Practice Policies & Patient Information
This website has been designed to tell you about the practice and the services that we offer. Please read it carefully. We trust that you will find it helpful and informative.
We also dispense medicines from within the premises to those patients living in rural areas more than one mile from a chemist.
Care Data
How information about you helps us to provide better care
Confidential information from your medical records can be used by the NHS to improve the services offered so we can provide the best possible care for everyone.
This information along with your postcode and NHS number but not your name, are sent to a secure system where it can be linked with other health information.
This allows those planning NHS services or carrying out medical research to use information from different parts of the NHS in a way which does not identify you.
You have a choice. If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything.
If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to practice staff or ask at reception for a copy of the leaflet “How information about you helps us to provide better care”.
More information can be found here
Care data patient information leaflet
Complaints Procedure
A high standard of care is one of the priorities of this practice and we welcome your comments on how we might improve the service. If you have any comments or criticisms of the standard of service you have received from the practice please contact the practice manager or one of the partners. Problems of an administrative nature will be investigated initially by the practice manager, medical problems by a partner. If the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction we will advise you how to pursue the matter via the Health Authority.
Confidentiality
All staff working here are aware of the importance of confidentiality to the practice of medicine. We will not use or tell others any confidential information obtained in the course of consultation, for any purpose other than your clinical care. The only exceptions are:
- with the consent of the patient, eg filling in insurance forms
- if the law requires it, eg in notifying certain illnesses
- if there is an overriding duty to society.
COVID-19 Privacy Notice
Data Protection Privacy Notice
Introduction
This privacy notice lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any that we may collect from or about you. This privacy notice applies to personal information processed by or on behalf of the practice.
This Notice explains
- Who we are, how we use your information and our Data Protection Officer
- What kinds of personal information about you do we process?
- What are the legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)?
- What should you do if your personal information changes?
- For how long your personal information is retained by us?
- What are your rights under data protection laws?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became law on 24th May 2016. This is a single EU-wide regulation on the protection of confidential and sensitive information. It enters into force in the UK on the 25th May 2018, repealing the Data Protection Act (1998).
For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation (including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (the “GDPR”), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (currently in Bill format before Parliament) the practice responsible for your personal data is Wellington Road Surgery.
This Notice describes how we collect, use and process your personal data, and how, in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights.
Please click link below
GP Net Earnings
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in Wellington Road Surgery in the last financial year (2022/23) was £129,948 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 6 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.
Named Accountable GP
As part of the NHS commitment to providing more personalised care, from June 2015 all practices are required to provide all their Patients with a named GP who will have overall responsibility for the care and support that our surgery provides.
- This will not impact your experience at the practice, the provision of appointments, your treatment, or which GP you can see
- You may wonder why your allocated GP is not necessarily the one you see most regularly. Please be assured that you can still access all of our medical team in exactly the same way as before
- Having a named GP does not guarantee you will always be seen by that GP
- Please note that the GP responsible for your care may be subject to change and reallocation in the future
You do not need to take any further action, but if you have any questions or wish to know your named GP, please speak to a member of the reception team.
What does ‘accountable’ mean?
This is largely a role of oversight, with the requirements being introduced to reassure patients that they have one GP within the practice who is responsible for ensuring that this work is carried out on their behalf.
What are the named GP’s responsibilities to 75s and over?
This is unchanged from 2014-2015; for patients aged 75 and over the named accountable GP is responsible for:
- working with relevant associated health and social care professionals to deliver a multi-disciplinary care package that meets the needs of the patient
- ensuring that these patients have access to a health check as set out in section 7.9 of the GMS Contract Regulations.
Does the requirement mean 24-hour responsibility for patients? No. The named GP will NOT:
- take on vicarious responsibility for the work of other doctors or health professional
- take on 24-hour responsibility for the patient, or have to change their working hours. The requirement does not imply personal availability for GPs throughout the working week
- be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient
Can patients choose their own named GP
In the first instance, patients should simply be allocated a named GP. However, if a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable efforts should be made to accommodate their preference, recognising that there are occasions when the practice may not feel the patient’s preference is suitable.
Do patients have to see the named GP when they book an appointment with the practice?
No. Patients can and should feel free to choose to see any GP or nurse in the practice in line with current arrangements. However, some practices may see this change as a way to encourage and promote a greater degree of continuity of care for patients.
Patient Rights
You have a right to expect a high standard of medical care from our practice, and we will try at all times to provide the very best care possible within the resources available.
In order to assist us in this we require that you take full responsibility for ensuring that you do not abuse the service. For example, it is your responsibility to ensure that you keep medical appointments and follow the medical advice given.
Very occasionally, a patient/practice relationship breaks down completely. In this situation the patient may choose to register with a different practice. The practice also has the right to remove that patient from their list.
This would generally only follow a warning that had failed to remedy the situation and we would normally give the patient a specific reason for the removal.
Training Policy
We have been in involved in medical training for many years. This not only includes medical students from Keele & Manchester University but also those who have qualified but who are undertaking specialist training in General Practice. This is an exciting aspect of the practice and allows a chance to demonstrate what it’s like to work in a semi-rural area.
Dr Todd is responsible for medical students and Dr Staite organises the specialist training at postgraduate level. Most ‘Trainees’ are from the Shropshire training scheme and attend further training in Shrewsbury every week. All doctors, nurses and staff are involved in the training of GPs to give them a well-rounded experience of what it means to work in primary care within a well-structured and organised team.
Sometimes a doctor or medical student will be sitting in with the doctor you are seeing. This is part of their training and requires your consent. All consultations are bound by the usual confidentially rules. If for any reason you would prefer not to have them sitting in please let the receptionist or doctor know so we can arrange this. Occasionally consultations are videoed so they can be used to assess a doctor’s consulting skills. Written consent both before and after the consultation is required and the consultations are only kept for the training period and then destroyed. Again, if you any concerns regarding a video-ed consultation please let us know.
We are proud to be a training practice and enjoy the opportunity to show those training with us how our practice works in this area.
We have recently become involved with Medical Research based at Keele University; more information regarding this will follow.
Zero Tolerance Policy
The practice fully supports the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of violence against staff working in the NHS and ensures that doctors and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused.
We 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. We ask you to treat your doctors and their staff courteously and act reasonably.
In order for the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all 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
All incidents will be followed up and you will be sent a formal warning after the first incident or removed from the practice list after a second incident if your behaviour has been unreasonable.
However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or verbal abusive, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is taking place and the patient is posing a threat to staff or other patients.
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 irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of The Surgery, 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.