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.

Patients have the following rights:

1. To receive health care on the basis of clinical need regardless of ability to pay
2. To be registered with a doctors' practice
3. To receive emergency medical care at anytime through their GP, the emergency ambulance service or the hospital accident and emergency department
4. To be referred to a consultant acceptable to them, when their GP feels it is necessary, and to ask for a second opinion if they and their GP feel this is desirable
5. To be given a clear explanation of any treatment proposed, including any risks and any alternatives, before they agree to the proposed treatment
6. To have access to their health records and to know those working for the NHS will, by law, keep their contents confidential
7. To choose whether or not they wish to take part in medical research or medical student training.

In addition to these standards, the Riverside Surgery will aim to provide the following:

• Suitable premises
• Privacy
• Facilities for patients and children, and all types of disabled patients
• All practice staff will have name badges
• Patients may telephone for results between the hours of 2.00pm and 5.00pm, any weekday afternoon
• Health promotion programmes, including asthma and diabetes, will be available within the practice, when required (see the Clinics and Services page)
• A doctor will be available on call 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, through the emergency line: 01386 40121
• To be offered an appointment on the same day for URGENT problems
• To be offered an appointment within one week, with the doctor they are registered with
• We will endeavour to see patients within fifteen minutes of their appointment time. However, emergencies and/or patients requiring a longer consultation will occasionally lead to delays
• Telephone advice will be available from any member of the Practice team, through one of the Personal Assistants, at a suitable time.

Patient Responsibilities

We provide general medical services for over 13,300 patients and our receptionists receive over 800 telephone calls a day. To enable the system to work as efficiently as possible for all our patients, we would ask you to observe the following guidelines:

1. Be polite to our staff at all times. Verbal or physical abuse will not be tolerated and is likely to lead to the patient being removed from our list
2. Use the appointment system reasonably and fairly to the benefit of all. Please do not ask for an emergency appointment when an appointment within twenty-four or forty-eight hours would suffice. Please endeavour to attend the surgery rather than request a home visit. It is always possible for a patient to go straight into an examination room rather than sit in the waiting room You only have to mention it to the receptionist. Remember, three or four patients can be seen in the surgery in the time that it takes to do one home visit.
3. If you are unable to keep your appointment please cancel as soon as possible so someone else can take your place.
4. If you feel a home visit is necessary, please make the request before 10.30am. The doctors have to cover most of the outlying villages. Patients who make late requests are unlikely to be seen until later in the day. Emergency visits will of course, be dealt with by the duty doctor.

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)

The NHS employs over a million staff in thousands of locations. It is a large and complex organisation providing a broad range of services. It is not surprising that sometimes you or a loved one may feel bewildered or concerned when using the NHS. And this can be at times when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and anxious.

So, what should you do if you want on the spot help when using the health service? The NHS expects all members of staff to listen and respond to you to the best of their ability. But sometimes, you may wish to talk to someone employed especially to help you. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, has been introduced to ensure that the NHS listens to patients, their relatives, carers and friends, and answers their questions and resolves their concerns as quickly as possible.

PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their loved ones and making changes, when appropriate.

What does PALS do?

In particular, PALS will:

• Provide you with information about the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry
• Help resolve concerns or problems when you are using the NHS
• Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint
• Provide you with information and help introduce you to agencies and support groups outside the NHS
• Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally
• Improve the NHS by listening to your concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues you raise
• Provide an early warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.

Find out more
If you would like more information about PALS, the functions it is intended to provide and the standards it should strive to achieve , follow this link.

Please clink on the link below to view our practice complaints procedure

Riverside Complaints Procedure

For more information you can also follow the link below from the NHS Choices website:

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceinthenhs/rightsandpledges/complaints/pages/nhscomplaints.aspx

Occasionally the practice undertakes training for final year medical students from Birmingham University and other healthcare professionals. Patients will always be kept informed when this happens.

In addition the surgery may close up to 4 days a year for staff training to enable us to help improve our service and knowledge.  On these days the surgery is closed for routine appointments and prescriptions but we operate an urgent service with a locum doctor. Notices are put up at least 1 month ahead of a planned training day.

Our next surgery training day is Wednesday 20th October.  In an emergency on the day please call 01386 40121