In certain circumstances during an examination of an intimate nature the doctor may ask a member of staff to be present. This is to protect both the doctor and the patient. If a suitable chaperone is not available an alternative appointment will be offered. A patient may of course request a chaperone be present but this may mean that another appointment will be necessary.

Whitby Health Partnership aims to provide a high standard of care and service, but there may be times when you feel that this has not happened.

We welcome constructive feedback about the service. Feedback or comments can be submitted digitally or feedback cards are available at reception.

What you need to do

In the first instance, you should raise your concern with the practice team who will aim to swiftly resolve your concern, without the need to make a formal complaint.

If you feel your concern has not been resolved, you can make a formal complaint to the practice.

A full copy of the procedure can be found here:  Whitby Health Partnership Concerns and Complaints procedure

The Practice is committed to security of patient and staff records.

The Practice will display a poster in the waiting room explaining to patients the practice policy

The Practice will make available a brochure on Access to Medical Records and Data Protection for the information of patients.

The Practice will take steps to ensure that individual patient information is not deliberately or accidentally released or (by default) made available or accessible to a third party without the patient’s consent, unless otherwise legally compliant. This will include training on Confidentiality issues, DPA principles, working security procedures, and the application of Best Practice in the workplace.

The Practice will undertake prudence in the use of, and testing of, arrangements for the backup and recovery of data in the event of an adverse event.

The Practice will maintain a system of “Significant Event Reporting” through a no-blame culture to capture and address incidents which threaten compliance.

DPA issues will form part of the Practice general procedures for the management of Risk.

Specific instructions will be documented within confidentiality and security instructions and will be promoted to all staff.

Whitby’s DPO services are provided by:

Tara Moylan
Data Protection Officer
Howbeck Healthcare
Stapeley House
London Road
Stapeley
Cheshire
CW5 7JW

Email: [email protected]

Many medications can be safely missed for a few days. We will not issue urgent prescriptions for items that can be bought over the counter or for non-essential medication and you may be informed that your medication will be processed following the normal repeat prescription process. If the Doctor feels that your medication cannot be missed, the item will be issued as required. We reserve the right to withdraw the service to patients requesting urgent prescriptions on a repeated basis.

Medications that WILL NOT be issued urgently:

• Anything that can be purchased over the counter e.g., paracetamol, ibuprofen, Gaviscon and emollients
• Nutritional supplements, vitamins, iron, calcium
• Statins
• Sleeping tablets
• Laxatives
• Antihistamines
• Nasal Sprays
• Medicines for reflux such as omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantroprazole, famotidine and nizatidine
• Progestogens to stop menstruation for holidays
• Anticholinergics for overactive bladder
• Solifenacin
• oxybutynin
• Antispasmodics – mebeverine, hyoscine, peppermint oil
• Erectile dysfunction medication
• Skin creams
• Regular painkillers
• Prescriptions following discharge from hospital and outpatient clinics (these should be provided by the hospital

Holiday Medication

Holidays are normally booked weeks or months in advance, therefore when preparing for your holiday, please remember to process a request for your routine medication allowing the normal 3 working days for processing. We can only provide a maximum of 3 months medication and we may request a patient to provide documents to support this request. We are unable to provide emergency prescriptions for holiday medication.

Hospital Prescriptions

When you are seen at the hospital and are given a hospital prescription, you should not leave the hospital without attending the hospital pharmacy to collect the medication. A hospital prescription is not valid in community pharmacies.

If the hospital pharmacy happens to be closed, you must make plans for the medication to be collected the next day. Please note, some hospital medications are not licensed to be prescribed in general practice. If the hospital doctor writes to the practice asking the GP to prescribe medication the prescription will only be following receipt of the letter.

Repeat Medication

Our surgery policy is to process and issue prescriptions within 3 working days and we are committed to doing this. Repeat medication can be requested online by the NHS app or patient access or through your nominated pharmacy,. We do not take prescription requests over the phone. Medication can be requested 7 days in advance, anything before this timeframe, the request will be rejected unless there is a valid reason as to why the request is early.

Please respect our staff

Our reception and administrative staff are to always follow this policy and they are not authorised to make any exceptions. Staff are not allowed to interrupt the duty GP during surgery. This policy is put in place to protect our patients and our staff, and we will not tolerate any abuse to or of our staff as they are following instructions given to them by the Partners.

Thank you for your co-operation

Whitby Health Partnership conforms to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We have produced a publication scheme in accordance with the Act, which is available by writing to the Practice Manager.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005. The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligations on public authorities.

FOI replaced the Open Government Code of Practice, which has been in operation since 1994.

Whitby Health Partnership have developed a definition of housebound in collaboration with GPs and community teams to encourage people, who are able, to attend clinics for their appointments and to limit the use of home visits.

Our agreed definition of housebound guidelines aims to ensure that community nurses and GP clinical teams are providing routine clinical appointments in the home setting only when it is appropriate.  It is acknowledged that an individual’s needs may change and therefore eligibility for a home visit should be reassessed on a regular basis.

Definition of Housebound

“Patients are eligible for home visits for routine treatment only when a patient is unable to leave their home due to physical or psychological illness as this type of appointment takes much more time than if the patient is able to make it into their local clinic or GP surgery.

A patient will be deemed to be housebound when they are unable to leave their home environment through physical and/or psychological illness.

An individual will not be eligible for a home visit if they are able to leave their home environment on their own or with minimal assistance to visit public or social recreational public services (including shopping).

Wherever possible patients are encouraged to attend local community venues for their care.

Principles

• Ultimate responsibility to determine whether a patient requires a home visit rests with the assessing clinician.
• Each patient’s eligibility for home visits will be individually determined.
• Patients assessed as not meeting the criteria for housebound will be expected to attend a clinic or surgery setting.
• The assessment for housebound will ensure a holistic approach including assessment of the patients’ physical, social and psychological needs.
• Individual circumstances will be monitored and where an individual and/or Health care Professional assesses that the patient’s needs have changed due to either an acute onset of illness or gradual deterioration in their conditions, the patient’s housebound status will be reviewed.”

The implementation of the definition of housebound will bring the following benefits:

• Patients who are not able to travel to a clinic or surgery and need to have their care delivered at home are seen in a more timely and efficient way
• More clinical care is delivered in the best setting for delivering safe care
• Time of clinical teams is most efficiently and cost-effectively utilised

Each patient’s eligibility for home visits will be individually determined by the clinician, based on the above definition and patients assessed as not meeting the criteria for housebound will be expected to attend a clinic or surgery setting.  Individual circumstances will be monitored and where an individual and/or health care professional assesses that the patient’s needs have changed, the patient’s housebound status will be reviewed.

We understand that there may be occasions when you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment. However, we kindly request that you notify us as soon as you become aware that you cannot attend.

If you have not cancelled your appointment or informed us you are unable to attend, we will follow the following policy:

• First Missed Appointment within a 12-month period: A polite text message will be sent reminding you that you have missed your appointment. We will provide a link to our policy and option to book another appointment if required.
• Second Missed Appointment within a 12-month period: A letter will be sent to your registered address, highlighting to you that we are aware that you have missed two appointments within a 12-month period. It will also contain a reminder of our policy.
• Third Missed Appointment within a 12-month period: A final warning letter will be sent to your home address. As well, you will receive a telephone call from our Patient Services Managers to discuss the reason for your missed appointments. Our policy will also be discussed with you.
• Any Further Missed Appointments within the same 12-month period: A letter will be sent to your registered address, inviting you for a meeting with the Practice Manager. Following this meeting, a clinical review will be undertaken to assess your registration status at the surgery.

Communicating the Impact of Missed Appointments

The practice will publish the number of missed appointments each month to highlight the impact this has on other patients, staff, and the wider service. These figures are also shared on our social media pages.

Appointment Reminders

All our appointment types are accompanied by a text reminder. These are sent 7 days and 24 hours prior to each appointment.

Cancelling an Appointment

Patients can cancel an appointment at any time in the following ways:

3. Reply CANCEL to your text reminder if you no longer require your appointment.
4. Click the cancellation link on your text reminder.
5. Cancel on your NHS or Patient Access app.
6. Call the surgery on 0151 355 6144.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Thank you for helping us to provide the best possible service to all our patients.

This Privacy Policy Statement explains what personal or company data we may collect and how we might use your data. It also explains reasons we may need to disclose your personal or company data to others and how we store your data securely.

Our website may contain links to other websites, which are provided for your convenience. We are only responsible for the privacy practices and security of this website and not external websites. You should therefore check any other linked website’s privacy policies.

This policy may be subject to change, so you are advised to check our website regularly for any further changes.

You can access our home page and browse our site without disclosing any personal or company data except for information automatically collected by cookies that we use. The privacy policy can be viewed below:

Privacy Policy 2023 v 9.4