Practice Policies & Patient Information

Complaints and Comments

Patient Feedback

The aim of everybody at Wetmore Road Surgery is to provide all our patients with the best care possible.

The surgery is always looking for ways to improve the services it offers to patients. To do this effectively, the practice needs to know what you think about the services you receive.

Tell us what we do best, where we don’t meet your expectations plus any ideas and suggestions you may have. Only by listening to you can the practice continue to build and improve upon the service it offers. You can give these in writing to the Practice Manager, using the comments form, suggestion box in the Reception Area or verbally to any of the Team.

Click here to download our Complaints and Comments Leaflet

Practice Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint about the service you have received from any members of staff working in this practice, please let us know. The practice operates a Complaints Procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints, Our complaints system meets national criteria.

Note: If you make a complaint it is practice policy to ensure you are not discriminated against, or subjected to any negative effect on your care, treatment or support

How to make a complaint

In the first instance please discuss your complaint with the staff member concerned. Where the issue cannot be resolved at this stage, please contact the Practice Manager who will try to resolve the issue and offer you further advice on the complaints procedure.

If your problem cannot be resolved at this stage and you wish to make a formal complaint, please let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of days. This will enable the practice to get a clear picture of the circumstances surrounding the complaint.

If it is not possible to make your complaint immediately, please let us have details of your complaint within the following timescales:

Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem

Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the original incident

The practice will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within ten working days of this date you raised it with us. At this stage you should be offered an explanation or a meeting with the person(s) involved.

Investigate the full circumstances of the complaint
Make arrangements for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
Make sure you received an apology, where this is appropriate
Identify what the practice can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

If you feel that we have not responded to your concerns fully please do not hesitate to come back to us to discuss these further. However, if you feel this is not possible, please contact Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS).

What we shall not do

At no point will the fact that you have made a complaint be recorded in your medical record. All issues you raise will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not affect your current or future care.

Compliments and Suggestions

It is always appreciated when compliments are received and, as with complaints, we use this as a way of learning for the future. When we receive a compliment we share this with the team and encourage individuals to work to the high standards that your compliment has acknowledged. Please forward any compliments for the attention of our Practice Manager or one of the partners.

Equally your suggestions can help us change our processes and we often make minor changes to our administration systems following patient input. Please forward any suggestions to our Practice Manager.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that Wetmore Road Surgery keeps strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the practice needs to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be required, unless they are incapable of providing this due to illness or disability.

Complaining to other authorities

The practice management team hope that if you have a problem you will use the Practice Complaints Procedure.

However, if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the response received from us, you can contact any of the following bodies:

Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS) 0800 030 4563
Healthwatch Staffordshire 0800 161 5600
NHS England North Midlands Complaints Service 0300 311 2233

Contacting The Care Quality Commission

If you have a genuine concern about a staff member or regulated activity carried on by this Practice then you can contact the Care Quality Commissioning on 03000 616 161 or alternatively visit the following website: https://www.cqc.org.uk

PALS, ICAS & OMBUDSMAN

Patient Advisory Liaison Service (PALS)

PALS provide a confidential service designed to help patients get the most from the NHS. PALS can tell you more about the NHS complaints procedure and may be able to help you resolve your complaint informally.

Your local PALS office can be contacted on 0800 030 4563 or emailed via email on:

[email protected]

Healthwatch Staffordshire

Healthwatch Staffordshire is a local service that supports people who want to make a complaint about there NHS Care or treatment. Your local service is at:

Suite 2, Opus House, Priestly Court, Staffordshire Technology Park, Stafford, ST18 0LQ

Tel: 0800 161 5600 Email: [email protected]

NHS England North Midlands Complaints Service

If the practice cannot resolve our complaint please contact NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT

Email: [email protected]

Confidentiality

The practice complies with Data Protection and Access to Medical Records legislation as well as the Caldicott guidelines which are specific NHS guidance on confidentiality.

Information contained in your health records is kept confidential at all times and only disclosed to others for purposes related to your health care (except when you have given permission e.g. insurance/mortgage companies). Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:

To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.

However, NHS auditors have a duty to carry out routine checks from time to time to determine if claims for payment by the practice have been made correctly.

In the course of these checks, it may be necessary to verify details from patient records. Such checks are undertaken in accordance with strict guidelines agreed with the national Health Service and the Local Medical Committee. If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.

Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff. Please do not ask the receptionists

For information regarding other patient’s appointments
For test results of a patient other than yourself.

This type of information is confidential and therefore cannot be divulged to anyone else and we do not wish to cause offence by being unable to answer your questions.

If you have any queries, please ask to speak to Mr. Rob Paton (Practice Manager) who will be pleased to help you.

Maintaining patient confidentiality is very important to everyone at Wetmore Road Surgery.

Please click here to download our Data Security and Protection Policy

Freedom of Information

The ICO has published a new Model Publication Scheme that all public authorities are required to adopt.

Click here for more information on – Freedom of Information Act

Freedom of Information Leaflets are available free of charge at Reception or from the Practice Manager.

GP Net Earnings

Disclaimer: NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and 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 many much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

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 the GP surgery in the last financial year was £62,237 before tax and national insurance. This is for the following who worked in the practice for more than six months: 5 full time GPs,1 part time GP and 4 salaried GPs.

* Year ended 31st March 2023

Infection Control Annual Statement

Patient Charter

Patients’ Rights to General Medical Services

To be offered a health check on joining a doctor’s list for the first time.
To have appropriate drugs and medicine prescribed.
To be referred to a Consultant acceptable to them when they and their GP thinks it is necessary, and to be referred for a second opinion if they and their GP think it is advisable.
To have access to their health records, subject to any limitations of the law, and to know that those working for the NHS are under a legal duty to keep those records confidential.
To choose whether to take part in research or student training.
To receive a copy of their doctors practice leaflet, setting out the services that he or she provides.
To receive a full and prompt reply to any complaints they make about the care they receive at the Wetmore Road Surgery.

Click here for our Covid-19 Supplementary Privacy Notice

Click here for our Covid-19 Supplementary Privacy Notice Update

Click here for our Patient Privacy Notice May 2024.

Our Practice Charter

You will be treated with courtesy and respect by all Practice personnel.
An urgent appointment with a Doctor will be available on the same day.
Our standard is to see patients at or within 20 minutes of their appointment time. If you have waited longer than this please ask the Receptionist for an explanation.
We aim to answer the telephone within six rings. Requests for repeat prescriptions should be dealt with within 2 working days. This can be in person or via the internet using Patient Access (please enquire at reception).
All comments and suggestions about the service are welcome. Please use the box provided in the entrance hall.
If you have a complaint please speak to any member of staff. Your complaint will be dealt with in a professional and efficient manner.
We wish to make Wetmore Road Surgery as accessible as possible. If you have hearing, visual or physical difficulties please let the receptionist know so that we can enable you to fully use our services.

Click here for our Practice Charter Leaflet

Patients’ Responsibilities

If you are unable to attend for an appointment please let us know so that we can offer it to someone else.
If you are late for your appointment you may be asked to rebook at another time. Try to let us know in advance if you are going to be unavoidably delayed, so that we can make alternative arrangements to help you.
A home visit should only be requested for those who are unable to come to the surgery because of serious illness or infirmity. Please ring the surgery before 11:00am if at all possible.
An urgent appointment is for an urgent medical problem. Please speak to the Receptionist if you require a sick note or repeat prescription.
We would ask you to be patient if the Doctor is running late. This is often due to unforeseeable emergencies but please ask for an explanation from the Receptionist.
Make a separate appointment for each patient that needs to be seen. This allows the Doctor enough time to treat each patient with the time that they deserve.
Please act in a responsible and courteous manner whilst on the Practice premises for the safety and comfort of others.
Please treat all surgery staff, fellow patients, carers and visitors politely and with respect. Violence or verbal harassment will not be tolerated or accepted, you may be asked to register at another surgery if this behaviour occurs.

Patient Privacy Notice

PCRN Research Projects

The practice is proud to have been accepted as a member of the Primary Care Research Network. This is a national collaboration that organises research projects within General Practice. Without well-organised research we would not have scientific evidence that the management plans we are recommending to our patients are the best possible.

You may be invited to participate if your GP or nurse thinks you would be eligible to help with the research projects currently being carried out. However, you will always be given the opportunity to consider this and opt out if you wish.

Your participation would be completely voluntary and we must stress that a decision not to take part in, or to withdraw from, a research project will (in no way) affect your normal treatment. For more information on Research Projects in health please click here.

For more information on Patient Information, Health and Care Research click here.

The Practice is currently involved in the:

IQVIA Medical Research Extraction Scheme (MRES)

To find out more information about IQVIA Medical Research Extraction Scheme (MRES) please see more information below.

For more information click here

Practice Leaflet

Training

GP Training

Our practice participates in the advanced training of doctors for general practice.

These doctors, known as GP Trainees or registrars, are fully qualified doctors and have experience of hospital posts prior to joining us. They work with us for either 6 months or one year and share all aspects of medical care in liaison with the Partners. More recently we have also been involved in training of more junior doctors. These doctors spend 4 months with us as part of their overall specialist training. A number of these doctors will want to be Consultants within hospitals and a fair proportion will want to become General Practitioners and may return as GP Trainees.

We have been a training practice since 1992, and Dr Hallam, Dr Turfrey and Dr Ajmal are primarily responsible for training these junior doctors. All the Partners however take part in the education and training of these colleagues. The training involves teaching, confidential discussion of clinical cases, observing videos of the doctors carrying out patient consultations and also surgeries where the trainer sits in and observes.

At times you may be offered an appointment in either a video surgery or a shared surgery, which is for the purpose of educating these junior doctors. For the patient, participation in these surgeries is optional so if you feel uncomfortable about doing this please inform reception.

Student Nurses

Our practice also participates in the training of student nurses. Student nurses are mentored by the nursing team. They attend during their second year of training at Wolverhamptom University.

Wetmore Road Surgery Philosophy

Our aims are to offer the highest standard of health care and advice to our patients, with the resources available to us.

We have a team approach to patient care and endeavour to monitor the service provided to patients, to ensure that it meets current standards of excellence.

We are dedicated to ensuring that Practice staff and Doctors are trained to the highest level and to provide a stimulating and rewarding environment in which to work.

Zero Tolerance

The surgery is an NHS Zero tolerance zone.

There are 2 signs explaining this policy, one at the entrance to reception and one under the JAYEX board in reception.

There are CCTV cameras in both the reception area and in the corridor.

The policy is as set out below:

Physical violence and verbal abuse are a growing concern.

GPs, practice nurses, receptionists and other practice staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. We ask that you treat your GP and practice staff properly – without violence or abuse.

The practice will request the removal of any patient from the practice list who is aggressive or abusive towards a doctors, member of staff, other patient, or who damages property.

All instances of actual physical abuse on any doctor or member of staff, by a patient or their relatives will be reported to the police as an assault.