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.
Complaints
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 the practice manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. You can download a copy of our complaints procedure here
Violence 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.
Removal of Patients Policy
Please click Here
Failure to Attend Policy
Approximately 200 appointments per month are ‘Did Not Attends’ (DNAs), i.e. the patient does not turn up for the appointment and did not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change the appointment. The effect of DNA’s are:
- An increase in the waiting time for appointments
- Depriving someone else of an essential appointment
- Frustration for both staff and patients
- A waste of resources
Policy
If a patient fails to attend a pre-booked appointment with a clinician on two occasions they will receive a formal warning letter. Any further failure to attend an appointment will result in removal from the practice list.
If a patient fails to attend a booked on the day appointment (emergency appointment) they will be removed from the surgery list after only one more DNA.
To cancel your appointment:
- Come into reception and tell us in person
- Ring reception on 028 71265391
Late for Appointment Policy
We always do our best to try to see patients in a timely fashion. However this is unfortunately increasingly difficult as patients become more complex and we continue to work to a 10 minute appointment slot.
We do our best to give each patient the time we feel they need and this often leads us to run late despite building in some catch up slots to our clinics.
Please help us by allowing plenty of time so that you arrive for your appointment on time.
We know it can be frustrating when you arrive on time and you have to wait a long time for your appointment. Please be patient with us. Perhaps one day you will also benefit from being given extra time when you need it.
Arriving late for an appointment makes clinicians run even later with a knock on effect on other patients.
With the above in mind, our policy is:
- If a patient is late less than 5 minutes for an appointment, they will be seen.
- If a patient is late between 5-10 minutes the patient may be asked to rebook or wait until the end of surgery to be seen.
The receptionist may need to speak to the clinician first to see if they are able to accommodate patient.
Patients who arrive more than 10 minutes late for their appointment will be asked to reschedule their appointment.
If patient insists that urgent, the Receptionist has to contact the clinician to decide if patient can be seen at the end of surgery or fitted in at a later time during the day.
Social Media Policy
Clarendon Medical welcomes comments and suggestions from our patients and these can be submitted via the letter box outside, post it or hand in to a member of staff, or on our website under the Contact Us section.
We ask that patients do no use a Social Media site such as Facebook to comment on the Practice and members of the surgery staff.
If you have any feedback about our service we encourage you to report this to the practice through the website. The practice always investigates and responds to complaints.
The partners reserve the right to remove a patient from the surgery list and report them to the social networking site if they are found to have made libellous statements or defamatory comments about the surgery or a member of the surgery staff.
The legal definition of defamation is:
“any intentionally false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a persons reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person.”
Please do not make an appointment with a GP to air a grievance, as this is a waste of precious clinical time and takes away another patient’s opportunity to have their physical or mental health attended to.
YOU WOULD NOT EXPECT TO READ DEROGATORY COMMENTS ABOUT YOURSELF ONLINE AND NEITHER DO WE