Oakfields Health Centre has a number of policies in place to support the delivery of high quality care. Please ask at reception if you would like to see a copy of these policies:

Complaints Procedure
Data Protection
Right of Access to Your Health Records
Chaperone
Violent of Abusive Patients

OUR APPROACH TO YOUR HEALTHCARE

At Oakfields Health Centre we are committed to providing high quality, personal care for our patients and their families.

We aim to:

• provide you with medical services that are easy to access
• treat you with courtesy and respect
• work with you and others to make sure you get the care and support you need
• liaise with our patient forum and community as a whole to help us to improve services
• provide ongoing training and development for our staff
• use NHS resources responsibly to meet the needs of all of our patients

We are entitled to make sure that our staff can work in an environment that is free from threats verbal abuse and violence.

We ask you to:

• treat staff with courtesy and respect
• attend the surgery or the primary care out-of-hours service at Shotley Bridge Hospital when you need to see a health care professional
• attend the clinics when you have an appointment
• let us know as soon as possible if you cannot keep an appointment
• respect that home visits are for the housebound

Oakfields Health Centre operates a zero tolerance policy towards violence and abusive behaviour. Patients who behave in a violent or aggressive manner towards staff may be removed from the practice list.

Confidentiality

All patients will be treated as individuals who have the right to respect and confidentiality. The rule of confidentiality extends to close members of your family and anyone else unless we have your express permission. The rules also apply to children under the age of 16 years. Normally, if a parent brings a child to see us we will be happy to release information to them. If, however, a child under 16 years old comes to see us alone they are assured of the normal standards of confidentiality that would apply if they were over 16.

In some circumstances you may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS. We need to share some information about you with them so that we can all work together for your benefit. Anyone who receives confidential information about you from us is also under a legal duty of confidentiality unless there are exceptional circumstances, for example when health or
safety of others is at risk. We will not disclose your information to third parties without your written permission.

The Practice is registered under the Data Protection Act 1988 and all records we hold on file or on the computer are completely confidential. They are only shared with those health professionals directly involved in a patient’s care.

Access to your medical record

Your medical records are kept up to date on a fully computerised medical record system called SystmOne.

You have the right to see your medical records, subject to the limitations of the law. Please ask at reception how to go about this. If you request a paper copy of your records, we may charge you an administration fee.

All requests are dealt with promptly and copies will be produced within a maximum of 40 days of receiving your request.

Please ask at reception for further details

If you are referred to a hospital specialist you are welcome to request a copy of the referral letter.

Chaperone

We are currently updating this information.