Practice Policies and Complaint Procedure

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

Information about the General Practitioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.

Access to Records

In accordance with the data protection legislation and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

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 amicably, as possible.

To pursue a complaint please contact a member of the management team who will deal with your concerns appropriately. You can read our full complaints procedure by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

If you wish to email a complaint to the practice, please send your email to clinical.s77271@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk Please ensure you include your full name and contact details. We are currently unable to email you back in response due to strict NHS Lothian security guidelines surrounding email security, so will telephone or write to you regarding your complaint.

Late Appointments

Please note that our practice will not see patients who arrive late for their appointment. Patients have a duty to attend pre-booked appointments promptly, and to take into account logistical difficulties or the time involved in travelling to the practice. The clinicians have very busy surgeries and therefore it will be necessary for you to reschedule another appointment if you are late.

Zero Tolerance Policy

The NHS operate 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 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.

In addition, our practice will not tolerate any aggressive behaviour, which includes abuse via social media. For further details, please read our full Zero Tolerance Policy by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.