Accessing someone else’s information

As a parent, family member or carer, you may be able to access services for someone else. We call this having proxy access. We can set this up for you if you are both registered with us.

To requests proxy access:

• collect a proxy access form from reception from 10am to 6pm

Linked profiles in your NHS account

Once proxy access is set up, you can access the other person’s profile in your NHS account, using the NHS App or website.

The NHS website has information about using linked profiles to access services for someone else.

Your medical record is an integral part of your healthcare and every patient that registers at the practice will have one. As a paperlight accredited practice the medical records that we hold on each patient is now an electronic record held on our clinical computer system. Each time you have a consultation or we receive information about you the medical record is updated to reflect this allowing the most up to date information to be available at all times.

The medical record is accessed by clinical and administrative staff working at the practice, of which all staff are duty bound under the codes of confidentiality. For further information on medical record confidentiality, please read our Confidentiality Statement. We may on occasion share information we hold about you with other allied health care professionals involved in your care such as hospital clinicians if we refer you to secondary care etc. Your medical records will not be disclosed to any other third party without your prior consent. If you would like to consent to a third party accessing your medical records please read the relevant section below.

Caldicott Guardian

The practice will always have a senior member of staff acting as the Caldicott Guardian in order to maintain confidentiality of patient and service user information and enabling appropriate information sharing. For further information, please visit the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Caldicott Guardian page.

Data Protection

The medical records we hold fully comply with the Data Protection Act. The medical records will only be accessed for the benefit of your healthcare and will be accessed by staff that are involved in providing that care. The data controller for the practice is the senior partner. For further information on Data Protection, please visit the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Data Protection Act page.

Access to Medical Records Act

Under the Access to Medical Records Act, patients are able to access their medical records. In order to access your records a written request must be made to the practice together with the fee to provide this service. To find out the current fee please contact the practice.

For further information on Medical Records Act, please visit the Government’s legislation website to read more about the Access to Medical Records Act.

NHS National Summary Care Record (SCR)

The NHS National Summary Care Record programme will allow some of the medical record we hold about a patient to be shared with our allied health professionals such as hospital clinicians, district nurses etc.  For more information on Summary Care Records, please read our National Care Record page.

If you have any queries regarding your personal medical record please do not hesitate to contact the practice staff or via our online contact form.

Allowing consent to a third party

If you would like to give consent to another party to access information about you, for example your partner, relative, carer, solicitor etc please download and complete our Third Party Access Form. This form must be returned by you to the practice in person to validate your identity and ensure security of your medical record.

The practice operates using NHS funding, in a financially transparent, stable and sustainable way. This ensures that we consistently deliver the highest level of care possible to all of our patients.

GP Net Earnings

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 Fernley Medical Centre in the last financial year was £72,064 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs, 2 part time GPs and 2 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data.

The GDPR replaces the 1995 Data Protection Directive

Practice News: The Practice uses a system called EMIS Web to manage clinical information about your care and health. This system is provided by a company called EMIS Health LTD who act as a data processor on behalf of the Practice. EMIS Health LTD also uses a sub-processor which is Amazon Web Services (sub-processor) who act under written instruction from EMIS Health LTD to store the data. Under no circumstances is it technically possible for Amazon Web Services to access any information about you. Should you have any concerns or queries please do not hesitate to contact the Practice.

This practice is supporting vital coronavirus (COVID-19) planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital. For more information about this see the General Practice Transparency Notice for GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19).

We always try to give you the best service possible, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. This page aims to explain what to do if you have a complaint about the service you have received from the doctors or any member of staff within this practice.

Surgery complaints procedure

Our practice procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, put right any problems you have identified or mistakes that have been made.

At Fernley Medical Centre we aim to give you a quick but thorough response, which answers your concerns properly. We aim to solve all problems at a practice level (Local Resolution).

If you use this procedure it will not affect your right to complain to the The CCG Patient Experience Team or any other Parliamentary or Health Service Ombudsman, if you feel that a local resolution has not been achieved or local resolution is not appropriate for the complaint matter. The appropriate contact telephone numbers for these services can be found below.

Who can complain?

Anyone who is receiving or has received NHS treatment can complain. In the event that the complainant is a child, the parent / guardian can complain on their behalf. Where a patient has died, a complaint can be made by a relative or person that had an interest in the deceased’s welfare.

If you feel that you are not able to make a complaint in person, you can nominate a person to complain on your behalf.

Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient’s consent will therefore be required if a complaint is not made by that patient in person.

How to complain

Ask to speak to the Complaints Manager for the practice Roopa Jayadev or Complaints Deputy  for the Practice Mrs Iffat Irfan

Complete the necessary complaints paperwork:

If necessary, any complaints forms can either be posted to you or can be obtained from the Surgery Reception.

Ensure complaints are made within the specified time limits:

Please notify the surgery of any complaint as soon as possible in order for us to address any issues and improve our service for other patients. Please note, however, that the latest that a complaint should be made is:

Within 12 months of the incident or the matter coming to your attention
Our obligations to you

Upon receiving a complaint we will seek to:

Acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receipt
We believe it is important to deal with complaints swiftly, so you will be offered an appointment for a meeting to discuss the details within seven days. Occasionally it may take longer, but we will keep you informed throughout. You may bring a friend or relative with you to the meeting. We will try to address your concerns, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be needed.

Outcomes of the complaint

In carrying out this procedure we aim to address your concerns fully, provide you with an explanation and undertaken any necessary actions.

We hope that at the end of the process you feel that we have dealt with the matter thoroughly, however, if this is not the case and you wish to continue with your complaint, we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you. If you still remain dissatisfied once the practice based complaints procedure has been fully utilised you have the right to request an independent review of your complaint by contacting The Patient Experience Team. You should do this within six months of the end of ‘local resolution’

Further Contacts

The Patient Experience Team (BSC CCG) 0121 411 0415

Healthwatch Birmingham 0800 652 5278

Parliamentary and Heath Service Ombudsman 0345 015 4033

From 1st April 2015 onwards Practices are required, under the GMS contract, to allocate a named accountable GP to all patients, including children.

It is important that you are aware that this is purely an administrative exercise and does not change the way in which we operate or affect your ability to make an appointment or speak with any of the GPs in the practice.

We have now allocated all patients to a named GP. We have done this as per your registered GP.

New patients registering from 1st April 2015 onwards will be allocated within 21 days of registration. This will be the named GP that appears on your medical card.

If you were registered with us before 1st April 2015 and were aged over 75 or took part in the Unplanned Emergency Admissions service provision you will have already been allocated a named accountable GP and notified in writing – this named GP will remain the same and will not change.

Should you express a wish to change your named GP we will do our best to accommodate your wishes. Please write to the Practice Manager requesting the change.

It is the Practices responsibility to notify you by 31st June 2016 of your named accountable GP. Initially we will attempt to do this on an opportunistic basis during your next visit or call to the Practice and we will record that you have been notified. If by early May 2016 we have not informed you, we will text, email or write to you.