Practice Policies & Patient Information
Accelerated Access
ACCESS TO RECORDS
Please note – this will not affect patients who have previously requested, and been granted, access to their online record.
For all other patients, information on how to obtain access is available on our website:
About Our Surgery – Barwell & Hollycroft Medical Centres (barwellmedicalcentre.co.uk)
From the 31st October 2023 all new patients will be given online access unless you OPT OUT during the registration process.
How will this work for young people (13 to 15 year olds) who have been given access
This change to records access will only apply to people aged 16 years or older. If a young person is Gillick competent they may already have access to their records so it is still necessary to screen information for these patients.
People with online accounts set up before their 16th birthday will receive access to records entered after their 16th birthday when they turn 16.
Proxy access will not change.
Why have I not been allowed access or there are parts missing?
It is our job to keep patients safe. If there are reasons to believe that some information may be harmful to patients, there is safeguarding information or we think that patient safety is at risk we may stop you from having access. Things like:
- severe mental health issues,
- domestic violence (we may withhold your access if you have discussed this with a GP and we think there is a risk the perpetrator may get access to your phone and see this information),
- if there have been concerns raised about abuse or safeguarding issues
- coercion in the past to control a patient.
We may hide certain parts of your online record, or very rarely block access completely, if we have concerns. We would be happy to explain this to you if you would like to discuss it.
If you have asked for access and this has been declined after preliminary assessment, we will write to you to inform you that your request is rejected. If you feel that this is incorrect and that there should be nothing harmful on your record then please inform us so that this can be looked into in more depth.
The Opt in approach is not what the government are saying is happening, why is this practice different?
We have sought advice from the BMC who believe that the risk to patient safety with a mass switch on, and release of data, is too high. We believe that there is not enough understanding of what information is held by us and not enough scrutiny into how it could endanger some of our most vulnerable patients. Below is our up to date Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) that shows how we have come to the conclusion that patients should opt into receiving their data, rather than automatically being granted access.
DPIA-Access-to-Records-BMC-V1-1.pdf
Access to Medical Records
All patients registered with us have a right to have access to their medical records. Barwell and Hollycroft Medical Centre have offered this service for many years, however on the 31st of October 2023 NHS E have asked that all patients with the NHS app will have automatic access. With the support and advice from the BMA (British Medical Association), Barwell and Hollycroft Medical Centres have maintained an opt in process.
Our aim is to protect patients who do not want to have their medical record on their phone without asking for it first. This could be for a number of reasons such as; domestic violence, safeguarding, coercion and other patient vulnerabilities.
From the 31st October, when you register at the practice you will now be given access to your medical record unless you “OPT OUT” . If you already have access to your record at the surgery nothing will change on the 31st October 2023.
Once registered getting access to your medical record is simple and there are many ways that this can be requested:-
In Practice (ID required)
Appointment system
At Barwell and Hollycroft Medical Centre our appointment system is always under review to try and meet demand and to keep patients happy.
In order to try and keep up with demand, which has gone up dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, we run a triage on the day system.
Routinely we are offering over 500 GP appointments a week for our population of over 14,400 patients with over 400 nursing appointments weekly.
On top of these appointments we have our PCN (Primary Care Network) staff working alongside us. These consist of
Paramedics
Pharmacists & Pharmacist technicians
Mental Health Facilitators
Nurse Associates
Social Prescribers
Health Coach
Physio therapists
All of which offer appointments in practice.
We have also teamed up with our local practices as a collective to be able to offer “Extended Access” which provides appointments outside of the usual GP opening hours.
How to get an appointment & what appointment do I need?
Do I need a GP appointment? For many minor illness and ailments the answer is generally no, we ask that patients seek advice from their local pharmacists who will be able to provide over the counter medications initially. They can often help with;
Coughs & Colds
Hayfever
Rashes & stings
Our team of Receptionists may ask to make a referral into this service on your behalf where appropriate, they have been trained on what the local pharmacists can see, and if they are a prescribing chemist they may ask that they refer you for things such as UTIs or Chest Infections as the pharmacist will be able to give antibiotics if needed.
The pharmacist couldn’t help and asked me to call the GP:-
No problem, the Reception staff will ask you a series of questions. This is not to be nosey, this is so that they can get you to the most appropriate person in the practice.
For example if you have back pain then the Physio will be able to see you usually within 2 weeks, they will be able to order tests where needed such as xrays etc, and they will be able to get you to secondary care physio therapy quicker then the GP as they will have done the initial assessment.
Once the Receptionist has a understanding of the issue they will sign post you to the most appropriate appointment. Either a Physio, Nurse, Paramedic or GP etc. They may ask that you send in a photo of the issue for the clinician to review prior to your appointment.
Our on the day appointments open at 8am. GPs will take the medical history over the phone and if a face to face is needed they will arrange a time that suits you to be seen that day.
We offer pre-bookable appointments (the wait can be up to 3 weeks for these depending on which GP you wish to speak to).
Extended access appointments may be offered where available, these are at Centre Surgery in Hinckley or Newbold Verdon.
Nurse appointments can be booked online or via the practice – Please be aware that blood tests must be requested by a clinician or the hospital prior to booking. Any inappropriate bookings will be cancelled.
Urgent appointments when all of our routine appointments are taken the practice has an on call or duty doctor. The reception has a template that they must fill out when a patient requests an urgent appointment. This allows the duty doctor to easily triage which appointments they need to speak to and which can be asked to wait. Please be as open and detailed as possible with the staff trying to take your information. This duty GP deals with all urgent requests from EMAS, patients, hospitals etc, all medication requests from the day and urgent letters and results. If your appointment is not urgent for that day you may be offered an alternative appointment.
Home Visits : We request all home visits to be requested by 10am. Only those who are clinically housebound are able to have a house visit. The duty GP allocates home visits to clinicians that are in that day or where appropriate to the Acute Visiting Service. Please call the surgery in the morning and speak to one of the reception staff who will help you.
To Cancel your appointment please call the practice and listen to the options there is a facility to leave a message with the admin team, alternatively send a AccuRx message or speak to one of our team. If you have online access you can cancel this appointment online. To change the appointment please speak to one of the team.
If you have a query anything that you does not need an appointment, request a sick note, enquire about a result or referral, or any other admin query please use the online services and AccuRx form and this will be dealt with.
We do understand that patients can get frustrated, we are here to help and do our best in very difficult times. Please be kind to all of our staff. Any violence or aggression towards them may end up in your removal from the practice list.
Care and Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission make sure hospitals, care homes, dental and GP surgeries in England provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care, and encourage them to make improvements. Further information is available from their website http://www.cqc.org.uk/ .
Complaint Procedure
Complaints leaflet(4) to download our complaints Procedure.
Confidentiality
Any information that we hold on any patient is treated with confidentiality. Infor- mation will not normally be disclosed to other members of the family/friends/carers without your explicit consent. We may need to share your personal information with
other NHS organisations where it would be appropriate for providing you with on-going healthcare.
In some circumstances there are statutory obligations to disclose information to others (such as public health issues, safeguarding concerns) which may not require your
consent. However you will be consulted about these in advance unless there is an over-riding public interest in not doing so.
Please contact the Practice Business Manager for more information or if you have any questions about this.
First Contact
First Contact Information
First contact can get you the right information & support so that you remain living safely & independently in your own home.
First Contact Plus
Click on the link above to access the website and see what services there are to help you.
Help available on:
- Improving Health
- Falls
- Feeling Safe
- Living independently
- Money, Debt and Benefits
- Work, Learning and Volunteering
- Families and Relationships
- Your Home
GP Net Earnings
The average pay for GPs working in Barwell & Hollycroft Medical Centre in the last financial year before Tax and National Insurance was £61,855. This is for 7 part-time GPs and 4 Locums who have worked in the practice for more than 6 months.
How we share your Data
Provision of Information to Third Parties
The practice may share your personal information with other NHS organisations where this is appropriate for your healthcare.
In other circumstances we may approach you for specific consent to release personal information to third parties.
In some circumstances there are statutory or ethical obligations to disclose information to others (such as public health issues) which may not require your consent. However you will be consulted about these in advance unless there is an over-riding public interest in not doing so.
How we use your Medical Records
We ask you 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 see that the NHS runs efficiently, plans for the future, trains its staff, pays its bills and can 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.
You have a right of access to your health records. All requests for access must be in writing using the form provided by the practice.
Infection Control
Our lead nurse and nursing team are in charge of our infection control here at Barwell and Hollycroft Medical Centres.
We strive to deliver up to date evidenced based practice, complying with national guidelines (NICE, CQC, Epic 3, and Public Health).
We have recently updated our IPC policy and this can be provided on request, please speak to our nursing team who can support you with your query
Privacy Notices
SMS Text Reminders
You can now register to receive information by text message on your phone regarding appointments and health care.
If you wish to register for this messaging service please fill out the consent form.
Suggestions and Complaints
We try to do our best for all our patients at the Practice but sometimes things do go wrong for whatever reason. If you feel like you need to make a suggestion/complaint then please contact our Reception via telephone in the first instance.
Teaching and Training
GP Registrar
GP registrars are doctors who have qualified from medical school, they have done their Foundation year 1 & 2 working often in hospitals, they are then asked to pick a speciality. Our Registrar Doctors have picked GP as their speciality which is then a further 3 years training before they can qualify as a GP. Their time with us can be from 4 months to over 12 months if working less than full time, depending on where they are in their training. Whilst here they are learning more about family medicine under our supervision. Each trainee has a supervising GP daily who is there to support and to go through cases at the end of each session.
We are a dedicated training practice who have an experienced team of GPs willing to help support our registrars. Dr D Jackson and Dr McGreal are programme directors at different local medical schools in the area, so the practice is a popular choice for trainees to attend.
Video Surgeries
We may sometimes ask whether patients mind having their consultation with the doctor or medical student recorded. This is so that it can be watched back with a more senior doctor to observe and teach consultation skills. This is a very important part of a student’s and doctor’s training as the willingness of patients to allow this is much appreciated. We will never record any consultation without your permission.
Joint Surgeries
We may occasionally ask whether patients mind having their GP registrar consultation observed by another GP. This enables the GP registrar to get feedback on their consultations and sometimes involve the patients in this process.
Under 16’s
The duty of confidentiality owed to a person under 16 is as great as the duty owed to any other person. Young people aged under 16 years can choose to see health professionals, without informing their parents or carers. If a GP considers that the young person is competent to make decisions about their health, then the GP can give advice, prescribe and treat the young person without seeking further consent.
However, in terms of good practice, health professionals will encourage young people to discuss issues with a parent or carer. As with older people, sometimes the law requires us to report information to appropriate authorities in order to protect young people or members of the public.