Complaints

Complaints

Practice Complaints Procedure

Patient feedback is important to us as it helps us to improve the service we provide to patients. We take patient complaints seriously and will attempt to address your concerns to your satisfaction.

How do I make a complaint?

If you wish to complain please contact the Quality Service Supervisor Lorna English either in person, by phone or in writing.

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, the practice needs to know that you have their permission to do so.

What Happens Next?

The complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days.  The practice will respond, after investigation, within the timeframe specified to you at the acknowledgement stage of the process.  Some complaints may take longer to address but you will be informed of a response time.  If this cannot be met, the practice will keep you informed.

Please be assured making a complaint will not adversely affect your ongoing healthcare at the practice.  We will deal with you fairly, compassionately and will endeavour to resolve the situation to a satisfactory conclusion.

Wherever possible, we aim to learn from complaints and take action to avoid similar occurrences.

How do I complain to someone Independent?

GP Practices would prefer to have the opportunity to answer complaints ourselves in the first instance. However, you may pass your complaint directly to:

  • Patient Experience Team
  • Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board
  • Sir John Robinson House
  • Sir John Robinson Way

Tel: 0115 8839570

Email: nnicb-nn.patientexperience@nhs.net

If you would like further information please follow the link to the ICB website: Patient Experience and Complaints – NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

However, please note, patients cannot raise the same complaint with the practice and ICB.

Is there a time limit?

A complaint must be made within 12 months of the date of the incident that caused the problem or the date of discovering the problem.

Please remember, the quicker you complain, the easier it will be to investigate the facts.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome?

You can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) on 0345 015 4033.

For more information see their website www.ombudsman.org.uk

Other useful contacts

POhWER, NHS Complaints Advocacy, on 0300 456 2370.  For more information see their website www.pohwer.net

 

Low Vitamin D Levels

Vitamin D is important for good health, growth and strong bones.

If you have a vitamin D deficiency you will be prescribed a high dose of medication by your GP. It is important it is important you take the full treatment course as this will help your levels to return to normal quickly.

Patients with a vitamin D insufficiency may be advised to purchased a lower strength medication over the counter at the pharmacy. This is because the vitamin D level is only slightly lower than the normal range.

90% of the body’s vitamin D requirement is obtained from sunlight exposure, with only a small amount obtainable from food. Therefore the best way to increase your vitamin D levels is by increasing the amount of sun exposure you get.

During the summer two or three exposures of 20 minutes (of at least the face and arms without sunscreen and not behind glass) each week should provide enough vitamin D for most fair skinned people. In the UK, from October to April there is not enough sun exposure to produce enough vitamin D so the body has to use what is already stored or get this from the food you eat.

Diet  – Food Sources Which can Provide Vitamin D are:

  1. Oily fish such as herring, sardines, mackerel, salmon and tuna.
  2. Eggs and meat contain small amounts.
  3. Vitamin D fortified foods such as margarine and cereals & powdered milk (check product labels).

Nutritional Supplements

If vitamin D levels remain low despite adjusting the diet and having adequate sun exposure as mentioned above, then the following supplements can be taken on a daily basis.

  • Pregnant and breastfeeding women:-Pregnacare® range One capsule daily(Cost varies depending on the product).
  • Other patients:- Valupak Vitamin D3 1000unit tablet – One tablet daily

(Approximate cost = £1.00 for 60 tablets).

The Healthy Start Vitamins are available free of charge to qualifying women who are pregnant and for children under 4 years if the family receive some benefits. Further information can be found from http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

Other supplements are available to buy from pharmacies, health food shops and supermarkets. Please speak to your community pharmacist if you are unsure what to buy.

 

Information on vitamin D is also available on NHS choices: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-D.aspx

Low Folic Acid

Folic Acid

  • Folic acid (or folate in its natural form) is one of the B group vitamins.
  • Everyone needs folic acid, but it is especially important to women who are planning a baby.
  • To reduce the risk of your baby being born with Spina Bifida or other neural tube defects, ensure you have enough folic acid in your diet.

 

 

How much do I need?

  • A healthy adult needs 200µm (micrograms) of folic acid per day. Most people should be able to get this amount by eating a varied and balanced diet.
  • Women who are planning a baby or are up to 12 weeks’ pregnant need 600µg per day.
  • Take a 400µg folic acid supplement one month before getting pregnant and for 12 weeks once you are pregnant.

 

Sources of folate

Folate is found in small amounts in many foods.

Good sources include:

  • Breakfast cereals with added folic acid, e.g. Weetabix
  • Wholegrain or brown bread, pasta or brown rice. Some bread has added folic acid – check the label.
  • Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day, include:-

Spinach, peas, asparagus, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, citrus fruits and fruit juices e.g. oranges, grapefruit and kiwi.

  • Tinned baked beans
  • Chick peas
  • Marmite

Remember:-

Folic acid is destroyed by heat and water. Steam or microwave vegetables. Do not keep food hot.

Pre-Diabetes

What is pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes means that your blood sugars are higher than usual.  This means that you are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future.

Preventing type 2 diabetes

By making changes to diet, increasing physical activity, and losing weight, about half of type 2 diabetes cases can be prevented or delayed.

Being at risk doesn’t mean you will definitely develop type 2 diabetes. Now is a great time to start making healthy changes to your lifestyle to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Here are some steps you can take to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future.

Manage your weight

If you are overweight, losing just 5% of your body weight can significantly reduce your risk.

Making healthier food choices and being more active are both positive ways to start making these changes.  If appropriate, please book an appointment with a Nurse to discuss a referral to weight management services or to our Health and Well-Being coaches for individual support.

Eat a healthy and balanced diet

There’s no special diet for all people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Everyone is individual, so there isn’t a one size fits all way of eating for everyone. But the food and drink we have in our overall diet is linked to our risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

To reduce your risk, aim to eat more of the following foods:

  • Fruit and vegetables (including specifically green leafy veg, blueberries, grapes, and apples)
  • Wholegrains (e.g. brown rice rather than white, oats, bulgur wheat, quinoa)
  • Yogurt and cheese
  • Unsweetened drinks (e.g. water, unsweetened tea and coffee, sugar-free cordial, choose diet or sugar-free fizzy drinks)

Reduce your intake of:

  • Sugar sweetened drinks
  • Red and processed meats
  • Refined carbohydrates (like sugary snacks, white bread, sugary cereals)
  • Potatoes (particularly French fries)

Be more active

If you spend a lot of time sitting down, this is known as a sedentary lifestyle. Being sedentary is linked with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

So being active in your daily life can help to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. This doesn’t mean you need to take up a new sport or join the gym. You could make small changes so that you are being more active every day. Think about taking phone calls standing up, using stairs instead of the lift, and going for a walk every day e.g., on your lunch break if you work.

 

When to see your GP

Prediabetes doesn’t have any symptoms. Please book an appointment with a GP if you experience the main symptoms of diabetes, which include:

  • Going to the toilet more often, especially at night
  • Feeling more tired, as your body can’t get enough glucose in to your cells for energy
  • Losing weight without trying
  • Genital itching or thrush
  • Cuts and wounds taking longer to heal
  • Blurred vision
  • Feeling extremely thirsty.

Sign up to the National Diabetes Prevention Programme

This is run by ‘Living Well Taking Control’

Tel : 0300 302 0652 or online at www.lwctsupport.co.uk

 

This is currently a voicemail only service. You will be asked to leave a message with your name and number and a member of the team will phone you back. To register you will need your NHS number, blood test results and date of blood test.

 

 

 

 

Spirometry

Spirometry Information  

What is Spirometry?

Spirometry is a basic breathing test which measures the amount of air that you can blow out. Your clinician has requested this test to assess your lung function.

What are the benefits of having Spirometry?

Your clinician will use the results of the test to help them diagnose problems with your breathing or monitor existing breathing conditions.

How is it done?

The individual performing the test will measure your height and weight, also ask a few questions.  You will sit in front of the equipment (Spirometer) and be asked to take a deep breath in and blow into the Spirometer. This routine will be repeated to ensure the results are consistent.

Inhaler and Spacer

You may be given an inhaler (bronchodilator) and have the test repeated 15-20 minutes later to see if there is any improvement. This does not automatically mean you will be prescribed an inhaler long-term. Unless specified by your prescribing clinician, the inhaler given will contain Salbutamol.

Will I feel any pain or discomfort?

The test is not painful but can feel a little uncomfortable. Some patients experience light-headedness. You will be encouraged to do as much as you can and given time to recover between tests.

How long will the test take?

The test will take between 10 and 30 minutes. Some of this time may involve waiting while any medication we give you takes effect.

How should I prepare for Spirometry?

Please bring all your inhalers to your appointment. In the 4 hours prior to your appointment please DO NOT use any of the following inhalers:

  • Ventolin / Salbutamol / Salamol (Blue)
  • Combivent (Grey)
  • Atrovent (White/Green)
  • Bricanyl / Terbutaline (Blue)
  • Ipratropium Bromide

If you feel breathless and take any of these inhalers within the four hours before the test please inform the clinician at the start of your test.

Do take all of your other medications as normal.

  • Please do not smoke in the 24 hours before the test.
  • Please do not drink alcohol on the day of the test.
  • Please avoid eating a large meal two hours before the test.
  • Please wear non-restrictive comfortable clothing.

If on the date of your test you have a chest infection and are taking antibiotics, please ring your clinic to change the date of your appointment. A chest infection will affect your test and give your clinician invalid results.

What are the risks involved?

The procedure is very low risk. However, you should tell the clinician if you have any of the following:

  • Coughed up blood recently and the cause is not known.
  • Pneumothorax
  • Had a heart attack or stroke within the last six weeks
  • Uncontrolled angina
  • Had any surgery in the last six weeks
  • Any thoracic, abdominal or cerebral aneurysms

Out of Area patients

The following terms and conditions will apply to ALL patients that wish to register with our surgery as an Out of Area patient.

If accepted as an out of area patient the surgery is under no obligation to provide the following:

  • Home visits.
  • Immediately necessary treatment following accident or emergency when you are at home.
  • Access to out of hours services when you are at home (and it is not reasonable to expect you to attend); or,
  • Other such services provided by our practice, which for clinical or practical reasons it is not reasonable to expect you to attend your registered practice, e.g., this could include follow up care following hospital discharge.

In considering this type of arrangement, it is very important that your individual health care needs can be safely and effectively provided by a GP practice that is away from your home address. Therefore, our surgery will need to consider clinical and practical reasons to register you.

 

Please bear in mind that we are a busy surgery and frequently must cope with a high demand for appointments. With this in mind, we can unfortunately never guarantee that you will always see a GP of your choice.

 

You may on occasion, develop an urgent illness or injury at home that means attending the GP surgery as normal would not be appropriate. In these circumstances you need to call NHS 111, who will direct you to the local service that has been established by NHS England for patients such as you. This local service could be a GP practice near to where you live, the local walk-in or urgent care centre, A&E or minor injuries unit. This local service will then decide if you can attend for an urgent face to face appointment with a healthcare professional or if a home visit is needed which will be based on your individual circumstances. If this is in the out-of-hours period when GP surgeries are normally closed – between 6:30pm and 8:30am weekdays and during weekends – NHS 111 will direct you to the local out-of-hours provider.

 

In future, should it become apparent because of changes in your health and consequent specific health care requirements, we would have to review your registration status.  This might mean that we may arrive at a professional opinion that it would be more clinically appropriate and practical for your specific healthcare needs if you registered with a GP practice nearer to your home that can provide any home visits or urgent appointments more conveniently for you.

 

If you have any queries regarding the above information please contact the surgery

Happy to Share

Why it’s important for all Health Care Professionals who look after you to have access to your GP health record.

To enable us to share your medical records with your Health Care Professionals, we do need your explicit consent. Should you wish to and you have not already provided your consent, you can access our consent form here, complete it and drop it into the surgery at your convenience: Consent to share form

Confidentiality and Medical Records

How We Keep Your Records Confidential

Everyone at Oakwood Surgery and the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential and information is only ever accessed on a ‘need to know’ basis. There are times when you may be receiving care from other organisations like the Social Services and it is sometimes necessary to share information about you so that we can all work together for your benefit. We will only ever pass on information that is relevant to the issue and only to those involved in your care. We will not pass your information on to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances such as when the health and safety of others is at risk or where the law requires that information be disclosed. Of course, others who receive information from us in such circumstances are bound by the same legal duty of confidentiality. Above all, our guiding principle is that we hold your records in strict confidence.

Confidentiality – Telephone Calls

When we contact you by telephone our staff will not say where they are calling from until they are satisfied that they are speaking to the person they are trying to contact, unless they have been advised that they may do so. Our staff are also advised not to leave messages on answer phones unless advised by the patients that they may do so. In some cases, when we receive a call from you, we may ask questions to ensure that we can be satisfied that you are the actual patient. We do this to protect you.

Freedom of Information

Information about the General Practitioners 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.

Information on this scheme is available here.

Health Records

Accessing Your Own Health Records

You are entitled to see or have a copy of the information that is held about you on our IT systems and within certain manual records. This is called the right of ‘Subject Access’ and is provided under the Data Protection Act 1998. You may always discuss issues about the information which is recorded about you when you see a doctor but if you want a copy then you should make a written request to the practice manager. A charge of up to £50 may be made if the information includes records extracted from manual systems. In some circumstances, some of the information in your record may be withheld in your own interest.

Further Information About Your Health Records

If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described here, then please speak to the doctor or health professional involved with your care.

Comments & Complaints

Your doctors hope to provide services which meet your needs. We welcome your compliments, criticisms and suggestions to help us improve the quality of service we offer. We have a suggestion box in the reception area and we have a practice policy for dealing with complaints. You could also contact Carla Tucker (Quality Supervisor), who will deal with any complaints or comments you raise. You may wish to do this in writing or by calling her on 01623 435555. We do our utmost to acknowledge your complaints or comments within 3 days. Please refer to our leaflets below, for further information.

Downloads:

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.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Oakwood Surgery & Bull Farm privacy Notice

Covid 19 privacy statement

Information Governance

Download our Information Governance Leaflet

Patient Know’s Best Privacy Statement

Oakwood Surgery shared your demographic data (including name, age, gender, date of birth, NHS number and address) with Patients Know Best (PKB) so PKB could create a dormant patient account for each person registered at this practice. The data in these accounts will not be accessed or processed unless you choose to activate your PKB account. Activating the account will create a patient held record which you can choose to share with health and care teams. This data sharing was done through article 6 (1)(e) and 9(2)(h) of UK GPDR 2018.

PKB are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates data protection in the UK, and their registration number is Z2704931. PKB cannot see your demographic data or any health information in your PKB account, including your patient held record.  Your information is kept encrypted on secure servers and can only be seen by yourself, health care teams chosen by you or those with a lawful basis.

PKB will retain your data for 8 years after either the date your dormant account was created or the date you last accessed your activated account; whichever date is more recent. You can email sfh-tr.nottsnhsapp@nhs.net if you wish your PKB information to be deleted before that point, this does not mean that your GP record held by Oakwood Surgery will be deleted.