Practice Policies & Patient Information
Complaints, Compliments and Comments
Practice Complaint Procedure
If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working at this Practice, please let us know. We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.
How to Complain
We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, please raise any concern directly with the receptionist or clinician you are dealing with. We hope that this is the quickest way to resolve any issue you are facing. If your concern cannot be dealt with in this way, please ask for the reception manager who will do her best to resolve your concern.
If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible – ideally, within a matter of days or at most weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have details of your complaint:
Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem; or
Within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident.
Complaints should be addressed to the Complaints Lead for the Surgery-Mrs Ceara Keane at Attenborough Surgery, Bushey Medical Centre, London Road, Bushey, Herts WD23 2NN – Telephone 01923 231633
Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaint procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly. It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.
What Shall We Do?
We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:
Find out from all parties, what happened and what went wrong;
Make it possible for you to discuss the problem 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 doesn’t happen again.
Complaining on Behalf of Someone Else
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we will have to 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 The Health Authority
We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our Practice Complaints Procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.
However, if you feel you cannot raise the complaint directly with the practice please contact:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
By email to [email protected]
If you are making a complaint please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line.
By telephone: 0300 311 22 33
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint that has been investigated by the practice or by NHS England you have the right to take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of the government and the NHS.
Their service is confidential and free. There are time limits for making a complaint to the Ombudsman, although she can waive them if she thinks there is a good reason to do so. If you have any questions about whether the Ombudsman will be able to help you, or about how to make a complaint, you can contact their helpline on 0345 015 4033, email [email protected] or fax 0300 061 4000.
Further information about the Ombudsman is available at www.ombudsman.org.uk.
You can write to the Ombudsman at:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Confidentiality
Everyone working in the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information.
The practice is registered under the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
If at any time you would like to know more about how we use your information, you can speak to the Practice Manager.
Access to Medical Records & Data Protection Information
This practice is registered under the Data Protection Act 1988. We ask for information so that you can receive proper care and treatment.
We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again.
We may use some of this information for other reasons: for example, to help us protect the health of the public generally and to help ensure the NHS runs efficiently, is able to plan for the future, train its staff and account for its actions. Information may also be needed to help educate tomorrow’s clinical staff and to carry out medical, and other, health research for the benefit of everyone.
Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information, for example: to notify a birth. The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a General Practitioner.
The Register does not contain any clinical information. You have a right to access your own health records. Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.
You may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS. So that we can all work together, for your benefit, we may need to share some information about you.
We only ever use or pass on, information about you if people have a genuine need for it and it is in everyone’s interests. The sharing of some types of very sensitive, personal information is strictly controlled by law.
Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.
GP Earnings
GP Publication of Earnings 2021/2022
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in The Attenborough Surgery in the last financial year was £82,210 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 4 full time GPs, 16 part time GPs and 5 Locums who worked in the practice for more than six months.
Mission Statement
Attenborough Surgery aim to care for all patients equally with a high standard of effective, safe and appropriate treatment. We aim to offer a wide range of responsive medical services for all sections of the population whilst respecting the individual needs and dignity of our patients.
The Partners of the Practice will monitor and assess the services we provide to continually improve the healthcare solutions we can offer to our patients.
Named Accountable GP
All Patients have been allocated a named GP who is responsible for their overall care at the practice. If you wish to know who your Named Accountable GP is please ask at Reception at your next visit. If you have a preference as to which GP is your Named Accountable GP please make a request in writing and the practice will make reasonable efforts to accommodate this request.
Practice Charter
Practice
The Attenborough Surgery is a five partner GP practice providing General Medical Services to residents in Bushey, Bushey Heath, Watford Heath, Oxhey, Watford Fields and Carpenders Park.
The practice operates from four premises and has a large team of clinical and administrative personnel
Practice Charter
The practice aims to offer high-quality care to all its patients. In order to achieve this, we have set our own standards of what you can expect as a patient and how you can help us to achieve that standard.
Appointments
Our Standard
- You can expect under normal circumstances and providing you telephone the surgery in the morning, to be offered an appointment with a doctor if necessary, on the same day.
- We do however ask you to book appointments for routine and follow-up conditions in advance. This will also allow you more opportunity to see the doctor of your choice.
- Routine – something that can wait 2 working days (you make the request on Monday – we should offer an appointment no later than Wednesday.
- On the day – you may also be offered an appointment with a practice nurse who is trained in the treatment of minor illnesses.
How You Can Help
- Please assess your condition and request an appointment according to the urgency.
- Cancel an appointment as soon as you are aware that it is not needed (Patients risk removal from the Practice if they regularly fail to attend pre-booked appointments).
- Book your review appointment for long-standing conditions in advance and with the same doctor.
Waiting Times
Our Standard
- For routine appointments, we endeavour to see patients within 30 minutes of the booked appointment time.
- We will advise you when the doctor is running late and, if possible, offer an explanation.
- Routine appointments are booked at 10-minute intervals.
- Appointments booked on the day are allocated 10 minutes.
How You Can Help
- Book one appointment per patient.
- Arrive on time for your appointment.
- Book double appointments for complicated problems or more than 1 condition.
- Use the shorter appointments booked on the day for the immediate problem only, make another appointment if there is something else you wish to discuss.
Prescriptions
Our Standard
- You can expect under normal circumstances for your request for repeat medication to be available or to be posted within 48 hours.
- Previously prescribed medication that does not appear on the regular repeat list may not be issued.
How You Can Help
- Make your request in good time.
- Use the Practice tear off prescription request slip
- Please add download and request your repeat prescription using the NHS App
Tests & Investigations
Our Standard
- You can expect under normal circumstances the results of tests and investigations ordered by your doctor to be available to you within:
- X Rays – 2 weeks
- Smears – 4 weeks
- Most other tests – 1 week
- (Some tests take longer).
How You Can Help
- Telephone Bushey Health Centre on 01923 231633 in the afternoon between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm.
- Wait until the result should be available before you enquire.
Telephones
Our Standard
- You can expect your call to be treated politely.
How You Can Help
- Telephone the appropriate surgery (where you normally attend) and make the appropriate selection from the recorded options.
- Make your general enquiries in the afternoon.
Privacy Policy
Zero Tolerance Policy
Patients risk removal from the Practice if they behave in a threatening or violent manner. The Partners at Attenborough Surgery re-affirm their commitment to do everything possible to protect staff, patients and visitors from unacceptable behaviour and will not tolerate any incident that causes hurt, alarm, damage or distress.