The Equality Act makes it unlawful for disabled people to be treated less favourably than people to whom the disabilities do not apply although it does recognise limited circumstances in which there may be ‘justification’ for treating a disabled person less favourably.

Under Section 29 of the Equality Act, the Practice is legally obliged to make all reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people have equal access to our services. Assistance Dogs are a vital and central element of support to many individuals with a disability.

• For more information please see our policy: Assistance Dogs Policy

Are you looking after someone? A carer is a person of any age (including children) who provides unpaid support to a partner, parent, relative, friend or neighbour who couldn’t get by without their help. Find out how we can support you.

The purpose of the policy is to set out the obligations for all staff working at Southgate Medical Group concerning the practice approach to protecting both patients and staff from abuse or allegations of abuse and to assist patients to make an informed choice about their examinations and consultations.

Background

If an intimate or personal examination is required or if the nature of the examination poses a risk of misunderstanding then the following guidelines should be considered:

• Give the patient a clear explanation of what the examination will involve.

• Always adopt a professional and considerate manner.

• Always ensure that the patient is provided with adequate privacy to undress and dress.

• A sign offering a chaperone is in every consulting room.

If a clinician or a patient feels uncomfortable about an examination it would always be appropriate to consider using a chaperone. Once the patient has expressed a wish to use a chaperone the examination should never start until the chaperone is present. If a chaperone is unavailable then the appointment should be re-arranged.
We should also be aware that on very rare occasions a chaperone would be needed for a home visit.

Procedure

The Clinician will contact the admin team to request a chaperone.

The Clinician will record in the clinical notes that the chaperone is present, and also identify the chaperone.

Where no chaperone is available the examination will not take place – the patient should not be permitted to dispense with the chaperone once they have expressed a desire for one to be present.

The chaperone will enter the room discreetly and remain there until the clinician has finished the examination.

The chaperone will normally attend inside the curtain at the heads of the examination couch and watch the procedure.

To prevent embarrassment, the chaperone should not enter into conversation with the patient or clinician unless requested to do so, or make any mention of the consultation afterwards.
The chaperone will make a record in the patient’s notes after the examination.

They should state that there were no problems, or give details of any concerns or incidents that occurred.

A patient can refuse a chaperone; if they do it must be recorded in their medical record.

Wheelchair and disabled access is available at Southgate Medical Group.

Every effort is taken to ensure that the information published on this website is accurate and informative.

This website is provided for information only. It is not intended to replace a consultation with an appropriately qualified medical practitioner.  Neither the Surgery, nor any of its sub-contractors can accept responsibility for any loss, damage or injury that arises from the use of this website.

Links are provided for information and convenience only. We cannot accept responsibility for the sites linked to, or the information found there. A link does not imply an endorsement of a site; likewise, not linking to a particular site does not imply lack of endorsement.

We make every effort to ensure that this website is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. However, we cannot guarantee uninterrupted access to this website, or the sites to which it links. We accept no responsibility for any damages arising from the loss of use of this information.

Southgate Surgery conforms to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A publication scheme has been produced in accordance with the Act: a copy of which can be obtained by writing to the Practice Manager.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is published and the required disclosure is shown below. 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 comparisons with any other practice.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (eg average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in the Southgate Medical Group in the last financial year (2022/23) was £56,188 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 3 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

March 2024

Southgate Medical Group

Infection Control Annual Statement Purpose

The Annual Statement will be generated each year in September in accordance with the requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will include the following summary

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken ( these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure)
• Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken
• Details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infections
• Details of any staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines.

Infection Prevent and Control (IPC) Lead

• IPC Lead – Ayeasha Tobin
• Support – Marian Clayton Infection Transmission incidents (Significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events and are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All Significant events are reviewed monthly in the staff meetings and learning cascaded to all relevant personnel.

In the past year there has been 1 significant event raised related to a breach in the cold chain due to fridge failure and following this a new fridge was purchased. There has been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control issues.

Infection Prevention Audit and Actions

The annual infection control audit for SMG was completed by infection prevention solutions in August 2023. As a result of the audit the following points have been changed or currently being reviewed.

• Environmental cleaning schedules need to be comprehensive and provide historic documentary evidence that all surfaces are routinely and thoroughly cleaned
• Reusable clinical equipment decontamination schedules to be comprehensive and provide documentary evidence that it is being routinely cleaned and appropriately decontaminated.
• Maintenance of walls which have been damaged need to be repaired treated and repainted
• Cleaning of chairs and furniture to be included in the cleaning schedules
• Handwashing, ensure all staff attend hand washing training and hand cream should be available in a wall or pump-operated dispenser in at least one area.
• Ensure all sharps bins are labelled with date of closure and signed when sealed/locked.
• Correct labelling of orange/yellow waste bags with numbered tags or indelible pen
• The storage of large clinical waste bins to be cleaned regularly inside and out.
• Decontamination of environment- poster/chart displayed outlining colour coding cleaning scheme in use, training for cleaning staff, cleaners trolley to be cleaned and kept tidy, daily laundering of micro fibre cloths and disposing of mop heads daily.
• Vaccine management-documented fridge cleaning schedule
• Separate maximum/minimum thermometer independent of mains power
• Written cleaning schedule for minor surgery room and wall mounted sharps bins or sharps bins to be place in a wheeled holder in minor surgery room

Risk Assessments

Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised to be as low as reasonably practical and best practice can be established and followed. The following risk assessments have been carried out.

Legionella (water) risk assessment. Monthly checks are conducted to ensure that the water supply does not pose a risk to patients, visitors or staff. Every six months water samples are sent away for comprehensive testing and every 3 years the water tank is emptied and disinfected and re-filled

Immunisations- SMG ensures that clinical staff are up to date with Hepatitis B immunisation. All staff are offered annual influenza vaccination and Covid 19 vaccinations as recommended by the UK government.

Cleaning of Premises

The surgery is cleaned by G H Cleaning Company following the end of each working day. Clinical staff are responsible for cleaning their own working areas between patient interactions and at the end of their working day. Training

All staff receive annual training in infection prevention and control. Currently we use e-learning (e-lfh.org.uk) for all staff which provides infection prevention and control courses for non-clinical and clinical staff. Annual infection control training is a mandatory requirement for all surgery staff.

All hand washing facilities have a pictorial display of correct hand washing techniques. We try and demonstrate hand washing techniques to staff annually.

Policies

All infection Prevention and Control Policies are currently being updated for this year. Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff on the intranet and are updated and amended on an on-going basis as current advice and guidance and legislation change.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this statement and their role and responsibility under it.

Review Date: By 30th September 2024

The ICP Lead Ayeasha Tobin and deputy Marian Clayton are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.

This document and the information contained therein is the property of Southgate Medical Group.

It must not be used by, or its contents reproduced or otherwise copied or disclosed without the prior consent in writing from Southgate Medical Group.

• Read our Mission Statement

All of our patients have a named allocated GP. This does not affect anyone’s ability to see any of the clinicians at the practice.

All requests for letters from your GP will carry an administration charge if they are non NHS related. This will also apply to all letters related to DWP.

• Fees for non-NHS work and vaccinations
• Request a Private Letter(To Whom It May Concern Letter)

It is the aim of our practice and the Crawley Care Collaborative PCN to provide a safe and pleasant environment in which patients and visitors may receive healthcare and staff may carry out their work.

To assist in providing this, all persons accessing the services of the practice are expected to observe Practice Code of Conduct.

The code of Conduct states:

Persons attending the practice whether in person or telephone should behave in a manner that respects the rights of others and the practice environment.

The following behaviour falls outside the Code of Conduct and is therefore considered to be unacceptable:

• Excessive noise obstruction to others (staff, other patients & visitors)
• Use of threatening / abusive / obscene language or any form of shouting.
• Offensive remarks of a racial, sexual or personally derogatory nature.
• Demand for appointments or services despite being advised they are full.
• Damage to property
• Theft
• Spitting
• Threatening / aggressive gestures and / or actions.
• Inappropriate behaviour involving alcohol / substance misuse.
• Not cancelling your booked appointment if you are unable to attend as there is a large demand on appointments.
• If you fail to attend your booked appointment on 3 separate occasions within a 12-month period, you may receive a warning letter. This could result in your removal from the practice.

Any person acting in an unacceptable manner will be asked by a member of staff to stop behaving in such a way and to observe the Practice Code of Conduct. If a person repeatedly fails to observe the Code of Conduct, the NHS patient Allocation team will make alternative arrangements for the patient concerned to receive His / her healthcare. The patient will be advised of these arrangements in writing.

Violent behaviour (verbal or physical) is never tolerated and will result in police prosecution of the aggressor and the direct and immediate removal of the patient concerned from the practice list.

As a patient registered at the practice, I confirm I have received, read and understood the Practice Code of Conduct and agree that I / My relative will abide by it in all contact with the practice.

Fair Processing Notice (Privacy Notice)

How we use your information

At Southgate Surgery we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

Any questions relating to this policy and our privacy practices should be sent to our Practice Manager.

Our Commitment to Data Privacy

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only process personal confidential data in accordance with the General Data Protection Act (GDPR).

We are legally responsible for ensuring that all personal information that we process i.e. hold, obtain, record, use or share about you, is done in compliance with the GDPR.

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. All of our staff receive appropriate training to ensure they are aware of their personal responsibilities and have contractual obligations to uphold confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures.

Our Legal Basis for Processing

The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:

Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.

Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services…” 

We will also recognise your rights established under UK case law collectively known as the “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality.”

We will not use your personal data for an unrelated purpose without informing you and the legal basis that we intend to rely on for processing it.

Information we hold about you

Information you give us

You may provide us with personal information through your use of this website. This may include:

‘Identifiable’ personal data that can be used to directly or indirectly identify the person. This can include but is not limited to name, address and email address.

‘Special categories’ personal data (sensitive personal data) relating to racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs and data concerning health or medical conditions.

Information we collect about you.

We may automatically collect the following information about your visit. This information will not identify you. The information is collected by:

‘Google Analytics’ collects technical information, including your browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system and platform and the pages you visits.

‘Cookies’ are stored whilst you are using this site. We use cookies to recognise your computer when you visit our website to improve the website’s usability. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

How your information will be used

Your personal information will only be used for the purpose of which it was originally given by the individual. For example, any information you provide via an online request through the website will only be processed for that request and will not be used for any other reason.

Your information will never be used for marketing or profiling without your explicit consent.

Your Rights

You have certain legal rights, including a right to have your information processed fairly and lawfully and a right to access any personal confidential data we hold about you.

Right to be informed

You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your data.

You also have the right to be notified of a data security breach concerning your personal data.

Right of access

You have the right to access any of your personal data that is being processed together with supplementary information. If we do hold information about you we will:

• Give you a description of it;
• Tell you why we are holding it;
• Tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
• Let you have a copy of the information in a plain readable format.

Right to be forgotten

You have the right to have your personal data erased. This right is not guaranteed and applies only in certain circumstances.  This right does not apply to your medical record.

Right to restrict

You have the right to request the restriction of your personal data from being processed. This will restrict any ongoing processing but not erase any data we hold.

Right to rectification

You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed if it is incomplete.

Right to object

You have the right to object to data processing of the information we hold about you, where we are relying on a legitimate interest to do so and you think that your rights and interests outweigh our own and you wish us to stop.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

The website does not make any automated decisions or profiling with your personal data.

How to make a request

Requests must be made in writing to Leacroft Medical Practice.

The information we will require when you make a request is your name, address, contact telephone number and date of birth and a description of the request.

We will respond within a reasonable period and no later than one calendar month.

Data Retention

Personal data processed for any purpose via this website shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose.

Third Parties

We do not share or sell your personal information to any third parties outside the NHS.

We would not share information that identifies you unless we have a fair and lawful basis such as:

• You have given us permission;
• To protect children and vulnerable adults;
• When a formal court order has been served upon us;

and/or

• When we are lawfully required to report certain information to the appropriate authorities e.g. to prevent fraud or a serious crime;
• Emergency Planning reasons such as for protecting the health and safety of others;
• When permission is given by the Secretary of State or the Health Research Authority on the advice of the Confidentiality Advisory Group to process confidential information without the explicit consent of individuals

Processing outside the UK

Your personal information will not be sent outside the United Kingdom.

Other organisations that support the website

The practice uses the services of the additional data processors, who will provide additional expertise to support the work of the Practice.

We have entered into contracts with other organisations to provide some services for us or on our behalf.

These organisations are known as “data processors”.

These organisations are subject to the same legal rules and conditions for keeping personal confidential data and secure and are underpinned by a contract with us.

Before awarding any contract, we ensure that organisations will look after your information to the same high standards that we do. Those organisations can only use your information for the service we have contracted them for and cannot use it for any other purpose. 

Complaints

 We try to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring concerns to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.

To make a complaint or bring concerns to our attention, please contact us in writing via the Contact Us Page.

Please see our complaints policy and procedure on this website for further information.  Assistance in making a complaint is available should you require it.

Monitoring and Review

We review and, where necessary, update this notice at least annually.

If we plan to use personal data for a new purpose, we update our privacy information and communicate the changes to individuals before starting any new processing.

Click Here for the Social Media Patient Policy PDF

If you have any compliments, comments, concerns or complaints about our service, we want to hear about it.

We would encourage you to speak to whoever you feel most comfortable with – your doctor, a nurse, a receptionist or manager – but if you prefer to give your feedback in writing, please send it to the Practice Manager at the surgery address.

If you have a complaint to make, please don’t be afraid to say how you feel. We welcome feedback to help us improve our standards and you will not be treated any differently because you have complained. We will just do our best to put right anything that has gone wrong.

Please complete the complaints form.

Alternatively, you have the right to approach NHS England if you do not feel comfortable in contacting us directly and raise your complaint directly with them.

If you would like free help or support when making a complaint, residents of West Sussex may contact the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service (IHCAS).

The contact details for the new IHCAS service are:

Tel: 0300 012 0122
Website: www.healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk

Healthwatch West Sussex,
Billingshurst Community Centre,
Roman Way,
Billingshurst,
RH14 9QW

If, having made a formal complaint, you have received a response from us and you are not satisfied with that response, you can refer the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who are independent of the NHS and government.

You may contact the PHSO via their helpline on 0345 015 4033, or go to  https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint for more information.

There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record, which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.

Why do I need  a Summary Care Record

Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.

This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example, which medicines they choose to prescribe, for you.

Who can see it?

Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.

How do I know if I have one?

96% of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether you have a Summary Care Record by asking your GP.

For further information visit:

• https://digital.nhs.uk/services/summary-care-records-scr
• https://digital.nhs.uk/services/summary-care-records-scr/summary-care-records-scr-information-for-patients