Practice Policies & Patient Information
Chaperones
Patients are entitled to ask for a chaperone for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel they prefer to have a chaperone.
The practice will endeavour to provide a formally trained chaperone upon request, but patients would help us by requesting a chaperone when booking an appointment where a chaperone is required. This may mean rescheduling appointments in order to meet this need.
A doctor, nurse or other health care professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.
Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities
Everyone who uses NHS services in Scotland has rights about how they access and receive their care. These rights ensure people are treated safely, fairly and effectively, and with consideration, dignity and respect.
It’s important that you know your rights and understand what you can expect from us whenever you use NHS services. But it’s also important to recognise that you have responsibilities, things that everyone is expected to do to help the NHS work effectively in Scotland and to help make sure it uses its resources responsibly.
The Charter explains what you can expect, and what is expected of you, when you use NHS services and receive NHS care in Scotland.
To find out more about Health rights in Scotland or to read the Charter in full and to find what alternative formats are available, please use the following links:
Comments and Suggestions
Townhead Medical Practice is committed to giving the best possible service and welcomes feedback from patients and visitors.
All feedback is taken seriously and used to improve services for patients. The care of patients raising concerns will not be affected in any way and will continue to be our highest priority.
Please let us have your comments both positive and negative by sending them to [email protected]
Your comments will help us to maintain our high standard of service.
Complaints Procedure
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. Simply contact the Practice Manager, or in their absence the senior receptionist, as soon as possible and they will set the necessary procedure in motion.
Further written information on the complaints procedure is available on request.
Confidentiality and Medical Records
The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation.
Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:
- To provide further medical treatment for you, for example from district nurses and hospital services.
- To help you get other services, for example from the social work department. This requires your consent.
- When we have a duty to others, for example in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services, for example in diabetic care.
If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know.
Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information relevant to our surgery under the Freedom of Information Act can be accessed at the surgery.
If you would like us to supply you with a paper copy of the information please contact the Practice Manager.
Heath Data Collection and Health Observatory
Practice Privacy Notice for Patients
Our Practice Privacy Notice explains what information we collect about you, how we store this information, how long we retain it and with whom and for which legal purpose we may share it.
For further information please contact our Practice Manager.
Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE)
NHS Scotland is improving the way it uses information from your GP patient record.
The improved service is called Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE) and has been developed to help GPs, the NHS in Scotland and researchers plan for Scotland’s health and care needs.
The Health Improvement Network (THIN)
by computer to remove any that might identify a person. THIN data are stored securely at all times.
If you would like to opt out of this data collection scheme, please let practice staff know and your records will not be collected for THIN. This will not affect your care in any way.
Find out more on the Health Improvement Network website.
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.