Emergencies and Visits

Please phone 981 4124 before 10.00am if possible. Home visiting is an essential part of our work. However it is time consuming and it may well use 30-60 minutes to complete a single visit when 4-6 patients could have been seen in the surgery. We therefore ask for home visits to be restricted to housebound patients who are genuinely unable to get to the surgery. This usually includes the very elderly and infirm or someone with a severe illness. We are less happy to visit for convenience alone or minor illness. Remember if transport is a problem we may be able to arrange a special time for you to be seen if that is the only time you can get to the surgery.

We plan our visiting rounds so if you think you need a visit then please 'phone if possible between 8am and 10am. If you are not sure if you need to be visited then you may arrange to speak to the duty doctor who will be visiting that day. It is difficult to give precise times due to the variability of surgery finishing times, emergency calls and travel time. Requests for home visits after midday should be for emergency calls only.

In some emergency situations the doctor may advise dialling 999 rather than visiting. An ambulance can often be there before we can and waiting for the visit may only add to the delay.

Telephone Advice

It is possible to book a telephone appointment with the duty doctor in the morning where health matters can be discussed. Obviously there needs to be some discretion here. It is more difficult to diagnose conditions over the telephone, especially rashes, but some things can be dealt with such as medication inquiries and health advice. If you are not sure whether an appointment or visit is required then the duty doctor can advise.

Out of Hours

When the surgery is closed on evenings and week-ends the surgery (0115-981-4124) will automatically re-direct your call to NHSDirect (0845-4647) who take all the calls. If they cannot sort out the problem then they will put you through to Nottingham Emergency Medical Service (NEMS). This is an organisation staffed by local doctors and nurses who can deal with emergencies whether by telephone advice or if an examination is required by inviting you to visit the medical centre on the Derby Road. For those who are housebound or genuinely unable to travel a home visit will of course be offered.

This service is for genuine emergencies only.

Medical advice and treatment is also provided at the Walk In Centre, London Road, Nottingham from     7.00am to 9.00pm.

Parking

There is parking at the practice in a small car park entered via Eton Road. Further parking is possible both on Musters Road and Eton Road. There is a disabled car parking space.

Disabled Access

A ramp provides wheelchair access to the building and there is a patients’ toilet downstairs. The surgery has had extensive alterations with downstairs reception, nurses and treatment rooms and a new downstairs doctors consulting room.

Confidentiality

Musters Medical Practice operates a confidentiality code of practice. This applies to all staff employed by the practice and to all other medical staff who have access to confidential information regarding our patients. Patients should be aware that if they are referred to other medical professionals not based at our practice eg: consultants, physiotherapists etc. it may be necessary to divulge medical or personal information relevant to that referral. The receiving professional is also bound by confidentiality but if a patient is not happy about this they need to discuss this with their own GP.

Some patient data may at times need to be inspected by external professional agencies for training or for assessing the quality of the service we provide. The assessors are all required to maintain confidentiality at all times.

Some diseases require notification to the Health Protection Agency. In these cases the doctors have a duty to supply certain details in the interest of health surveillance.

Copies of records or data are sometimes requested by insurance companies or solicitors and then become the responsibility of the person or organisation to which they are sent. When signing to release your records or data on the insurance company or solicitors form, read the small print carefully as sometimes they may ask for copies of all your records which may contain other irrelevant information.

Test Results

Test results can be given over the telephone but for reasons of confidentiality, we must insist that you phone yourself for your result. Routine blood tests usually take a few days to be processed by the laboratory and for the results to be returned to us. Other blood tests, Xrays and ultrasound reports can take longer. All the results are looked at by the doctors and a comment or message is attached to each. If a result is normal or as anticipated then the message will say so. Other messages may be to keep an appointment as planned or if there are problems then the doctor or receptionist will contact you. For that reason, make sure your contact details are up-to-date.

The surgery is often busy early in the morning so if possible try to ring between 2pm and 6pm

Private Fees

Certain services provided by the practice are not funded by the NHS eg: completion of medical insurance claims, private medical examinations etc. A fee is charged for these services. A list of current fees is available at reception.

Newsletters

We try to produce a practice Newsletter about three or four times per year with information on any recent changes in the practice or any topical health news items. We welcome feedback on the newsletter and hope you find it useful and informative.

Temporary Residents

You are able to see a doctor anywhere in Britain if you are away from home and in need of medical attention. You can do this simply by asking to see the nearest general practitioner as a temporary resident. Likewise we are happy to see any friend or relative staying with you should they need a doctor

Overseas visitors to this country whether friends or relatives may be charged a fee for a consultation at the practice. A receipt is issued for claiming on holiday insurance if required. Medications likewise are on private prescription so the pharmacist will charge for the cost of the items dispensed.

Chaperones

The practice 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.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. This chaperone may be a family member or friend. On occasions you may prefer a formal chaperone to be present, i.e. a trained member of staff.

Wherever possible we would ask you to make this request at the time of booking the appointment so that arrangements can be made and your appointment is not delayed in any way. Where this is not possible we will endeavour to provide a formal chaperone at the time of request. However occasionally it may be necessary to reschedule your appointment.

Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our chaperone policy.
If you would like to see a copy of our Chaperone Policy or have any questions or comments regarding this, please contact the Practice Manager.

Access to Medical Records

Doctors have always had the discretion to allow patients to see their health records and to share information where appropriate with the carers of children and incapacitated adults. Additionally in recent years Acts of Parliament have given certain statutory rights of access to records. None of the legislation prevents doctors from informally showing patients their records or, bearing in mind duties of confidentiality, discussing relevant health issues with carers.

The implementation of data protection legislation in early 2000 changed patients’ statutory rights of access to their health records. This summary highlights the main points.

What records are covered?
All manual and computerised health records about living people are accessible under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Does it matter when the records were made?
No, access must be given equally to all records regardless of when they were made.

Does the Act cover all of the UK?
Yes.

Who can apply for access?
Competent patients may apply for access to their own records, or may authorise a third party, such as their lawyer, to do so on their behalf. Parents may have access to their child’s records if this is in the child’s best interests and not contrary to a competent child’s wishes. Proxy decision makers and people appointed by a court to manage the affairs of mentally incapacitated adults may have access to information necessary to fulfill their function.

Are there any exemptions?
Yes, the main exemptions are that information must not be disclosed if it:

• is likely to cause serious physical or mental harm to the patient or another person; or
• relates to a third party who has not given consent for disclosure (where that third party is not a health professional who has cared for the patient).

Must copies of the records be given if requested?
Yes, patients are entitled to a copy of their records, for example a photocopy of paper records or print out of computerised records.

Is it necessary for patients to make a formal application for access to see their records?
Yes, where a patient requires a copy of their record. However, nothing in the law prevents doctors from informally showing patients their records or, bearing in mind duties of confidentiality, discussing relevant health issues with carers.

A fee will be charged
Where a copy of the record is required.
To provide access and copies:

• Records held totally on computer: £10
• Records held in part on computer and in part manually: a reasonable fee of up to £50
• Records held totally manually: a reasonable fee of up to £50

Complaints

We hope you will receive an excellent service here at the Musters Medical Practice. If you have a complaint about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working here, please let us know. We operate a practice based complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints procedure meets national standards.

We hope that you will use this procedure which allows us to look into and, if necessary, put right any problems you have identified or mistakes that have been made. In most instances complaints arise out of a failure of communication or misunderstanding and a simple explanation or further meeting with the person concerned will often resolve concerns.

How to complain:

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 problems cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a few days or at most a few weeks, because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.

Who to complain to:

Complaints should be addressed to one of the practice managers who are responsible for running the complaints procedure, or one of the doctors. Alternatively you may wish to make an appointment with one of them in order to discuss your concerns. The complaints procedure can be explained to you and full details of the complaint taken. It will be a great help if you can be as specific about your complaint as possible.

What we will do:

We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and aim to have looked into your complaint with ten working days of the date when you raised it with us. We will then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the people involved. Where appropriate we will apologise and try to identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not occur again.

Complaining on behalf of someone else:

Please note that we must obey the rules of confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else then we will need to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be necessary unless they are incapable (because of illness) to provide one.

I am still not satisfied:

Using the practice based complaints procedure does not affect your right to complain to the Primary Care Trust (PCT). If you feel you cannot raise the complaint with us or are dissatisfied with the results of our investigation you should contact the PCT Complaints Manager.