Practice Policies
Infection Control
Infection Control is paramount in all NHS settings. Our Infection Control Lead is Dr Farzan Kamali.
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
The practice premises, including the car park, are monitored by closed circuit television.
Telephone Recording
Calls to the surgery are recorded for training and quality purposes.
No Smoking
The practice operates a no smoking policy throughout the premises, including the garden area and car park.
Chaperone Policy
Branch End Surgery is committed to developing a culture that promotes the privacy and dignity of all patients.
We are committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.
Some examinations and treatments, in particular where they involve intimate body parts and states of undress, can make patients feel vulnerable and distressed.
A chaperone may assist in supporting and reassuring a patient during an examination or procedure.
The healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with the practice chaperones policy.
What to expect?
You can request a chaperone to be present during any examination or procedure that you feel uncomfortable with. Expect the role of the chaperone to be clearly explained to you and the person introduced to you by the health care professional who is to undertake the examination or procedure.
Who can be a chaperone?
The practice will try to ensure your chaperone is a qualified nurse or health care assistant. In some circumstances a non-clinical member of staff may be asked to chaperone. All clinical and non-clinical staff have received chaperone training.
Arranging a chaperone
If you would like to arrange a chaperone in advance please inform the receptionist when you book your appointment so they can arrange for a nurse or health care assistant to be available. If during your consultation the clinician feels a chaperone is needed, they will attempt to arrange this, if possible during the consultation. In the unlikely event a chaperone cannot be arranged you may be asked to arrange another appointment.
What is the chaperones responsibility?
- Ensure that their conduct is sensitive and respectful of your privacy and dignity
- To reassure you if you are distressed or experiencing any discomfort and to communicate this, if appropriate, to the clinician
- Ensure that they can communicate with you a way that you can understand
Can a family member act as a chaperone?
Your family member cannot act as a formal chaperone. You can however request that a member of your family or a friend be present as an informal chaperone during the examination.
Can I refuse a chaperone?
You have the right to refuse a particular person as a chaperone; in this instance we will document the reasons for your refusal and an alternative chaperone will be arranged.
Confidentiality
All our staff and clinicians are trained to a high level on the laws and policies relating to data protection and confidentiality. Your chaperone will not disclose any information obtained during your examination or procedure. In all cases where the presence of a chaperone may intrude in a confidential clinician-patient discussion, their presence will be confined to the physical examination only. One-to-one communication with the clinician will continue once the chaperone has left.
General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Privacy Notice
With the changes in data protection coming into effect on 25th May 2018, in the form of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), we have provided the below GDPR Poster and Practice Privacy Notices so patients know how we use and store your information. We have separated the Privacy Notices so that it is easier for you to find the topic you are interested in.
If you have any queries on our Privacy Notices, or how the surgery is dealing with GDPR and your information, please contact us on 01661 842 626.
Privacy Notice – Branch End Surgery
Privacy Notice – Medical Research
Privacy Notice – National Screening Programme
Privacy Notice – Recruitment and Employment Data
Privacy Notice – Provision of Direct Care
Zero Tolerance Policy
The Practice takes it very seriously if a member of reception staff or one of the GP’s or Nurses is treated in an abusive or violent way. The Practice supports the government’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ campaign for Health Service Staff. This states that GPs and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused.
To successfully provide these services a mutual respect between all the staff and patients has to be in place. All our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances.
They would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time.
Staff understand that patients who are unwell do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or abusive, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police being contacted.
In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all its 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 our clinical and administrative staff courteously at all times.
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 irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s 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.
