How to make a complaint

We pride ourselves as a practice in providing healthcare at the highest standards, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. The practice has a formal complaints procedure which will allow us to look into and, if necessary, correct any problems that you have identified, or mistakes that have been made. Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient’s consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. Further information is available in leaflet form.

Please ask at reception or download the leaflet below.

Patient Complaint Form

Patient Complaint Leaflet

You can also email your complaint: SDERCCG.Parkoak-complaints@nhs.net

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

Offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

You can find officers from PALS in your local hospital

PALS can give you information about:

The NHS
The NHS complaints procedure, including how to get independent help if you want to make a complaint
Support groups outside the NHS
PALS also help to improve the NHS by listening to your concerns and suggestions.

If you’re not happy with an NHS service, you can make a complaint. You should complain to the person or organisation providing the service first, such as the GP, dentist, hospital or pharmacist. Alternatively, you can complain to the commissioner of that service

Visit the NHS website for more information

POhWER is the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service

POhWER NHS Complaints Advocacy Service is here to help you to make a complaint about your NHS care or treatment

NHS Complaints Advocacy is free, confidential and independent of the NHS.

Contact POhWER

Their support centre is open Monday to Friday from 8am – 6pm.

Visit their Website

Download a POhWER leaflet

Telephone 0300 200 0084 (charged at local rate)

Minicom  0300 456 2364

Text – Send the word ‘pohwer’ with you name and number to 81025

Email pohwer@pohwer.net

Skype pohwer.advocacy (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday)

Fax 0300 456 2365

Post PO Box 14043, Birmingham, B6 9BL

Complaining to NHS England

NHS England welcomes concerns, compliments and complaints as valuable feedback that will help us learn from your experiences and make improvements to services we commission.

You can complain or give feedback:

By post to: NHS England PO Box 16738 Redditch B97 9PT
By email to: england.contactus@nhs.net (If you are making a complaint please state: ‘For the attention of the complaints team’ in the subject line)
By telephone: 0300 311 22 33 (Our opening hours are: 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, except Wednesdays when we open at the later time of 9.30am. We are closed on bank holidays)

To provide you with the care you need we hold the details of your consultations, illnesses, tests, prescriptions and other treatments that have been recorded by everyone involved in your care and treatment. This information may be stored on paper or electronically on computer files by practice staff.

We sometimes disclose some of your personal health information to other organisations involved in your care. For example, when you are referred to the hospital we send relevant details about you in the referral letter and receive information about you from them. Our practice also participates in regional and national programs such as the cervical cytology screening service and your name, address, date of birth and NHS number will be given to them in order to send an invitation to you. The NHS now operates a central database of patients’ summary records, known as ‘The Spine’. It was created to provide a rapid interchange of information between various bodies within the NHS to facilitate safe, more ‘joined up’ care. A messaging system directs requests from patient’s details, from practices likes ours and a rapid response is achieved. Access to the system is controlled by secure registration and authentication procedures.

As a practice, we are obliged to upload patient data to the system. Should any patient of The Park Medical Practice object to having their details forwarded in this way, should contact the practice for advice. In future, as the practice’s control over such data exchange reduces, it may be necessary to open a dialogue directly between the patient and the Department of Health.

Patients have a right to view their own medical records. The practice has an application form for those who wish to have access to such records (under the auspices of the Data Protection Act 1998). The form can be obtained from the practice manager.

Our use of your personal health information is covered by a duty of confidentiality and is regulated by the Data Protection Act, giving you a number of rights in relation to how your personal information is used, including a right to access the information we hold about you. Should you wish to access this information, please contact the practice manager, in writing. Patients have a right to view their own medical records. The practice has an application form for those who wish to have access to such records (under the auspices of the Data Protection Act 1998). The form can be obtained from the practice manager.

We are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998.

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.

Access to Records

Patients have a right to view their own medical records. The practice has an application form for those who wish to have access to such records (under the auspices of the Data Protection Act 1998). The form can be obtained from the practice manager.

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.

Our use of your personal health information is covered by a duty of confidentiality and is regulated by the Data Protection Act, giving you a number of rights in relation to how your personal information is used, including a right to access the information we hold about you. Should you wish to access this information, please contact the practice manager in writing. Patients have a right to view their own medical records. The practice has an application form for those who wish to have access to such records (under the auspices of the Data Protection Act 1998). The form can be obtained from the practice manager.

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.

(This Privacy Notice is to run alongside our standard Practice Privacy Notice)

As we move away from the initial response to COVID-19 the health and social care system will need to continue to take action to manage and mitigate the spread and impact of the outbreak. This includes ensuring that approved researchers can continue to securely access pseudonymised data held by GP IT systems to assist the health and care service’s response to COVID-19 by, for example:

· recognising trends in COVID-19 diseases and identifying risks it poses

· controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19

· monitoring and managing outbreaks

The OpenSAFELY COVID-19 research service provides a secure analytics service that supports COVID-19 research, COVID-19 clinical audit, COVID-19 service evaluation and COVID-19 health surveillance purposes. Under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 NHS England has been directed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to establish and operate the OpenSAFELY service. While each GP practice remains the data controller of its own patient data, they are required under the provisions of s259 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to provide access to de-identified (pseudonymised) patient data through the OpenSAFELY service. The service enables individuals (academics, analysts and data scientists) approved by NHS England to run queries on pseudonymised GP and NHS England patient data which is held within the GP system suppliers’ data environments. Controls are in place to ensure that individuals only have access to aggregated outputs from the service (i.e. they cannot access information that either directly or indirectly identifies individuals).

Purpose of this Notice

OpenSAFELY service is used to analyse de-identified (pseudonymised) data within the EMIS and TPP boundaries, to support COVID-19 related research.

This is a continuation of a service which is supported by the BMA which has been operating since 2020. The permanent legal basis (the COVID-19 Direction) above allows the practice to provide this data to NHSE as an ongoing service. The OpenSAFELY service is a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) established within the secure environment of EMIS and TPP. Researchers write their analysis code away from the patient data; the code is run automatically on de-identified (pseudonymised) patient data; and only the aggregated outputs (now anonymous) are shared with researchers to be used, for example, in journal publications, reports or presentations. These controls keep patient data secure inside EMIS and TPP and confidential from researchers. The use of TREs and the data processing principles which OpenSAFELY represents is supported by the RCGP.

To date, this service has supported a range of important COVID-19 related research, including one of the world’s first and largest studies to identify the clinical factors associated with COVID-19 related death, which informed the national COVID-19 vaccination strategy and Green Book guidance. Other studies have also informed COVID-19 related NICE guidance and decisions made by SAGE. All NHS England approved research studies are published online, including sharing the exact analysis code each study used to analyse the patient data, by whom and when such code was run. In future, NHSE will also publish approvals on our data release register. During the pandemic, and in the recovery phase, de-identified data has been crucial in helping to save lives. It has supported research into COVID-19 and the ways that it has affected our lives, our health, and to identify effective medicines and treatments.

Research has helped to identify new treatments for COVID-19 and to understand how we can keep our communities safe. Data has helped us to prioritise the right care to the most vulnerable in our society and to develop vaccines to protect against COVID-19.

If you have any questions, please contact us at gpdata@nhs.net

Recording of processing

A record will be kept by The Park Medical Practice of all data processed under this Notice.

Sending Public Health Messages

Data protection and electronic communication laws will not stop The Park Medical Practice from sending public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email as these messages are not direct marketing.

Digital Consultations

It may also be necessary, where the latest technology allows The Park Medical Practice to do so, to use your information and health data to facilitate digital consultations and diagnoses and we will always do this with your security in mind.

Creating a new NHS England: NHS England and NHS Digital merged on 1 February 2023. All references to NHS Digital now, or in the future, relate to NHS England

Covid-19 Privacy Notice v5 31 May 2023 The Park Medical Practice

Please click here to view our GDPR Policy.

This leaflet gives you more information about how we use your information.

Your Summary Care Record and Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG) is a short summary of your GP medical records. It tells other health professionals who care for you about the medicines you take and your allergies. This means they can give you better treatment if you need healthcare away from your usual doctor’s surgery.

Who is the information shared with?

• All Derbyshire GP practices.
• East Midlands Ambulance Service.
• Derbyshire Health United (111 services).
• DCHS
• Royal Derby
• DHU
• Chesterfield Royal
• NUH
• Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust
• Derbyshire County Council
• Derby City Council

What information can they access?

• Patient demographics. e.g. name, date of birth
• Summary, including current problems, current medical, allergies and recent tests.
• Problem View
• Diagnosis view
• Medical including current and past issues
• Risks and Warnings
• Procedures
• Investigations
• Examination (Blood Pressure Only)
• Events consisting of encounters, admissions and referrals

For more information please click on the link below:

https://derbyshirehealthcarerecords.org.uk/

Am I able to opt out?

Patients can choose to not share any of their information or certain parts of their information. Please speak to a member of staff if you wish to opt out of the Data sharing.

Your Practice Charter – From your GP to you and your family

Dear Patient,

GPs and their practice teams provide the vast majority of NHS care outside of hospitals, supporting you and your family throughout your lives. In a perfect world, we want to be able to offer every patient:

Safety – prompt access to a GP or practice nurse you trust, with well-staffed surgeries and enough resource so that no patient feels left behind.

Stability – a family doctor who knows you, your medical history, and your community – without the stress and difficulty of finding it difficult to get an appointment.

Hope for the future – care that focuses on keeping you well, not just treating illness. We want more time for meaningful consultations, joined-up support closer to your home, from modern GP surgery premises with safe and effective technology to make this possible.

The government talks of “bringing back the family doctor” but what politicians promise is often not planned properly or funded fairly to be able to be delivered in reality.

We want to guide you through the NHS, co-ordinate your care, and support you to stay healthy.

We want every patient to feel safe and confident in their GP practice – now and in the future.

GPs are on your side – The Challenges Your Practice Faces

Rising demand, fewer GPs – GPs care for 17% more patients than in 2015, but with fewer GPs. Funding has not kept pace, so many patients find it hard to see their GP quickly, leading to the stressful scramble to secure an appointment.

Practice closures – Around 2,000 practices have been lost since 2010, that’s one in four surgeries, leaving fewer local practices and longer waits or travel for patients.

Funding pressures – Practices receive just 31p per patient per day to provide unlimited consultations with our doctors and nurses, making it hard to employ enough staff and sustain services.

Workforce challenges – More GPs are leaving the NHS than joining. While our staff work tirelessly, system pressures and patient frustration can affect everyone’s morale and wellbeing. We have unemployed GPs now – and practices lack funds to hire them.

Unsafe workloads – Many GPs see far more than the accepted safe limit of patients per day, often working over 60 hours a week. Recent government changes risk making this worse.

Ageing buildings – One in five GP surgeries is now over 75 years old – older than the NHS itself which started in 1948. There is very little investment to provide modern facilities fit for today’s needs.

Access versus continuity – Government policy means speed of an appointment comes before choice. This lack of continuity of care, means patients often don’t get to see a familiar face who knows them well.

Demand management – We always aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need.

We may unfortunately sometimes face challenges beyond our control:

– difficulties with accessing services at the local hospitals and long waiting lists

– workforce challenges – not enough GPs to look after you

– the need to provide our teams with compulsory NHS training and education

– unforeseen events

– NHS IT challenges with old and slow equipment

– lack of investment in practice buildings and development

– public health emergencies

Our contracted opening hours

Our core contract hours are Monday – Friday, 8am– 630pm.

Please note at certain times, e.g. lunch or the ends of the day, a clinician may not be present in the building (e.g. out on urgent home visits).

In any emergency, please dial 999 for an ambulance or attend the nearest Accident & Emergency department.

We aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need.

Sometimes we may need to offer you an appointment on another day or direct you to another suitable service.

For safety reasons, urgent medical requests cannot be accepted via our online system.

For something urgent, it may be best to pick up the phone or walk in to our reception.

The need to prioritise urgent cases to keep patients safe can result in longer waiting times for routine/non-urgent appointments.

The new requirement to allow patients unlimited online access for non- urgent medical requests, throughout core hours, makes it more likely that we will have no choice but to create hospital-style waiting lists to meet patient need.

We believe patients deserve more

At present, GPs and their teams are under huge pressure – caring for more people with fewer resources.

Without proper investment, the safety, stability and continuity of care that patients value most are at risk.

As your GP practice, we will always do what we can to deliver the best service possible for you and your family. With the right resources and support, we could expand our services, employ more staff, and deliver the safe, timely, and personalised care you deserve.

Please remember that our current GP contract funds patient care on average at 31p per day per patient, which is not enough to meet rising demand and to provide the care you and your family deserve.

So please bear with us – and thank you for your support as we try our best for you and your family.

You and Your General Practice

The Park Medical Practice telephone call recording system will record incoming and outgoing telephone calls and these recordings may be used to investigate compliance with the Practice’s policies and procedures, to provide further training, to support the investigation of complaints, to ensure the Practice complies with regulatory procedures and to provide evidence for any regulatory investigation.

The Practice will record telephone conversations from its central telephone system. All call recordings are encrypted and stored on a secure server at the system provider’s headquarters.

Purposes of call recording

The purpose of call recording is to provide an exact record of the call which can:

• Protect the interests of both parties.
• Help improve Practice performance and best practice.
• Help protect Practice staff from abusive or nuisance calls.
• Establish the facts in the event of a complaint either by a patient or a member of staff and so assist in resolving it.
• Establish the facts and assist in the resolution of any medico-legal claims made against the practice or its clinicians.
• A call recording may also be used as evidence in the event that an employee’s telephone conduct is deemed unacceptable. In this situation the recording will be made available to the employee’s manager, to be investigated as per the Practice Disciplinary Policy

Call recording Policy

Care Quality Commission – CQC

How The Park Medical Practice implements the NHS Constitution

The following links provide information on why we share your data, please contact the surgery if you wish to opt out of this data sharing.

How we use your Information leaflet

Privacy Policy 2025

Children’s Privacy Notice

The average pay for GPs working in the Park Medical Practice in the last financial year was £92,830 before tax and national insurance.  This is for 5 full time GPs and 13 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

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, it should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make a comparison with any other practice.

In view of the fact that there are few hard and fast guidelines in place we must issue a disclaimer against any actions which may or may not be taken with regard to the publication of this information.

Rapid Health Online Booking Fair Use Policy

The Park Medical Practice – Formal Policy Document

Version 1

Effective Date: 3rd September 2025

1. Introduction

The purpose of this policy is to establish robust principles and procedures governing the fair and equitable use of the Rapid Health online booking system by all registered patients of The Park Medical Practice. This policy is designed to optimise accessibility, uphold clinical safety, and ensure the responsible utilisation of appointment resources in accordance with nationally recognised best practice standards.

This policy is aligned with guidance and recommendations from the British Medical Association (BMA), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Care Quality Commission (CQC), Royal College of General Practitioners England (RCGP England), Healthwatch England, The King’s Fund, and NHS England.

2. Scope

This policy applies exclusively to patients registered at The Park Medical Practice who access Rapid Health for the following purposes:

• Booking appointments with General Practitioners (GPs), clinicians, or allied health professionals.
• Requesting medical advice or clinical triage through the digital platform.
• Cancelling or rescheduling existing appointments online.

This policy does not encompass bookings made via in-person visits, telephone calls, or alternative online systems managed directly by practice staff.

3. Principles of Fair Use

The Park Medical Practice is committed to implementing online booking practices that adhere to national digital health standards and promote equitable patient access. These principles are underpinned by BMA and NHS England guidance, as well as recommendations from CQC and The King’s Fund:

• All registered patients should have equal opportunity to access online appointment facilities, without discrimination or exclusion.
• Online booking systems should incorporate robust security measures and data privacy protections in accordance with NHS England and CQC standards.
• Appointment availability should reflect clinical capacity and prioritise urgent medical needs as per NICE and RCGP England guidance.
• Feedback mechanisms should be in place to allow patients to report concerns or suggest improvements, informed by Healthwatch England’s advocacy for patient voice.

4. Responsible Use and Patient Responsibilities

All patients are expected to use the Rapid Health online booking system responsibly, in accordance with the following obligations:

• Patients must ensure that bookings are made for legitimate clinical reasons and refrain from reserving multiple or unnecessary appointments, in line with BMA guidance.
• Appointment slots should be cancelled or rescheduled as soon as possible if no longer required, to facilitate optimal resource utilisation for all patients.
• Persistent misuse, such as repeated no-shows or excessive cancellations, may result in restricted access to online booking, subject to review in accordance with CQC regulatory requirements.
• Patients must provide accurate and complete information when submitting booking requests or seeking clinical advice via the digital platform.

5. Clinical Safety and Safeguarding

The Park Medical Practice prioritises the safety and wellbeing of all patients accessing online services.

• Online booking processes are subject to periodic review and audit to ensure compliance with NICE, CQC, and RCGP England clinical safety standards.
• Safeguarding procedures are integrated into digital triage workflows to identify and support vulnerable patients, with reference to The King’s Fund and NHS England safeguarding frameworks.
• Patients requiring urgent or emergency care will be directed to appropriate services in accordance with NICE and NHS England escalation protocols.

6. Continuous Improvement and Patient Engagement

This policy will be reviewed annually or in response to substantive changes in national guidance or local practice requirements. Patient feedback will inform ongoing improvements to digital access and booking procedures, as advocated by Healthwatch England and The King’s Fund.

• Patients are encouraged to engage with practice surveys and consultation initiatives relating to digital health services.
• Significant amendments to this policy will be communicated via practice noticeboards, newsletters, and the official website.

7. References

All guidance documents and further reading referenced within this policy are available at:

• NHS England. Digital Primary Care: The Good Practice Guidelines for GP electronic patient records (GPGv5). https://www.england.nhs.uk/digital-gp-good-practice-guidance/
• Care Quality Commission. GPs and online primary care: information for providers. https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/gps
• Royal College of General Practitioners. GP online services toolkit. https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/tool/print/index.php?id=13455
• Rapid Health FAQs. Rapid Health is classified as a Class I medical device. https://chawtonhousesurgery.co.uk/RapidHealthFAQ/
• NHS Digital. NHS Login. https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-login
• Guideline on safe triage and remote consultation in primary care. https://www.nice.org.uk

This policy reflects The Park Medical Practice’s enduring commitment to safe, equitable, and high-quality patient care through innovative digital solutions.

This policy establishes principles and procedures to ensure that the Rapid Health online booking system is used fairly and equitably by all registered patients. It aims to optimize access, maintain clinical safety, and prevent persistent misuse of appointment slots.

We would like to make patients aware that the Partners, at the Park Medical Practice & Oakwood surgeries, hold shares in 2 provider companies – First Provider Ltd & Alexin Health Care Ltd. The provider companies may offer services to the NHS ie. the community genecology and diabetic service, at Stoneleigh House in Borrowash, providing a local service to our community.

For further information, please contact the Practice Manager.