All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in Dickens Place Surgery in the last financial year was £62,794 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 1 full time GP and 2 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.
However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.
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.
-
Guidance, support and help with employment issues.
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.
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
- Benefits for carers
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.
However, we are aware that things can sometimes 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.
Our Practice Manager will be pleased to deal with any complaint. She will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.
You can make your complaint:
- In writing – please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the Practice for the attention of the Practice Manager.
- Complaints Policy
If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to complete the travel vaccination form below or make an appointment with the nurse to discuss your travel arrangements. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.
There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the links below
 Europe & Russia |
 North America |
 Central America |
 South America |
 Caribbean |
 Africa |
 Middle East |
 Central Asia |
 East Asia |
 Australasia and Pacific |
It is important to make this initial appointment, or complete the form as early as possible - at least 6 weeks before you travel - as a second appointment will be required with the Practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations. These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.
Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge. This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS. Payment will be required before ordering, please note the Surgery does not have the facility to accept credit/debit cards.
Travel Health Questionnaire
To help us offer the appropriate advice, please fill out the form, hand to the Surgery reception or email to dickensplace@nhs.net ,wait 5 working days before phoning the Surgery to be advised on which vaccinations are required.
Cover your Healthcare abroad If you are travelling abroad follow the link to help you get the most out of your holiday.
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/Pages/Healthcareabroad.aspx
New contractual arrangements came into force on 1st April 2014 requiring GP Practices to make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:
Summary Care Record (SCR)
- GP to GP Record Transfers (GP2GP)
- Patient Online Access to their GP Record (Over 16 yrs only)
- Data for commissioning and other secondary care purposes
The same contractual obligations require that we have a statement of intent regarding these developments in place and publicised by 30th September 2014.
Please find below details of the arrangements Dickens Place Surgery has in place for these developments.
- Summary Care Record (SCR)
NHS England requires Practices to enable successful automated uploads of any changes to patient summary information, at least on a daily basis, to the SCR or to have published plans to achieve this by 31st March 2015.
Having your SCR available to other service providers, such as hospitals, will help those treating you by allowing them to see a small part of your GP medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any allergies you may have.
Of course if you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record. If you have already advised us that you do not want a SCR available outside of the Practice, you do not need to do so again, your records will have already been excluded from this. More details about the SCR can be found at http://www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk/
Dickens Place Surgery confirms that your SCR is already automatically updated on at least a daily basis to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.
- GP to GP Record Transfers (GP2GP)
NHS England requires Practices to use the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between Practices, when a patient registers or de-registers. This does not apply to temporary patient registrations.
It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded to your new GP via NHS England. It can take your paper records several weeks to reach your new Practice.
With GP2GP transfers, your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner.
Dickens Place Surgery confirms that GP2GP transfers are already active and that we send and receive patient records via this system.
- Patient Online Access to their GP Record (Over 16 yrs only)
NHS England requires practices to promote and offer the facility to enable patient online access to appointments, prescriptions, allergies and adverse reactions or have published plans in place to achieve this by 31st March 2015.
Dickens Place Surgery confirms that the facility to book and cancel appointments and to order repeat prescriptions is already active. In addition, patients can already update contact details, medical details and provide BP Monitor readings online. If you do not already have a user name and password for this system, you can find more information on the links below PatientOline Access or by asking at reception.
Dickens Place Surgery confirms that the facility for patients to access their own summary information from their records relating to medication, allergies, adverse reactions. (Over 16 yrs only)
- Data for commissioning and other secondary care purposes
It is already a requirement of the Health & Social care Act that practices must meet the reasonable data requirements of commissioners and other health and social care organisations through appropriate and safe data sharing for secondary usage, as specified in the technical specification for care data.
Dickens Place Surgery has specific arrangements in place to allow patients to 'opt out' of care.data if they wish to. Care.data allows patient data to be used outside of the Practice. For further information about care.data please visit: www.nhs.uk/caredata. If you wish to opt out of this data sharing please contact reception.
Dickens Place Surgery confirms these arrangements are already in place and that we undertake annual training and audits to ensure that all our data is handled correctly and safely via the Information Governance Toolkit.
To download to the patient information leaflet please click the link below:
PatientOnline-Records access-Patient information leaflet
To download a registration form to access your online services please click the link below (Over 16 yrs only) :
The more you know about your pregnancy and your options, the more you are likely to feel in control. The information given here is based on The Pregnancy Book, which your midwife should give you at your first appointment.
Before you are pregnant
Your pregnancy and labour
- 37-40 weeks pregnantHow the baby develops
- 0-8 weeks pregnant
- 9-12 weeks pregnant
- 13-16 weeks pregnant
- 17-20 weeks pregnant
- 21-24 weeks pregnant
- 25-28 weeks pregnant
- 29-32 weeks pregnant
- 33-36 weeks pregnant
- 40+ weeks pregnant
- Your health in pregnancy
- Common health problems
- Antenatal care and classes
- Choosing where to have your baby
- Labour and birth
- When pregnancy goes wrong
You and your baby
- What you will need for your baby?
- Your life after the birth
- The first days with your baby
- The first weeks with your baby
- Feeding your baby
General pregnancy topics
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
The NHS employs over a million staff in thousands of locations. It is a large and complex organisation providing a broad range of services. It is not surprising that sometimes you or a loved one may feel bewildered or concerned when using the NHS. And this can be at times when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and anxious.
So, what should you do if you want on the spot help when using the health service? The NHS expects all members of staff to listen and respond to you to the best of their ability. But sometimes, you may wish to talk to someone employed especially to help you. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, has been introduced to ensure that the NHS listens to patients, their relatives, carers and friends, and answers their questions and resolves their concerns as quickly as possible.
PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their loved ones and making changes, when appropriate.
What does PALS do?
In particular, PALS will:
- Provide you with information about the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry
- Help resolve concerns or problems when you are using the NHS
- Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint
- Provide you with information and help introduce you to agencies and support groups outside the NHS
- Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally
- Improve the NHS by listening to your concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues you raise
- Provide an early warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.
Find out more
If you would like more information about PALS, the functions it is intended to provide and the standards it should strive to achieve , follow this link.
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.
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.
Copying of correspondence
Due to the increasing demand in patients requesting copies of letters and pathology results, requests must be made in writing. We have to advise you that there may also be a charge.
These will only include copies initiated within the Practice and written to other healthcare professionals external to the Practice (i.e.Referrals).
Letters not initiated within the Practice (e.g. Consultant/Hospital) will not be permitted; these are the responsibility of the originator.
Complaints
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.
However, we are aware that things can sometimes 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.
Our Practice Manager will be pleased to deal with any complaint. She will explain the procedure to you and make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.
You can make your complaint:
- In writing– Please give as much information as you can, then send your complaint to the Practice for the attention of the Practice Manager.
- Complaints Policy
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.
You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.
Evidence that you are sick
If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).
Your employer can ask you to confirm that you've been ill.You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification.
If you're sick and off work for more than seven days, your employer will probably ask for proof of your illness. Most employers ask for a fit note from your GP.
However, this will also depend on your employer's company policy on sick leave (or sickness absence). This policy should tell you how many days you can be off sick before you need to provide proof of illness or a fit note.
You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.
Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'
The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.
For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)
How information about you, helps us to provide better care.
Confidential information from your medical records can be used by the NHS to improve the services offered so we can provide the best possible care for everyone. This information along with your postcode and NHS number but not your name, are sent to a secure system where it can be linked with other health information.
This allows those planning NHS services or carrying out medical research to use information from different parts of the NHS in a way which does not identify you.
You have a choice If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything.
If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to practice staff or follow the links below for a copy of the leaflet “How information about you helps us to provide better care”.
Please click on the following link:
'How information about you helps us to provide better care' - Leaflet
More information can be found here
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). The Summary Care Record is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the Surgery is closed. Initially, it will contain just your medications, sensitivities and allergies.
Later on as the central NHS computer system develops, (known as the ‘Summary Care Record’ – SCR), other staff who work in the NHS will be able to access it along with information from hospitals, out of hours services, and specialists letters that may be added as well.
Your information will be extracted from Practices such as ours and held on central NHS databases.
As with all new systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.
On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this Practice. Connecting for Health (CfH), the government agency responsible for the Summary Care Record have agreed with doctors’ leaders that new patients registering with this Practice should be able to decide whether or not their information is uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System.
For existing patients it is different in that it is assumed that you want your record uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System unless you actively opt out.
For further information visit the Connecting for Health Website
From the the 1st April 2015 registered users of Systmone online, will be able to view their Summary Care Record .