Patients wishing to register should bring their NHS card or complete the appropriate registration form available from reception.
All new patients will be required to complete a questionnaire which gives us details of your past medical history and to provide appropriate care in the interim between requesting and receiving your notes from your previous GP.
You are able to see a doctor anywhere in the UK if you are away from home and in need of medical help. You can do this simply by asking to see a doctor as a temporary resident. We will be happy to see any relative or friend staying with you if they need a doctor.
If you change your address or telephone number, please inform a Receptionist as soon as possible. This will ensure that your medical record is updated should we need to contact you for any reason.
Information regarding hospital referral times is available in leaflet form from the surgery.
When referring you to other health care workers, the doctors will make available to them details of your medical history. The doctor will respect the wishes of any patients who object to particular information being shared with others providing care, except where this would put others at risk of serious harm.
In the majority of cases we are required to route our clinical referrals through the Clinical Referral Centre which is run from the Vale of Glamorgan Local Health Board, and based in the University Hospital of Wales. Should you have any objections to this it is important you inform us of this immediately.
Once your referral has been processed you can now check the estimated waiting time in several ways. Either telephone NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 and they will be able to give you details (you will need to know the name of the hospital, the Consultant and the type of surgery you will be receiving before telephoning), you can check waiting times by visiting www.howis.wales.nhs.uk., or by phoning the CRC on 029 2074 5438.
For patients with hearing aids, we have a portable hearing loop system which can be taken into the consultation room so that you are able to hear what the doctor or nurse is saying (by putting your hearing aid to the 'T' position.
Please notify a receptionist that you require this equipment.
All medical results, be they paper or computer, are dealt with in the strictest confidence. To maintain this confidentiality, results of investigations will only be given to the patients themselves, or the parents of a child. Appropriate identification may be requested. If possible please contact the Surgery for results in the afternoons after 2.30 pm Any person given access to your record will be subject to a duty of confidentiality, you have a right to object to disclosure.
Information about patients is requested for a wide variety of purposes including education, research, monitoring, epidemiology, public health surveillance, clinical audit and planning. The practice will render data anonymous where possible. Only where it is essential for the purpose will identifiable records be disclosed. Such disclosures will be kept to the minimum necessary for the purpose. You have the right to object to any such disclosures and your objection will be respected.
The Local Health Board (LHB) has a duty to occasionally check on claims made by practices for payments. The person carrying out the check will have been properly trained and authorised by the LHB and will be subject to a duty of confidentiality in their employment contract or because of their registration with a statutory regulatory body. Only the part of the record relating to the claim will be made available to the person carrying out the check.
If you have any objections to the disclosure of information for any of these purposes please tell your doctor.
We are happy to undertake Private Medical Examinations, by appointment, and also complete other Private Medical Forms, eg from BUPA, Solicitors or Insurance Companies, etc. This work is, however, outside the NHS system and will attract a fee in accordance with BMA rates. Please check the charge when making an appointment for an examination or handing in a form for completion (see also table on Fees page).
May we point out that due to the nature of general practice, delays are sometimes unavoidable. If we do keep you waiting, please accept our apologies but also our assurance that should you require more time than an appointment system allows, you will receive it.
Furthermore, there may be occasions when you are upset by ourselves, our staff or even the "System". If so please talk to us about it. Often the problem can be resolved and, where appropriate, the system improved.
There is, however, an official complaints procedure which you may use if you wish. Please contact the Business Manager, Lindsey Richards, should you wish to do so.
We believe in a friendly, family orientated general practice, and we look forward to meeting you, before you need us, in our new patient clinic.
If a patient is violent, abusive or threatening to any member of the primary care team or other patients, they will be removed from our list and will have to find another surgery willing to take on their care. The police may also be called if we think this is necessary and appropriate charges made.
In general patients have the right to information about their health from any practitioner who is treating them. This should be presented in a manner wthat is easy to follow and free from jargon.
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives patients the right of access to their health records.
An application must be received in writing along with the appropriate fee (see below). The practitioner then has 40 days in which to provide the requested information. You will need to identify yourself with your name, address, date of birth and to sign the request. The request may be rejected in certain circumstances.
You will also need to tell us if you need part of your record only, or a full copy of your notes. Also if you need a copy of these details, or would just like to view the records on the premises.
Copies of records will not be posted, but will be available to collect from reception if the request is approved.
Fees:
| FORMAT | ACCESS ONLY |
ACCESS & COPIES |
| Totally manual | £10 | up to £50 |
| Part manual / part computerised | £10 | up to £50 |
| Totally computerised | £10 | £10 |