How do I access my medical records

If you want to see your medical records, you should contact us to arrange a date and time to come in and read them.

If you wish to have copies of your medical records, you should contact us to arrange this for you.

You don’t have to give a reason for wanting to see your records.

It is also possible to view a summary of your medical record online.

Hospital Records

As well as having a copy of your health records, the surgery will also have a summary of any hospital tests, or treatment, that you have had. Any hospitals where you have had treatment, or tests, will also hold records.

To see your hospital health records, you will have to contact the Hospital Trust where you were seen or received treatment

Power of attorney

Your health records are confidential, and members of your family are not allowed to see them unless you give them written permission, or they have power of attorney.

A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone to make decisions for you, should you become incapable of making decisions yourself.

The person you appoint is known as your attorney. An attorney can make decisions about your finances, property, and welfare. It is very important that you trust the person you appoint so that they do not abuse their responsibility. A legal power of attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used.

You will be allocated a named GP on registration, but you will be registered with the practice rather than that individual GP. You may see any of the doctors. However, if you do have a preferred GP, please let us know when making an appointment and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

New patients are allocated a doctor on registration.

We have staff specially trained to chaperone.

Every patient has a right to ask for a chaperone during their consultation.

You will be offered this service by your clinician.

Biddulph Valley Surgery is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

This Chaperone Policy adheres to local and national guidance and policy, i.e:

‘NHS (National Health Service) Clinical Governance Support Team (UK) Guidance on the role and effective use of chaperones in Primary and Community Care settings’.

The Chaperone Policy is clearly advertised, on the website and can be read at the Practice upon request. A Poster is also displayed in the Practice Waiting Area.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they consider one is required. The chaperone may be a family member or friend, but on occasions a formal chaperone may be preferred.

The Healthcare Professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.

All staff are aware of and have received appropriate information in relation to this Chaperone Policy.

All trained chaperones understand their role and responsibilities and are competent to perform that role.

There is no common definition of a chaperone and their role varies considerably depending on the needs of the patient, the healthcare professional and the examination being carried out.

Their role can be considered in any of the following areas:

• Emotional comfort and reassurance to patients
• Assist in undressing
• Act as interpreter
• Protection to the healthcare professional against allegations or attack)

Checklist for consultations involving intimate examinations

• Chaperones are most often required or requested where a male examiner is carrying out an intimate examination or procedure on a female patient, but the designation of the chaperone will depend on the role expected of them, whether participating in the procedure or providing a supportive role.
• Establish there is a genuine need for an intimate examination and discuss this with the patient and whether a formal chaperone (such as a nurse) is needed.
• Explain to the patient why an examination is necessary and give the patient an opportunity to ask questions. The chaperone would normally be the same sex as the patient and the patient will have the opportunity to decline a particular person as a chaperone, if that person is considered not acceptable for any reason.
• Offer a chaperone or invite the patient to have a family member or friend present.
• If the patient does not want a chaperone, record that the offer was made and declined in the patient’s notes.
• Obtain the patient’s consent before the examination and be prepared to discontinue the examination at any stage at the patient’s request.
• Record that permission has been obtained in the patient’s notes.
• Once the chaperone has entered the room, they should be introduced by name and the patient allowed privacy to undress and dress. Use drapes and curtains where possible to maintain dignity. There should be no undue delay prior to examination once the patient has removed any clothing.
• Explain what is being done at each stage of the examination, the outcome when it is complete and what is proposed to be done next. Keep discussion relevant and avoid personal comment.
• If a chaperone has been present, record that fact and the identity of the chaperone in the patient’s notes.
• During the examination, the chaperone may be needed to offer reassurance, remain alert to any indication of distress but should be courteous at all times.
• Record any other relevant issues or concerns in the patient’s notes, immediately following the consultation.
• Chaperones should only attend the part of the consultation that is necessary, other verbal communication should be carried out when the chaperone has left.
• Any request that the examination be discontinued should be respected.
• Healthcare professionals should note that they are at an increased risk of their actions being misconstrued or misrepresented, if they conduct intimate examinations where no other person is present.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this GP surgery, please let us know. This includes Primary Care Network staff working as part of our GP surgery. We operate a complaints procedure as part of an NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that we can sort most problems out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If you wish to make a formal complaint, please do so as soon as possible – ideally within a matter of a few days. You should be as specific and concise as possible. This will enable us to establish what happened more easily.  If doing that is not possible, your complaint should be submitted within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem; or within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem. You can address your complaint in writing to the Management Team or via email  [email protected].

What we will do

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. Please be assured that, we will be in contact with any updates throughout the progress, and you will also be offered the option to contact us during this process if you need any further help. After an appropriate level of investigation, we will then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.

When we investigate your complaint, we will aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong.
• Make it possible for you to discuss what happened 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.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

We take medical confidentiality seriously. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.

Complaining to NHS England

We hope that you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure if you are unhappy. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our GP surgery.

However, if you feel you cannot raise the complaint with us directly, please contact NHS England. You can find more information on how to make a complaint at Patient advice and liaison service / complaints – Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB

Unhappy with the outcome of your complaint?

If you are not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with by the GP surgery and NHS England and would like to take the matter further, you can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO makes final decisions on unresolved complaints about the NHS in England. It is an independent service which is free for everyone to use.

To take your complaint to the Ombudsman, visit the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website or call 0300 015 4033

Need help making a complaint?

Alternatively, POhWER is a charity that helps people to be involved in decisions being made about their care. Call POhWER’s support centre on 0300 456 2370 for advice.

Information available from Biddulph Valley Surgery under the Freedom of Information Act model publication scheme can be obtained from our Practice Manager.

Disclaimer: NHS England requires 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 much time doctors spend working in the practice and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, or to make any comparison with any other practice.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (eg average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working at Biddulph Valley Surgery in the last financial year was £77,520 before tax and national insurance. This is for 9 less than full time GPs who have worked in the practice for more than six months.

One Health and Care

A five minute information YouTube video about the integrated care record for Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, One Health and Care.

This Practice is proud to be involved in research

Clinical research is taking place at this Surgery – you may be asked to take part in a study.

Click here to find out more.

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.

In May 2018, the strict rules about how this data can and cannot be used were strengthened.  The NHS is committed to keeping patient information safe and always being clear about how it is used.

You can choose whether your confidential patient information is used for researching and planning.

Choose if data from your health records is shared for research and planning

NHS Summary Care Records on the NHS Digital website.

• Summary Care Record Information Leaflet
• Summary Care Record Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary Care Record Opt Out Form

Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients

Patient Privacy Notice 2023

You have a right to expect a high standard of medical care from our practice and we will try at all times to provide the very best care possible within the resources available. In order to assist us in this, we require that you take full responsibility for ensuring that you do not abuse the service. For example, it is your responsibility to ensure that you keep medical appointments and follow the medical advice given.

Very occasionally a practice/patient relationship breaks down completely. In this situation the patient may choose to register with a different practice. The practice also has the right to remove that patient from their list. This would generally only follow a warning that had failed to remedy the situation and we would normally give the patient a specific reason for the removal.

Our Practice Staff are here to help. Our aim is to be as polite and helpful as possible to all our patients. If you consider that you have been treated unfairly or inappropriately please contact the Practice Manager, who will be happy to address your concerns.

However, shouting and swearing at practice staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances and patients who are abusive may be removed from the practice list.

Biddulph Valley Surgeryis open to all patients living within our practice boundary.  The surgery is situated in the town centre of Biddulph in the heart of the Staffordshire Moorlands.  We provide services for approximately 10,000 patients of all ages.

We work in partnership with our patients and our Patient Participation Group (PPG) to provide medical care. The surgery has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with the local health organisation North Staffs CCG and offers directly and locally enhanced services to its patients.

The surgery is a Keele University undergraduate teaching practice

Your GP practice holds copies of your patient health record electronically and in paper format. Both contain the healthcare information about you that your GP needs including your medical history, medications, allergies, immunisations and vaccinations.

If you have previously registered with a different GP in England, upon registering at this practice your electronic health record will, where possible, be transferred automatically from your previous practice through the use of an NHS system called GP2GP.

Transferring Your Electronic Health Record leaflet

The NHS operates a Zero Tolerance Policy with regard to 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 are obliged to 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 circumstances leading to it.