Confidentiality

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.

Suggestions

We are always looking for ways to improve our organisation. We try to run our practice for your benefit and it would help us to further these aims if you would let us know both the things you find good and things you find difficult or unhelpful.

A red suggestions box is situated in the waiting room upstairs, if you add your name an address we will endeavour to reply.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about any aspect of the service provided by Bollington Medical Centre, please contact the Practice Business Manager.  You can do this by contacting:  

Trish Atkinson, The Waterhouse, Bollington Medical Centre, Wellington Road, Bollington SK10 5JH or by telephone on 01625 572481  

Alternatively you can complain directly to Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT.  You can do this by contacting:   Complaints & Litigation Manager, Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT, Universal House, ERF Way Pochin Way, Middlewich CW10 0QJ or by telephone on 01606 275232  

Cheshire East Community Health

If your complaint is about District Nursing, Podiatry, GP Out of Hours Service, Health Visiting, School Nursing and Speech and Language Therapy, please contact Cheshire East Community Health who are responsible for providing these NHS Services. 

Please contact:   Caroline Brockbank, Complaints and PALS Manager, Cheshire East Community Health, 2nd Floor, Bevan House, Barony Rd Nantwich, CW5 5RD 01270 376663 07818 407696

Help and Assistance with Complaints

Help and Advice You can use the PALS Service for any advice or concerns and they can be contacted on 01606 544444/ 07825721080.  

If you would like assistance with a complaint you can get help from the Independent Complaints Advocacy Service by phoning 0845 120 3735 or via the website, www.adviceguide.org.uk

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)

The NHS employs over a million staff in thousands of locations. It is a large and complex organisation providing a broad range of services. It is not surprising that sometimes you or a loved one may feel bewildered or concerned when using the NHS. And this can be at times when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and anxious.

So, what should you do if you want on the spot help when using the health service? The NHS expects all members of staff to listen and respond to you to the best of their ability. But sometimes, you may wish to talk to someone employed especially to help you. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, has been introduced to ensure that the NHS listens to patients, their relatives, carers and friends, and answers their questions and resolves their concerns as quickly as possible.

PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their loved ones and making changes, when appropriate.

What does PALS do?

In particular, PALS will:

• Provide you with information about the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry
• Help resolve concerns or problems when you are using the NHS
• Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint
• Provide you with information and help introduce you to agencies and support groups outside the NHS
• Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally
• Improve the NHS by listening to your concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues you raise
• Provide an early warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.

Cheshire East Community Health is responsible for providing NHS Services such as District Nursing, Podiatry, Physiotherapy, GP Out of Hours Service, Health Visiting, School Nursing and Speech and Language Therapy in the Central and Eastern Cheshire area and is hosted by Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust.

If you have a concern, comment or a complaint about the care you received, it is better to try and sort it out as soon as possible.  Firstly, talk to the staff who are looking after you.  The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) may also be able to help you. The PALS service provides on the spot advice, support and assistance.  Please contact:

Caroline Brockbank

Complaints and PALS Manager

Cheshire East Community Health

2nd Floor, Bevan House, Barony Rd

Nantwich, CW5 5RD

01270 376663

07818 407696

Caroline.brockbank@cecpct.nhs.uk

Find out more

If you would like more information about PALS, the functions it is intended to provide and the standards it should strive to achieve , follow this link.

If you are unhappy with the service you are receiving and cannot sort out the problem with us, it is simple to change your doctor. All you need to do is to go to a new doctor and ask to register with them. Violent or abusive patients will be dealt with according to local guidelines

Patient Rights

We are a computerised practice which helps us to provide better care for you. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 patients have the right to: -

• Access their health records, subject to safeguards.
• Have copies of their health records
• Have them explained if they are illegible or unintelligible

A fee of £10.00 will be charged for a print out of your computer medical record. Access to your data is subject to strict confidentiality, information about you will not be disclosed to any unauthorised body.

Information about you is held to promote your health care; it may also be used in an anonymised form for future research or to complete statistics for the benefit of all. The Ethics Committee approves all research projects that are to be undertaken. For Further information visit the website: - www.nhs\confidentiality