Confidentiality

We are registered under the data protection and freedom of information acts and are paper-light (almost totally computerized) so that your notes are available to doctors throughout the practice, regardless of which site they are at.

The practice complies with Data Protection and Access to Medical Records legislation. 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.

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.

Freedom of Information

The ICO has published a new Model Publication Scheme that all public authorities are required to adopt by 1st January 2009.

Your personal information is very important to you and to us at The Mathews Practice. The way your information is collected, retained and used has changed substantially over the years with the development of new technologies and as such the laws that govern the use of a person’s personal data are also changing to encompass these developments.

This new General Data Protection Regulations are more specific about how personal information can be processed. It is also much more detailed about organisations governance responsibilities ensuring they assess any information risk and put appropriate security measures in place.

The new regulations place a number of requirements across 6 key principles.

1.  Transparency, fairness and lawfulness in the handling and use of personal data.
2.  Limiting the processing of personal data to specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
3. Minimising the collection and storage of personal data.
4.  Ensuring accuracy of personal data and enabling it to be erased or rectified.
5. Limiting the storage of personal data.
6. Ensuring security, integrity and confidentiality of personal data.

As a result of this we are able to:

• Identify stores of personal data,
• Govern the creation, management and access of personal data
• Establish controls to protect personal data and prevent breaches
• Maintain required documentation, manage requests and notify data breaches

Rest assured, robust data security and confidentiality has always been a crucial part of everything we do as a health care provider.

The new General Data Protection Regulations support your right to have your privacy respected and your data protected. It gives you easier access to the personal information the we hold about you, and the ways in which we process it, including if you wish to check or change it. It is designed to give you confidence that this information is accurate, up to date and well managed.

Privacy Notices will be displayed and given to Patients, staff or other individuals regarding how we intend to use and store their personal Information.

A copy of our Patient Privacy Notice can be found here - GDPR - Privacy Notice

Under the General Data Protection Regulations you can see or have copies of your records. This is known as a Subject Access Request and you may submit a subject access request by speaking to one of our receptionists who will explain the process and provide the forms required for you to complete.

THE PRACTICE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

How do I make a complaint?

If you have a complaint, or are concerned about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice, please let us know. 

Your complaint can be in writing or you can speak to a member of staff or the Practice Manager.

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.

If your problem cannot be sorted out informally and you wish to make a formal complaint, please let us know as soon as possible.  Ideally this should be within a matter of days or at the most a few weeks.  In this way it helps us to establish what happened more easily.

If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:

• Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
• Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided that is within 12 months of the incident.

You can also ask someone else to complain on your behalf.

Who can complain?

A patient, or anyone else who has been affected by the action, omission or decision of the practice that led to the complaint can complain.

The practice will inform the Local Medical Committee if it encounters any apparent misuse of the complaints system.

Who should I contact?

In Person – Ask to speak with Andrew Moore, The Practice Manager

By Telephone – Please call the surgery on the usual number and ask to Speak with the Practice manager. The manager is not always available but will be able to arrange to call you back.

In writing – Some complaints may be easier to deal with in writing. Please provide as much information as possible regarding the complaint and address it to:-

The Complaints Manager,

The Mathews Practice,

Belgrave Medical Centre,

22 Asline Road,

Sheffield

S2 4UJ

What will the Practice do?

When we look into your complaint we aim to:

• Acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days, either by telephone or letter

• Offer to discuss the complaint with you at a time to be agreed with you.

• Agree the manner in which the complaint is to be handled.

• Agree the timescale when the investigation is to be completed and the response will be made available.

• Agree mode of communication.

• Find out what happened and what went wrong

• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned if you would like this

• Make sure you receive an apology where this is appropriate

• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

We also aim to look into your complaint within ten working days and then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved.

 What if I am complaining on behalf of someone else?

We keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.  If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his/her permission, in writing, to do so.  There are exceptions to this rule where the patient

• Has died
• Is a child
• Is physically or mentally incapable

In these cases the practice must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for this method of representation and that the third party is genuinely acting in the best interests of the patient.   If the practice is not satisfied that this is the case, they must inform the representative in writing, stating the reasons for this decision.

How do I make complaints to NHS England / The Commisioner?

We hope that if you have a problem you will use our practice complaints procedure.  We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong.  It also gives an opportunity for us to review our processes, learn from any mistakes and to improve our practice.

This does not affect your right to approach NHS England if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us. From 1^st July 2023 NHS England delegated the authority for complaints handling to Regional integrated care boards and commissioning organisations.

If you feel unable to raise your complaint directly with the practice and wish to contact our commissioning organisation, You can do this by contacting them on the details below: -

Email
syicb-sheffield.icbcomplaints@nhs.net

With ‘For the attention of the complaints manager’ in the subject line

Telephone
0114 3051000 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, excluding English Bank Holidays)

For more information please visit the South Yorkshire ICB website ‘Contact Us’ section at:

https//southyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk/contact-us

The South Yorkshire ICB will seek your permission to share the details of the complaint with the practice. If you do not agree to this, the matter cannot be pursued.

If South Yorkshire ICB feels that your complaint would be better dealt with by the practice, you must consent to having the complaint passed on to the practice.

Patient Services Team

If you have concerns you can contact the Sheffield Patient Services Team (PST) which has been established in every NHS Trust.  PST are not part of the complaints procedure itself but they might be able to resolve your concerns informally or can tell you more about the complaints procedure and independent complaints advocacy services.  They are based at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2JF Tel: No: 0114 271 2400.  

Email: pst@sth.nhs.uk.

Where can I get more information or further help from? 

If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you have the right to ask the Independent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for Healthcare or the Local Government Ombudsman for adult social care to review your case.  These are independent bodies established to promote improvements in healthcare through the assessment of the performance of those who provide services.  Their helpline Tel: No: is 0345 015 4033 (calls charged at a local rate wherever you are in the UK)

Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk,

Fax 020 7217 4000

or visit their website at www.ombudsman.org.uk.

Or you can write to:-

The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman,

Citygate,

Mosley Street

Manchester

M2 3HQ

Or

The Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman,

Millbank Tower

30 Millbank

Westminster

London

Sw1P 4QP

Where can I get further advice?

• VoiceAbility (NHS Complaints Advocacy) provides free advice and support to people who want to complain about the NHS. 

Details are at www.nhscomplaintsadvocacy.org Tel: No: 0300 330 5454.  Textphone: 0300 061 4298 Email: nhscomplaints@voiceability.org  Their address is VoiceAbility, Mount Pleasant House, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0RN.

• Call your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Help us get it right

We constantly try to improve the service we offer. Please let us know when you think we have done something well or if you have any suggestions as to how we can do something better.

The Mathews Practice – Reviewed July 2023

Reviewed annually