The vast majority of our patients attend their appointments or let us know if they cannot attend or no longer need them. We really appreciate this as it means we can free those appointments up to be used by other patients.

However, a small but significant number of patients miss their appointments without cancelling them. This means the doctor or nurse is waiting for the patient to arrive, when they could have been seeing another patient.

If you cannot attend your appointments for any reason, please let us know within one working day of your appointment or as soon as possible so that we can offer the appointment to someone else.

If you repeatedly fail to attend appointments, you may be removed from the practice list and may be required to find an alternative doctor.

The practice complies with the Data Protection Act. All information about patients is confidential: from the most sensitive diagnosis, to having visited the surgery or being registered at the practice. All patients can expect that their personal information will not be disclosed without their permission, except in the most exceptional of circumstances e.g. when somebody is at grave risk of serious harm.

All members of the primary health care team (from reception to doctors) in the course of their duties will have access to your medical records. They all adhere to the highest standards of maintaining confidentiality.

As our reception area is a little public, if you wish to discuss something of a confidential nature please mention it to one of the receptionists who will make arrangements for you to have the necessary privacy.

Under 16s

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.

Useful websites

• Confidentiality NHS code of practice
• Confidentiality and mental health
• Confidentiality guidance

There are occasions when patients need to be examined by a clinician which may involve intimate examinations. A chaperone provides a safeguard for patients during such an examination or consultation and protects against verbal, physical, sexual or other abuse for both patient and clinician. A clinician has the right to request a chaperone if they feel it necessary.

Cromer Group Practice is committed to putting patients at ease wherever possible. If you wish a chaperone to be present during an examination, please do not hesitate to ask a clinician or one of our receptionists. It may not be possible for such a person to be provided immediately, and you may have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

Trust is important in the relationship between clinician and patient, and we would at all times wish you to feel able to ask for a chaperone. It is the policy of Cromer Group Practice to respect the privacy, dignity, cultural, and religious beliefs of our patients.

The accessible information standard is a new ‘information standard’ for implementation by all organisations that provide NHS or adult social care. The standard aims to ensure that people who have a disability or sensory loss receive information that they can access and understand e.g. large print, braille or via email. This includes professional communication support if they need it e.g. a British Sign Language interpreter. The standard requires organisations that provide NHS or adult social care to:

• Ask people if they have any information or communication needs, and find out how to meet their needs.
• Record those needs clearly and in a set way.
• Highlight or flag the person’s file or notes so it is clear that they have information or communication needs and how to meet those needs.
• Share people’s information and communication needs with other providers of NHS and adult social care, when they have consent or permission to do so.
• Take steps to ensure that people receive information which they can access and understand, and receive communication support if they need it.

Although not exhaustive, the standard is likely to apply to:

• People who are blind and/or deaf.
• Those who have some hearing or visual loss.
• People with learning disabilities.

Successful implementation of the standard aims to improved outcomes and experiences, and the provision of safer and more personalised care and services to those individuals who come within the standard’s scope.

At practice level, we will be making sure that we amend our commonly used forms to ask patients if they have any special communication needs. We will then record any on the patient’s medical record so that anyone seeing the patient is aware that the patient may need assistance with communication. We will make sure that all our forms are available in larger print for patients.

If you do have any special communication needs, please let us know so that we can help.