Confidentiality & Medical Records

The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will only 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 social services. This requires your consent.
  • When we have a duty to others e.g., in child protection cases.
  • Anonymised patient information may also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g., for diabetic care.  This information would be unidentifiable information.

If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.

Welsh GP Record

What is in my Welsh GP Record?  It is a summary of important information from your full GP medical record which is available to selected Health Professionals in Out of Hours and certain Secondary Care providers:

• Your name, address and contact details

• Current medication and medication you have been prescribed in the last two years

• Allergies or any adverse reactions

• Current problems or diagnosis

• Results of any recent tests you have had in the previous year, for example, blood tests and x-rays

It does not include any private discussions you may have had with your GP.

More information is available here.

Access to Records

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests may be subject to an administration charge.

In the case of legal matters, life insurance applications, etc, no information will be released to a third party without patient consent, unless we are legally obliged to do so.

Complaints

We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly and as helpfully as possible.

To pursue a complaint, you can write to the practice and place the complaint letter for the attention of the Practice Manager – Owain Gimblett. Alternatively, you can call the practice and request to speak with the Practice Manager. Whilst this may not always be feasible, the practice will look to call you back within 48 hours of the request to acknowledge and discuss the complaint further. The practice will deal with your concerns as set out in the Welsh Government's 'Putting Things Right' Complaints Protocol. Further written information is available regarding the complaint’s procedure from reception. Should patients wish to discuss concerns face to face, please note this is by appointment only following a request and is at the discretion of the Practice Manager.

Alternatively, please visit Putting Things Right

If your complaint relates to Health Board offered services, please note, their e-mail address to accept receipt of complaints is [email protected]

Violence Policy

The NHS operate a zero-tolerance policy about violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.