You may wish to have someone present with you during your consultation or treatment. This person is known as a chaperone.

A chaperone may be a member of our clinical team or a person of your choosing but must be over the age of 18.

Please inform us when making an appointment if you would like a chaperone to be present at your consultation.

If you have a suggestion, comment or complaint about the service you have received from the doctors, nurses or any of the other staff working in the Practice, then please let us know.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out quickly at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible. The best way to raise a complaint is to write to the Practice Manager, who will then acknowledge your complaint and investigate what has happened. Either the manager or the clinical lead, whoever is most appropriate to deal with the matter, will write to you with a full explanation within three weeks.

Please contact reception for further information on our complaints procedure.

If you feel you cannot raise your concern or complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation, you should contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 052 6088 who can often help resolve any problems before they become formal complaints.

Care Quality Commission

If you have experienced poor care, or know that poor care is being provided somewhere you can report it to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), anonymously if you wish. You can also tell the CQC when you feel you have received good care.

You can write to:
CQC National Correspondence,
Citygate,
Gallowgate,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
NE1 4PA

The CQC will not investigate the complaint but it may use the complaint to assess the service being complained against.

Please view our GDPR information leaflet here.

All patients who register at the GP surgery will now be allocated a named accountable GP.

NHS England contractually requires each registered patient to have a named allocated GP.

The named accountable GP’s role is largely to oversee requirements that are being introduced to reassure patients they have one GP within the practice who is responsible for ensuring that this work is carried out on their behalf.

The named GP does not imply they will be the only GP who will provide care to that patient, nor personal availability for GPs throughout the working week.

Existing patients can ask at any time who their named allocated GP is.

Please note: Overall responsibility for patient care has not changed. Patients are entitled to choose to see any GP or nurse in the practice; you do not need to see your named accountable GP.

All patient paper and computer based records are confidential. This information is only available to those involved in your care and you should never be asked by anyone not involved in your care for personal medical information.

It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can give the best possible advice and care. By law, you have the right to request access to your health records and to know what information we hold about you. This request must be in writing, and we have produced a form for such requests. Please note there is no provision for immediate access to your notes. Please contact Reception if you wish to apply for this access.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information, for example for infectious disease carriers that may endanger the safety of others. We will pass on specific information only if there is a genuine clinical need for it. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Safeguarding is protecting vulnerable adults or children from abuse, harm or neglect – protecting their Health, Well-being & Human rights.

Please contact reception for further information detailing our Safeguarding Policy’s with sources of advice and support.

Contractual requirements came into force from 1st April 2014 requiring that GP practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:

1. Referral Management – Use of NHS numbers on all clinical communications
2. On line appointment booking – Ability for patients to book appointments online
3. On line booking of repeat prescriptions – Ability for patients to request repeat medications online
4. Summary Care Record – Summary Care Records provide healthcare staff with faster, easier access to reliable information about you to help with your treatment .
   Please visit Home – NHS England Digital for more information.
5. GP2GP transfers – GP2GP enables the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of a patient to be transferred securely and directly to a new practice when the patient registers at that practice. The EHR should be available at the new practice within 24 hours of the patient registering – but will normally be a lot quicker than this.
   Please visit Home – NHS England Digital for more information
6. Patient Access to records – Patients can have access to their medical record online, the government have mandated that practices must offer patients access to their medication, allergies and adverse reactions.

Cressex Health Centre is working closely with our System Suppliers, and it is our intention to have all these developments available to our patients.