behaviour or language would result in single warning followed by removal from the list if repeated.