Our Practice is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that the best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they consider one if required. The chaperone may be a family member or a friend, but on occasions you may prefer a trained member of staff.

Patients are advised to ask for a chaperone if required at the time of booking an appointment, if possible so that arrangements can be made and the appointments is not delayed in any way.

All staff are aware of and have received appropriate information relating to this policy.

We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.

To pursue a complaint you can speak with Denise the practices Patients Liaison Officer, complete the online complaint form on the website, submit a written letter to the practice, or collect a complaints form from reception.

Please see the below complaints procedure for more information

Complaints Procedure

• 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.

From 1 April 2015, it is a contractual requirement for practices to publish on their practice website by the end of the financial year (ie. 31 March 2016) the mean earnings for all GP’s in their practice relating to the previous financial year (ie. 2014/15).

Alongside the mean earnings figure, practices will also need to publish the relevant number of full and part time GP’s included in the calculation.#

All practices are required by the Government under the terms of the latest GP contract to allocate all their patients (including children) a named accountable GP who will have overall responsibility for their care and support.

Having a named GP does not mean you can only see that particular GP.  Patients will be informed of their named accountable GP when the register with the practice.  If you wish to be told the name of your Accountable GP, please contact reception who can give you more information.

This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect about you, how we store this information, how long we retain it and with whom and for which legal purpose we may share it.

Please see the below document for information on how Bevan Group Practice safeguards both adults and children.

Bevan Group Practice Safeguarding Information

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records.

Patients need to request their medical records in writing or using one or the practices Subject Access Request forms that are available below or at reception.

The request can take up to 28 working days to be processed and ready for collection.

Please see the below Subject Access Request Policy for more information on accessing your medical records.

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. The staff understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. However violence in any context including actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety, can lead to removal from the list and recorded in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all of our patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour that would be found unacceptable:

• Using bad language or swearing at practice staff.
• Any physical violence towards any member of the Primary Health Care Team or other patients, such as pushing or shoving.
• Verbal abuse towards the staff in any form including verbally insulting the staff.
• Racial abuse and sexual harassment will not be tolerated within this practice.
• Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted, requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot.
• Causing damage/stealing from the Practice’s premises, staff or patients.
• Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently.

We ask you to treat your GPs and their staff courteously at all times.

An explanation of the NHS’s “Zero Tolerance” policy

Removal from the practice list

A good patient-doctor relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is the cornerstone of good patient care. The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship. When trust has broken down, it is in the patient’s best interest, just as much as that of the practice, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.