Appointments
At Brent House both urgent and routine appointments can be made at reception
or by telephone. The doctors work as a partnership, so you may see whichever
doctor you choose. If you find that you cannot keep an appointment, please let
us know. We can always offer the cancelled appointment to another patient.
If you make an appointment or request a visit (see below) and have not been
seen at the practice recently, you will be offered general health screening as
part of our service to you.
Home Visits
Home visits are at the discretion of the doctor who will always visit at home
when necessary. However, home visits should be regarded as a service for the
housebound and those who are genuinely too ill to come to the surgery. The
visits are time consuming and this service should be used correctly. The
doctor does not have to call at your home because your personal or financial
circumstances make this more convenient than your coming to the surgery. Many
of our patients come to the surgery by taxi and
useful telephone numbers
can be found here for your convenience. When the condition of the
patient does require a home visit, please try to contact the surgery between
8am and 10am.
When you request a visit, the receptionist will ask for full details of the
patient’s name, address, age and telephone number and the reason for the
visit. This information enables the doctors to plan their calls and allows the
more urgent visits to be dealt with first.
Urgent Home Visits
When requesting urgent home visits, you will usually be asked to speak to the
duty doctor, allowing you to discuss the problem in more detail. Please
remember that emergencies occur throughout the day and it is necessary on
occasions for the doctor you are seeing to leave the surgery to deal with
them. The receptionist will inform you if this happens and offered the choice
of awaiting the doctor’s return or making another appointment.
Results of Tests
If you wish to telephone for results, please do so in person and after 2pm.
Repeat Prescriptions
Brent House – post or leave your computerised request slip (if you have one)
or request note and the prescription should be ready for collection in two
working days’ time. If you provide a stamped addressed envelope, your
prescription will be posted to you.
Alternatively, our dedicated telephone number for prescriptions is 422300.
This line is open from 10.00am until 1.30pm and is a direct line to our
Prescribing Lead Receptionist, who is specially trained to deal with
prescription issues. Please do not use the main surgery telephone number for
prescription requests.
Some of the pharmacies within the town offer a prescription collection service
– please remember to tell the receptionist if a chemist is collecting your
prescription on your behalf.
Westonzoyland – you are welcome to telephone 691233 or request your
prescription during surgery hours. Prescriptions should be ready for
collection at 12.00 that day.
Prescriptions and Certificates will be ready in two working days' time.
Training
Brent House is actively involved in training. There may be times when medical
students or GP Registrars are present with the doctors in the surgery. A GP
Registrar is a fully-qualified doctor who is working with us to gain
experience of general practice.
There may also be occasions when consultations are video-recorded for training
purposes. Should this be so when you are in the surgery, your permission will
be asked and we will completely understand if you wish to refuse.
The Practice is also involved in training health visitors and community
nurses.
Prospective GP Registrars should follow this link for more information
http://www.somersetvts.co.uk/
Confidentiality
All staff are bound by rules of professional confidentiality. An interview
room is available for confidential enquiries.
As a patient it is your right, with certain exceptions, to have all
information regarding your health, whether kept on paper or on the computer,
confidential - and to this end, all staff are required to sign a statement of
confidentiality to ensure that the highest possible standards of
confidentiality are maintained.
When you first register with a practice certain personal details, such as your
name, address and date of birth are passed to the Health Authority and to the
NHS Central Register. This enables your previous medical records to be located
and passed to your new practice. Although the Health Authority database holds
information on childhood vaccinations and immunisations and cervical cytology
no other clinical information is held either there or at the Central Register.
It is possible, however, that it may be necessary to share some information
regarding your medical history with other health care professionals such as
hospital consultants, to ensure you receive appropriate treatment. In addition
there are certain statutory requirements that require a doctor to pass on
information to the authorities, for example notification of birth or death,
infectious diseases, gunshot wounds.
In other cases, such as releasing medical records to solicitors when dealing
with complaints or legal claims or to insurance companies or employers,
information is only released with your written authority to do so.
If you do have any concerns regarding the confidentiality of your personal
medical history, or you would like further information. Please do not hesitate
to discuss this with your doctor, or the Practice Manager, Dawn Underhill.
Freedom of Information
Information about this practice is available under the FoI Act at
http://www.foi.nhs.uk/practice?id=1290
Suggestions and Comments on our Service
We welcome constructive comments on the services provided at both our
practices. The receptionists will pass on comments to the relevant team member
or you may write or speak to the Practice Manager direct. We will do our best
to provide you with a response to your comments.
Complaints
Complaints will, in the first instance, be dealt with by the Practice Manager.
Once the initial contact has been made, whether verbally or in writing, the
nature of the complaint will be recorded in the complaints log.
The complaint will be acknowledged in writing within two days and it will be
explained to the complainant that they can expect a further response within 14
days. A copy of the practice complaints procedure will be sent to the
complainant.
The matter will be discussed with the senior partner (or deputy) and a full
internal investigation will take place with the GP or member of staff
involved.
The results of the investigation will be put in writing and sent to the
complainant and the complaint log will be updated.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the results of the internal
investigation they will be invited to attend the surgery, with a friend if
he/she wants, to discuss the complaint and the findings of the internal
investigation.
Written confirmation of the outcome of the meeting will be sent to the
complainant and the complaint log will be updated.
If the complaint remains unresolved the complainant will be informed of
his/her right to pursue the complaint with Somerset Coast Primary Care Trust.
Where necessary the practice will consider any internal action required to
ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future.
Data Protection
The Data Protection Act contains eight Data Protection Principles. These state
that all data must be:
- Processed fairly and lawfully;
- Obtained & used only for specified and lawful purposes;
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive;
- Accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date;
- Kept for no longer than necessary;
- Processed in accordance with the individuals’ rights (as defined);
- Kept secure;
- Transferred only to countries that offer adequate data protection.
The Data Protection Act requires that appropriate security measures are in
place to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful access/processing of
personal data.
Change of name, address or telephone number
Please inform us promptly of any change of name, address or telephone
number. If you move out of our practice area (see map) you will normally be
asked to change to another surgery.
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