Are You a Carer?

If you are please let us know - we may be able to help you

There is a wealth of information on the NHS website about carers and caring. Below are some links into the site that we hope you will find useful.

• A guide to care and support

  Information for carers and people who have care & support needs.

• Caring for someone

  Advice on providing care, medicines etc.

• Care after hospital

  Providing care for people who have been recently discharged from hospital.

• Taking a break

  Caring for someone can be a full-time job - find out about accessing breaks and respite care.

• Support and benefits for carers

  Caring for someone can be a full-time job - find out about accessing breaks and respite care.

• Work and Disability
  

  Guidance, support and help with employment issues.

  Being a Young carer

  Advice for carers 18 or under and their entitlement to support

Finance and Law

Help claiming benefits, looking after your bank balance and understanding the legal issues of caring.

• Benefits for carers

  Directing carers to the benefits that can help them in their caring role

• Benefits for the under-65s

  Advice and information on helping the person you look after get the benefits that they are entitled to.

  Benefits for the over-65s

  Advice and information on financial support for older people with a disability or illness.

• Carer's Assement

  How your benefits maybe affected after the death of the person you look after and what happens to their benefits

• Other benefits

  Advice for carers and the people they are looking after on claiming a whole host of other benefits unrelated to their disability or caring

Same day help for your poorly child

For children under 14 years old

If your child has become unwell in the last few days and you would like urgent advice then please contact the surgery on 0191 274 1840 and we will arrange for a clinician to speak to you and if necessary to see your child, on the same day - this could save you an unnecessary trip to A+E or a Walk-in Centre

The Little Orange Book

This book provides expert help for parents and carers on how to manage common problems in babies and small children – ask your GP for a copy for click on the link below

http://www.newcastlegatesheadccg.nhs.uk/little-orange-book/

Child Health App

Looking after your child’s health, an NHS guide for parents and carers of children aged 0-5 years.

Developed by hospital specialists, doctors, health visitors and pharmacists this app will give you lots of useful hints.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/nhs-child-health/id1113584434?mt=8

You can see our CQC report here

Fair Processing Notice

Privacy Notice GP V1.2

Easy Read Privacy Notice for GP Practice

Dear Patients,

We have an established Patient Participation Panel, a group of patients who meet monthly top discuss issues affecting the way primary care is developing, and the impact on the practice, as well as discussing general issues as to what the practice does.

This group has developed a constitution, which is available for you to read:

The Constitute 

Minutes of meetings

• A reference copy is available to read, in a file in the waiting area. They are also available on request from the Practice Manager.
• The panel does not meet during August.
• A separate monthly register of attendance is kept by the Practice Manager.

Early evening meetings

We have 3 meetings per year that take place in the early evening, so workers and others who have day time commitments can attend. The 2016 dates for these meetings are:

• April 04th            5 pm - 6.30 pm
• June 06th            AGM 5 pm followed by meeting at 5.30 pm
• September 05th   5 pm - 6.30 pm

New Members Wanted!

We are always keen to hear from patients who are interested in getting involved in the work of the patient panel.

We usually meet on the first Monday of the month 1pm - 2.30pm (the second Monday if the first is a Bank Holiday), but we do have 3 early evening meetings per year. The list of meetings for 2016 is published below - please feel free to come along.

2016 Meeting dates

(All meetings will be 1 pm to 2:30pm unless otherwise specified)

January          Monday 11th

February        Monday 01st

March            Monday 07th

April*            Monday 04th      5 pm – 6.30 pm

May*             Monday 09th

June              Monday 06th    AGM 5 pm & Meeting 5.30pm – 6.30 pm

July               Monday 04th

August          Holiday month

September     Monday 05th    5 pm – 6.30 pm

October         Monday 03rd

November      Monday 07th

December      Monday 05th

^* Moved to second Monday of the month due to Bank / Public holiday the previous week.

We are especially keen to hear from young people, those who work, or ethnic minority groups.

For those who can't make the first Monday of the month meeting....

We are open to establishing a second evening group for those who may study or work or care for someone during the, and who would only be able to meet early evening (for example, 5.30 pm to 7 pm).

We are also looking into the idea of starting up a virtual group; for those who would like to be involved in discussions about the practice, what we do and how we do it, but feel unable to come to a meeting, then we could set up a virtual group, whereby members can have an e-forum or discussion, or simply e-mail in responses. If you are keen on this idea, please let the practice manager know.

We are your patient panel: we look forward to hearing from you, and to working on your behalf over the coming months.

Confidentiality & 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 e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
• To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
• When we have a duty to others e.g. 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 e.g. for 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

Information about the General Practioners and the practice required for disclosure under this act can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the practice manager.

Access to Records

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the practice manager and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

Complaints

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.

To pursue a complaint please contact the practice manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available regarding the complaints procedure from reception.

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.

Fees for non-NHS Work

There are things we are asked to do, as a practice, that are not covered by the NHS; for example, medicals for employment purposes, or forms / letters to support an insurance claim. For this type of work, we charge a fee.

Dear Patient,

We would like to know how we can improve our service to you and how you perceive our surgery and staff.

To help us with this, we are re-launching our patient participation group so that you can have your say. You can become either a "Core" member, whereby you come to the surgery for meetings bi monthly, or you can become an associate member whereby you can pop along as and when a topic takes your interest, or keep in touch electronically instead. We will ask the members of this representative group some questions from time to time, such as what you think about our opening times or the quality of the care or service you received. We will welcome and ideas you put forward. We may contact you via email and keep our surveys succinct so it shouldn’t take too much of your time.

We aim to gather around a hundred patients from as broad a spectrum as possible to get a truly representative sample. We need young people, workers, retirees, people with long term conditions and people from non-British ethnic groups.

If you are happy for us to contact you occasionally by email please click the link below to open the sign-up form and complete all the fields.

PPG Sign up form

There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.

Why do I need a Summary Care Record?

Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.

This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example which medicines they choose to prescribe for you.

Who can see it?

Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.

How do I know if I have one?

Over half of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether Summary Care Records have come to your area by looking at our interactive map or by asking your GP

Do I have to have one?

No, it is not compulsory. If you choose to opt out of the scheme, then you will need to complete a form and bring it along to the surgery. You can use the form at the foot of this page.

More Information

For further information visit the NHS Care records website