Practice Policies & Patient Information
Change of Patient details
Should a registered patient inform the organisation that they are going to change, or have changed, their address, they are to be instructed to visit the NHS App
You can also visit the surgery and bring two forms of ID to confirm the changes.
Data Choices
Your Data Matters to the NHS
Information about your health and care helps us to improve your individual care, speed up diagnosis, plan your local services and research new treatments. The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.
How your data is used
Information about your individual care such as treatment and diagnoses is collected about you whenever you use health and care services. It is also used to help us and other organisations for research and planning such as research into new treatments, deciding where to put GP clinics and planning for the number of doctors and nurses in your local hospital. It is only used in this way when there is a clear legal basis to use the information to help improve health and care for you, your family and future generations.
Wherever possible we try to use data that does not identify you, but sometimes it is necessary to use your confidential patient information.
You have a choice
You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your information is used. If you do not want your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you can choose to opt out securely online or through a telephone service. You can change your mind about your choice at any time.
Will choosing this opt-out affect your care and treatment?
No, choosing to opt out will not affect how information is used to support your care and treatment. You will still be invited for screening services, such as screenings for bowel cancer.
What do you need to do?
If you are happy for your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning, you do not need to do anything.
General Practice Data for Planning and Research
This is a new way that NHS Digital will collect data from the GP record to help plan for future NHS healthcare.
The new way of collecting reduces the amount of work we in the practice have to do to share the information.
Any data collected will be pseudonymised (meaning it can’t be identified with an individual).
There are two types of opt out to consider:
- Type 1 – this stops any data going from the practice to NHS Digital.
- Type 2 – National Data – this will allow the data to go to NHS Digital, but stops the data going any further than that.
Remember in both instances, the data isn’t identifiable to you.
You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your confidential patient information is used. You can change your choice at any time.
To opt out of Type 1: Complete our type one opt out form and return it to us by 25th August
We will then add the information to your medical record.
Isle of Wight clinical commissioning group / NHS England / IW County Council
Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group
Building A, The APEX
St. Cross Business Park
Newport, Isle of Wight
PO30 5XW
Tel: IOW 552 064
www.Isleofwightccg.nhs.uk
NHS England
South East Regional Team
Oakley Road
Southampton
SO16 4GX
Tel: 023 80296914
www.nhs.uk/services
Isle of Wight County Council
Customer Service Centre
County Hall, High Street
Newport, Isle of Wight
PO30 1UD
Tel: IOW 821 000
www.iwight.com
Named Accountable GP
All patients registered with East Cowes Surgery have been allocated a named accountable GP.
From 1st April 2015 we are required by the Government, under the terms of the latest GP Contract, to allocate all patients a named accountable GP. This is purely an administrative exercise in order that patients can have a named responsible GP. This does not mean that they will be the only GP who will provide care to the patient. Patients are free to choose to see any GP in the Practice in line with current arrangements. If their preferred choice of GP is not available, an alternative will be offered.
The new contract requires the named accountable GP to be responsible for the co-ordination of all appropriate services required under the contract and ensure they are delivered to each patient where required. However, this does not mean that they will be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient. These responsibilities will be carried out within the opening hours of the Practice and do not change the way you currently access care outside these hours. The allocation has been done for all existing patients, and all newly registered patients will be given a named accountable GP on registration.
Please be aware that you may still see any GP of your choice at the surgery and do not have to see your named accountable GP, nor does this mean that you will only be offered appointments with your named GP.
If you have not already been informed of the name of your accountable GP, please ask the receptionist when you are next in the surgery.
Net GP Earnings
NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised and that the required disclosure is shown below. However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors working in the practice and should not be used for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make comparisons with other practices.
The average pay for GPs working in East Cowes Medical Centre in the last financial year was £69,852 before tax and national insurance.
This is for 0 full time GPs, 4 part time GPs and 1 locum GP who worked in the practice for more than six months.
Patient Responsibilities Statement
Patient Rights & Responsibilities
Users of the National Health Service have rights. The following explains what they are. They fall into three main categories.
Legislated Rights
Rights that have been written into law by means of Parliamentary Acts or Bills. (For example, UK GDPR and DPA 2018 ). As a patient of the NHS you have 7 rights.
- You are entitled to receive health care on the basis of clinical need, regardless of your income.
- You are entitled to be registered with a Medical practice. You are entitled to change your practice at any time. You do not have to give a reason for your decision.
- You are legally entitled to accept or refuse treatment as you see fit. This includes examinations, tests, diagnostic procedures, medication, operations, etc.
- You can refuse to be involved in research trials. If you do not agree to be involved in research trials, you can withdraw at any time.
- You are entitled to equal treatment regardless of race, gender, age or disability.
- You have a right to information on GP practices in your area and the services they provide. All practices must provide an information leaflet.
- You have a right to confidentiality. Personal information about your health is confidential and should only be disclosed to those who need that information to provide you with effective treatment, you can consent to share with other individuals outside of the NHS
Access to your Health Records.
You have a legal entitlement to see a copy of the records held about you. All records stored on computer can be accessed. If you wish to see your records you should apply in to the practice for a Subject Access Request.
Guideline Rights
- You are entitled to have reasonable access to high quality service and facilities.
- You are entitled to information on what is wrong with you and the treatment options available. Ask questions. You should be given truthful, clear answers.
- You are entitled to ask for a second opinion on your diagnosis or treatment.
- You can ask to have someone with you (friend, relative, interpreter) at any time. You may find this beneficial, particularly if you are asking questions or need moral support.
Human Rights
It is your right to be treated as a human being by another human being and as they would wish to be treated themselves, i.e. with dignity, politeness, respect and consideration. These may not necessarily be covered legally or even be contained in guidelines, but human rights will come into many of the areas mentioned above and are certainly just as important.
Consent
A doctor, nurse, or anyone else looking after your health, has to have your agreement before they can examine or treat you. This policy applies to both children and adults. Your consent will be sought before any of your information is shared with any individual not connected with your direct health care.
Patient Responsibilities
Patients, too, have certain responsibilities:
- Keeping appointments: Please try to arrive on time. If you are unable to attend an appointment, please inform the clinic or surgery in good time. Address. If you move house, change address or telephone number, or the postcode is changed, please inform your GP practice or outpatient clinic.
- Treat all healthcare staff in a reasonable, courteous manner.
- Use emergency services in a responsible manner. Please use the out-of-hours services for emergencies only and not for routine care.
- Take care with medicines. Medicines are for one person only and should not be shared. Keep them safely away from children and in the original container. Take any unwanted medicines to a chemist for safe disposal.
Patient Responsibilities Statement
Patient Rights & Responsibilities
Users of the National Health Service have rights. The following explains what they are. They fall into three main categories.
Legislated Rights
Rights that have been written into law by means of Parliamentary Acts or Bills. (For example, UK GDPR and DPA 2018). As a patient of the NHS you have 7 rights.
- You are entitled to receive health care on the basis of clinical need, regardless of your income.
- You are entitled to be registered with a Medical practice. You are entitled to change your practice at any time. You do not have to give a reason for your decision.
- You are legally entitled to accept or refuse treatment as you see fit. This includes examinations, tests, diagnostic procedures, medication, operations, etc.
- You can refuse to be involved in research trials. If you do not agree to be involved in research trials, you can withdraw at any time.
- You are entitled to equal treatment regardless of race, gender, age or disability.
- You have a right to information on GP practices in your area and the services they provide. All practices must provide an information leaflet.
- You have a right to confidentiality. Personal information about your health is confidential and should only be disclosed to those who need that information to provide you with effective treatment, you can consent to share with other individuals outside of the NHS
Access to your Health Records.
You have a legal entitlement to see a copy of the records held about you. All records stored on computer can be accessed. If you wish to see your records you should apply in to the practice for a Subject Access Request.
Guideline Rights
- You are entitled to have reasonable access to high quality service and facilities.
- You are entitled to information on what is wrong with you and the treatment options available. Ask questions. You should be given truthful, clear answers.
- You are entitled to ask for a second opinion on your diagnosis or treatment.
- You can ask to have someone with you (friend, relative, interpreter) at any time. You may find this beneficial, particularly if you are asking questions or need moral support.
Human Rights
It is your right to be treated as a human being by another human being and as they would wish to be treated themselves, i.e. with dignity, politeness, respect and consideration. These may not necessarily be covered legally or even be contained in guidelines, but human rights will come into many of the areas mentioned above and are certainly just as important.
Consent
A doctor, nurse, or anyone else looking after your health, has to have your agreement before they can examine or treat you. This policy applies to both children and adults. Your consent will be sought before any of your information is shared with any individual not connected with your direct health care.
Patient Responsibilities
Patients, too, have certain responsibilities:
- Keeping appointments: Please try to arrive on time. If you are unable to attend an appointment, please inform the clinic or surgery in good time. Address. If you move house, change address or telephone number, or the postcode is changed, please inform your GP practice or outpatient clinic.
- Treat all healthcare staff in a reasonable, courteous manner.
- Use emergency services in a responsible manner. Please use the out-of-hours services for emergencies only and not for routine care.
- Take care with medicines. Medicines are for one person only and should not be shared. Keep them safely away from children and in the original container. Take any unwanted medicines to a chemist for safe disposal.
Privacy Notice
We understand how important it is to keep your personal information safe and secure and we take this very seriously. We have taken steps to make sure your personal information is looked after in the best possible way and we review this regularly.
Please read this privacy notice (‘Privacy Notice’) carefully, as it contains important information about how we use the personal and healthcare information we collect on your behalf.
1. Why We Are Providing This Privacy Notice
We are required to provide you with this Privacy Notice by Law. It explains how we use the personal and healthcare information we collect, store and hold about you. If you are unclear about how we process or use your personal and healthcare information, or you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or any other issue regarding your personal and healthcare information, then please do contact our Data Protection Officer (details below).
The Law says:
- We must let you know why we collect personal and healthcare information about you;
- We must let you know how we use any personal and/or healthcare information we hold on you;
- We need to inform you in respect of what we do with it;
- We need to tell you about who we share it with or pass it on to and why; and
- We need to let you know how long we can keep it for.
2. The Data Protection Officer
Please write to East Cowes Medical Centre or send an email to iwccg.requests.eastcowesmedicalcentre@nhs.net if:
- You have any questions about how your information is being held;
- If you require access to your information or if you wish to make a change to your information;
- If you wish to make a complaint about anything to do with the personal and healthcare information we hold about you;
- Or any other query relating to this Policy and your rights as a patient.
3. About Us
The GP Practice at the East Cowes Medical Centre (‘the Surgery’) situated at Church Path, East Cowes Isle of Wight PO32 6RP, is a Data Controller of your information. This means we are responsible for collecting, storing and handling your personal and healthcare information when you register with us as a patient.
There may be times where we also process your information. That means we use it for a particular purpose and, therefore, on those occasions we may also be Data Processors. The purposes for which we use your information are set out in this Privacy Notice.
4. Covid-19
The ICO recognises the unprecedented challenges the NHS and other health professionals are facing during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The ICO also recognise that ‘Public bodies may require additional collection and sharing of personal data to protect against serious threats to public health.’
The Government have also taken action in respect of this and on 20th March 2020 the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care issued a Notice under Regulation 3(4) of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 requiring organisations such as GP Practices to use your information to help GP Practices and other healthcare organisations to respond to and deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to look after your healthcare needs during this difficult time, we may urgently need to share your personal information, including medical records, with clinical and non-clinical staff who belong to organisations that are permitted to use your information and need to use it to help deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. This could (amongst other measures) consist of either treating you or a member of your family and enable us and other healthcare organisations to monitor the disease, assess risk and manage the spread of the disease.
Please be assured that we will only share information and health data that is necessary to meet yours and public healthcare needs.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has also stated that these measures are temporary and will expire on 30th September 2020 unless a further extension is required. Any further extension will be will be provided in writing.
Please also note that the data protection and electronic communication laws do not stop us from sending public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email as these messages are not direct marketing.
It may also be necessary, where the latest technology allows us to do so, to use your information and health data to facilitate digital consultations and diagnoses and we will always do this with your security in mind.
If you are concerned about how your information is being used, please contact our DPO using the contact details provided in this Privacy Notice.
5. Information We Collect From You
The information we collect from you will include:
- Your contact details (such as your name and email address, including place of work and work contact details);
- Details and contact numbers of your next of kin;
- Your age range, gender, ethnicity;
- Details in relation to your medical history;
- The reason for your visit to the Surgery;
- Medical notes and details of diagnosis and consultations with our GPs and other health professionals within the Surgery involved in your direct healthcare.
6. Information About Your From Others
We also collect personal information about you when it is sent to us from the following:
- A hospital, a consultant or any other medical or healthcare professional, or any other person involved with your general healthcare.
- Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists;
- Private Sector Providers;
- Voluntary Sector Providers;
- Social Care Services;
- Local Authorities;
- Third Parties (such as friends/family/neighbour);
- Police & Judicial Services;
- Education Services.
7. Your Summary Care Record
Your summary care record is an electronic record of your healthcare history (and other relevant personal information) held on a national healthcare records database provided and facilitated by NHS England.
This record may be shared with other healthcare professionals and additions to this record may also be made by relevant healthcare professionals and organisations involved in your direct healthcare.
You may have the right to demand that this record is not shared with anyone who is not involved in the provision of your direct healthcare. If you wish to enquire further as to your rights in respect of not sharing information on this record then please contact our Data Protection Officer.
To find out more about the wider use of confidential personal information and to register your choice to opt out if you do not want your data to be used in this way, please visit NHS: Your Data Matters
Note if you do choose to opt out, you can still consent to your data being used for specific purposes. However, if you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. You may however change your choice at any time.
8. Who We May Provide Your Personal Information To, And Why
Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care Services, important information about you is collected to help ensure you get the best possible care and treatment. This information may be passed to other approved organisations where there is a legal basis, to help with planning services, improving care, research into developing new treatments and preventing illness. All of this helps in proving better care to you and your family and future generations. However, as explained in this privacy notice, confidential information about your health and care is only used in this way where allowed by law and would never be used for any other purpose without your clear and explicit consent.
We may pass your personal information on to the following people or organisations, because these organisations may require your information to assist them in the provision of your direct healthcare needs. It, therefore, may be important for them to be able to access your information in order to ensure they may properly deliver their services to you:
- Hospital professionals (such as doctors, consultants, nurses, etc);
- Other GPs/Doctors;
- Pharmacists;
- Nurses and other healthcare professionals;
- Dentists;
- Any other person that is involved in providing services related to your general healthcare, including mental health professionals;
- GPES Data for Pandemic Planning & Research (COVID-19).
Purpose: Personal confidential and Special Category data will be extracted at source from GP systems for the use of planning and research for the Covid-19 pandemic emergency period. Requests for data will be required from NHS Digital via their secure NHSX SPOC Covid-19 request process.
Legal Basis: NHS Digital has been directed by the Secretary of State under section 254 of the 2012 Act under the COVID-19 Direction to establish and operate a system for the collection and analysis of the information specified for this service: GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19). A copy of the COVID-19 Direction is published here
Patients who have expressed an opt out preference via Type 1 objections with their GP surgery not to have their data extracted for anything other than their direct care will not be party to this data extraction.
Processor: NHS Digital
9. Other People Who We Provide Your Information To
- Commissioners;
- Clinical Commissioning Groups;
- Local authorities;
- Community health services;
- For the purposes of complying with the law e.g. Police, Solicitors, Insurance Companies;
- Anyone you have given your consent to, to view or receive your record, or part of your record. Please note, if you give another person or organisation consent to access your record we will need to contact you to verify your consent before we release that record. It is important that you are clear and understand how much and what aspects of, your record you give consent to be disclosed.
- Extended Access – we offer extended access services to our patients which means you can access medical services outside of our normal opening hours. In order to provide you with this service, we have formal arrangements in place with the Clinical Commissioning Group and with other practices that offer this service on our behalf for you as a patient to access outside of our opening hours. This means, that where you have provided consent, another Island practice will have access to your medical record to be able to offer you a service. Please note to ensure that those practices comply with the law and to protect the use of your information, we have very robust data sharing agreements and other clear arrangements in place to ensure your data is always protected and used for those purposes only. Currently extended access services are offered at The Bay Medical Centre (Sandown), Tower House (Ryde) and Lighthouse Medical (Newport).
- Population Health Management – Health and care services work together as ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) and are sharing data in order to:
- Understanding the health and care needs of the care system’s population, including health inequalities
- Provide support to where it will have the most impact
- Identify early actions to keep people well, not only focusing on people in direct contact with services, but looking to join up care across different partners.
- Type of Data – Identifiable/Pseudonymised/Anonymised/Aggregate Data. NB only organisations that provide your individual care will see your identifiable data. Legal Basis – Article 6(1)(e); “necessary… in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’ And Article 9(2)(h) Provision of health and care Processor to which data is disclosed: Cerner Ltd, Optum Ltd, NECS CSU Population Health Management also incorporates the use of risk stratification tools as an integral part of the purpose
- Data Extraction by the Clinical Commissioning Group – the clinical commissioning group at times extracts medical information about you, but the information we pass to them via our computer systems cannot identify you to them. This information only refers to you by way of a code that only your practice can identify (it is pseudo-anonymised). This therefore protects you from anyone who may have access to this information at the Clinical Commissioning Group from ever identifying you as a result of seeing the medical information and we will never give them the information that would enable them to do this.
There are good reasons why the Clinical Commissioning Group may require this pseudo- anonymised information, these are as follows:
- Understanding service activity and population needs at a Practice, locality or Island wide level
- Analysis of patient cohorts using demographic and financial information to assess and plan future health services and ensure contracts are aligned with the population needs.
- IWCCG Medicines Management Team , to identify cohorts of patients where prescribing could be improved, and implement agreed changes to prescribing with local GPs;
- Monitoring payments for direct and local enhanced services;
- Support Practices with data quality Improvements by identifying data quality issues or inconsistencies;
- Health Surveillance immunisation and vaccine uptake across Practices
- Health needs assessment, for example, identifying numbers of patients with specific health conditions, or combinations of conditions;
- Health services research including identification of patients eligible to be invited to participate in research, where patient consent has been obtained.
10. Anonymised Information
Sometimes we may provide information about you in an anonymised form. If we do so, then none of the information we provide to any other party will identify you as an individual and cannot be traced back to you.
11. Your Rights As A Patient
The Law gives you certain rights to your personal and healthcare information that we hold, as set out below:
Access and Subject Access Requests
You have the right to see what information we hold about you and to request a copy of this information.
If you would like a copy of the information we hold about you please write to Selena Bone. We will provide this information free of charge however, we may in some limited and exceptional circumstances have to make an administrative charge for any extra copies if the information requested is excessive, complex or repetitive.
We have one month to reply to you and give you the information that you require. We would ask, therefore, that any requests you make are in writing and it is made clear to us what and how much information you require.
Online Access
You may ask us if you wish to have online access to your medical record. However, there will be certain protocols that we have to follow in order to give you online access, including written consent and production of documents that prove your identity.
Please note that when we give you online access, the responsibility is yours to make sure that you keep your information safe and secure if you do not wish any third party to gain access.
Correction
We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct any information you think is inaccurate. It is very important that you make sure you tell us if your contact details including your mobile phone number has changed.
Removal
You have the right to ask for your information to be removed however, if we require this information to assist us in providing you with appropriate medical services and diagnosis for your healthcare, then removal may not be possible.
Objection
We cannot share your information with anyone else for a purpose that is not directly related to your health, e.g. medical research, educational purposes, etc. We would ask you for your consent in order to do this however, you have the right to request that your personal and healthcare information is not shared by the Surgery in this way. Please note the Anonymised Information section in this Privacy Notice.
Transfer
You have the right to request that your personal and/or healthcare information is transferred, in an electronic form (or other form), to another organisation, but we will require your clear consent to be able to do this.
12. Third Parties Mentioned On Your Medical Record
Sometimes we record information about third parties mentioned by you to us during any consultation. We are under an obligation to make sure we also protect that third party’s rights as an individual and to ensure that references to them which may breach their rights to confidentiality, are removed before we send any information to any other party including yourself. Third parties can include: spouses, partners, and other family members.
13. How We Use The Information About You
We use your personal and healthcare information in the following ways:
- when we need to speak to, or contact other doctors, consultants, nurses or any other medical/healthcare professional or organisation during the course of your diagnosis or treatment or on going healthcare;
- when we are required by Law to hand over your information to any other organisation, such as the police, by court order, solicitors, or immigration enforcement.
We will never pass on your personal information to anyone else who does not need it, or has no right to it, unless you give us clear consent to do so.
14. Legal Justification For Collecting And Using Your Information
The Law says we need a legal basis to handle your personal and healthcare information.
- Contract: We have a contract with NHS England to deliver healthcare services to you. This contract provides that we are under a legal obligation to ensure that we deliver medical and healthcare services to the public.
- Consent: Sometimes we also rely on the fact that you give us consent to use your personal and healthcare information so that we can take care of your healthcare needs. Please note that you have the right to withdraw consent at any time if you no longer wish to receive services from us.
- Necessary Care: Providing you with the appropriate healthcare, where necessary. The Law refers to this as ‘protecting your vital interests’ where you may be in a position not to be able to consent.
- Law: Sometimes the Law obliges us to provide your information to an organisation (see above).
15. Special Categories
The Law states that personal information about your health falls into a special category of information because it is very sensitive. Reasons that may entitle us to use and process your information may be as follows:
- Public Interest: Where we may need to handle your personal information when it is considered to be in the public interest. For example, when there is an outbreak of a specific disease and we need to contact you for treatment, or we need to pass your information to relevant organisations to ensure you receive advice and/or treatment;
- Consent: When you have given us consent;
- Vital Interest: If you are incapable of giving consent, and we have to use your information to protect your vital interests (e.g. if you have had an accident and you need emergency treatment);
- Defending A Claim: If we need your information to defend a legal claim against us by you, or by another party;
- Providing You With Medical Care: Where we need your information to provide you with medical and healthcare services
16. How Long We Keep Your Personal Information
We carefully consider any personal information that we store about you, and we will not keep your information for longer than is necessary for the purposes as set out in this Privacy Notice.
17. Under 16s
We are currently working on producing a privacy notice for under 16s and this will be available as soon as possible. In the meantime if you are under 16 you can obtain a copy of our current privacy notice which will be very similar.
18. If English Is Not Your First Language
If English is not your first language you can request a translation of this Privacy Notice. Please contact our Data Protection Officer.
19. Complaints
If you have a concern about the way we handle your personal data or you have a complaint about what we are doing, or how we have used or handled your personal and/or healthcare information, then please contact our surgery.
20. Our Website
The only website this Privacy Notice applies to is the Surgery’s website (www.eastcoweshealthcentre.co.uk). If you use a link to any other website from the Surgery’s website then you will need to read their respective privacy notice. We take no responsibility (legal or otherwise) for the content of other websites.
21. Cookies
Our website is provided by Tree View Designs. To find out more about the Cookie policy please click here
22. Security
We take the security of your information very seriously and we do everything we can to ensure that your information is always protected and secure. We regularly update our processes and systems and we also ensure that our staff are properly trained. We also carry out assessments and audits of the information that we hold about you and make sure that if we provide any other services, we carry out proper assessments and security reviews.
23. Text Messaging And Contacting You
Because we are obliged to protect any confidential information we hold about you and we take this very seriously, it is imperative that you let us know immediately if you change any of your contact details.
We may contact you using SMS texting to your mobile phone in the event that we need to notify you about appointments and other services that we provide to you involving your direct care, therefore you must ensure that we have your up to date details. This is to ensure we are sure we are actually contacting you and not another person.
24. Where To Find Our Privacy Policy
You may find a copy of this Privacy Notice on the Surgery’s notice board, on our website, or a copy may be provided on request.
25. Changes To Our Privacy Notice
We regularly review and update our Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice was last updated: June 2021.
Suggestions and Complaints
Comments and Suggestions
We are happy to accept and consider comments and suggestions about how we may improve the service that we provide. Patients should write to the Practice Manager.
Complaints
We always try to provide the best service possible, but there may be times when you feel that this has not happened. The practice complaints procedure is intended to address matters swiftly and to correct mistakes as soon as possible. If you are dissatisfied about an aspect of our service, please write to the Practice Manager, who will advise you further. You should understand that the NHS complaints procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or matters of compensation.
Alternatively, if you prefer, you can contact the Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust on 01983 535403 and they will be able to advise you further.
Veterans’ Health
The team at Esplanade Surgery are proud to be an accredited Veteran Friendly GP practice and to support our veteran community.
As a Veteran Friendly GP Practice we:
- have a clinical lead for veteran health Dr Cambridge, who is supported by the whole practice to improve veteran health services ask patients ‘Have you served in the Armed Forces?’ to help identify veteran patients and code them on our system
- support veteran patients to access dedicated health services
- undertake regular training and development to meet the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant and better understand the needs of veteran patients
If you’re a veteran patient, please let us know that you have served so that we can make sure that we understand your health needs.
A University of Chester study revealed that the Veteran Friendly Accreditation programme, which is run by the Royal College of General Practitioners in partnership with NHS England, leads to better healthcare.
To find out more about the veteran friendly practices accreditation scheme, visit www.rcgp.org.uk/veterans
Website Accessibility Statement
General
Practice365 strives to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities. Practice365 has invested a significant amount of resources to help ensure that its websites are made easier to use and more accessible for people with disabilities, with the strong belief that every person has the right to live with dignity, equality, comfort and independence.
This accessibility statement applies to websites hosted by Practice365.co.uk.
Accessibility on Practice365
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
Enabling the Accessibility Menu
Disclaimer
Practice365 continues its efforts to constantly improve the accessibility of its site and services in the belief that it is our collective moral obligation to allow seamless, accessible and unhindered use also for those of us with disabilities.
Here For You
If you are experiencing difficulty with any content on Practice365 website, widget, any of its services or require assistance with any part of our site or software, please contact us during normal business hours as detailed below and we will be happy to assist.
Contacting Us
If you wish to report a problem, have any questions or need assistance, please email us at hello@iatropartners.co.uk
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). If you are based in Northern Ireland, please reefer to Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) instead of the EASS and EHRC.