Your Health :: Forest Medical Group
The importance of carers is recognised by the government policy document “carer at the heart of the 21st Century families and communities”. General Practice is identified as an important part of the way the NHS helps carers.
A carer spends a significant proportion of their life providing unpaid support to family or friends. This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems.
If you care for a friend or relative there could be more help available for you. Register with the Practice using the attached form and we will do our best to ensure you are given all the support you need.
Carer Registration Information Leaflet
If you need advice or assistance outside of the GP Practice regarding contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy tests and any other aspect of sexual health, the following Family Planning and Teenage Health Clinics are available within close vicinity to our Practices.
Fore more information contact 01623 672260
The nearest hospital casualty department is at Kings Mill Hospital, Sutton Road, Sutton in Ashfield, telephone 01623 622515. Patients who suffer injuries that may require stitches or an x-ray should go to the KMH Emergency Department as we do not have these facilities within the Surgery.
IT Systems and Data Collection
We use our IT systems to maintain your health records, compiling disease registers, recall for a diabetic review, asthma monitoring or smears plus immunisations etc. The systems also help considerably with general administration in relation to your overall healthcare. All information is processed in accordance with Data Protection legislation, Caldicott guidelines and other Information Governance standards in line with the long-standing traditions of medical confidentiality.
It is very important that we keep up-to-date information, so please help us to help you – if there is a change in your circumstances such as name, address or telephone number please let us know and we will update your record.
The doctors and other health professionals at Forest Medical keep records about your health, treatment, prescriptions and care you received from the National Health Service. This helps to ensure that you receive the best possible care from us. Your records may be kept in written manual records, or held on our IT system. The records will contain basic contact details such as your address and next of kin, contacts we have had with you such as clinic visits, notes and reports about your health, treatment and other care, results of investigations such as x-rays or laboratory tests plus other relevant information from other professionals or those who care for you and know you well.
Your records are used to guide doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in the care you receive to ensure that they have accurate and up-to-date information so that they can in turn assess your health and decide upon the type of care that you need. You may not always see the same doctor or you may be referred to a specialist so a full history allows them to make a full and proper assessment of your needs. In the event of a complaint, with all of the relevant information, your concerns can be thoroughly investigated.
How Your Records Are Used To Help The Surgery And The NHS
Your information may also be used to assess the needs of the general population, ensure that we plan for the future demands and meet patients’ needs, review overall care to ensure that it is of the highest standard, teach and train healthcare professionals, conduct health research and development, prepare performance statistics and investigate complaints, legal claims or other incidents.
The information is anonymised, which means that individual patients cannot be identified. Sometimes, statistical information is also passed to other organisations with a legitimate interest such as medical universities and medical research institutions. There are times however when anonymised information is not suitable and person identifiable information may be used for research and auditing purposes. This will only be carried out with your consent, unless there is a legal requirement to do so.
Everyone at Forest Medical 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.
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.
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.