Named GP

All patients have been allocated a named GP at the practice and where a preference is expressed reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate this. Our accountable GP’s are Dr Keith Chan and Dr Royce Chan. Whilst these doctors have been designated as having overall responsibility for the care and support that our surgery provides for you, this does not prevent you from seeing any other doctor in the practice.

If you do not know the name of your allocated GP, please complete our contact the practice form or you may contact the surgery.

Proxy Access

What is Proxy Access?

Proxy access was developed to allow someone other than the patient to access and manage parts of their GP online services account. The person acting on behalf of the patient for example a parent or carer (the proxy) is given their own online access account (rather than using the patient’s login details).

To obtain proxy access a person must be registered for online access at the practice where the patient they are acting for is registered. Proxy access is the recommended alternative to sharing login details. Every practice is required to verify patient identity documentation, or individually vouch for each patient requesting access to online services.

Please contact the practice who will advise how to request Proxy Access.

Zero Tolerance

We all have bad days, and when we feel ill we may feel ‘down’ and a little more irritable than normal. All our staff are here to help you.

Reception staff are following procedures that help the practice to function efficiently. Staff have the right to work in a safe and secure environment and we, as employers, have the legal responsibility to provide that safe and secure environment.

The practice will not tolerate:

  • Verbal abuse to staff which prevents them from doing their job or makes them feel unsafe.
  • Threats of violence or actual violence to a GP or a member of his or her staff.

The GPs have the right to remove from their list with immediate effect any patient who behaves in the above manner.

Training Practice

GP Registrars

GP registrars work as part of the team. GP registrars are fully qualified doctors with at least 2 year’s experience of working in hospitals and who wish to specialise in general practice. GP registrars have daily surgeries (often with longer appointment times), undertake home visits and help with on-call doctor duties.

Their placements with us vary in length, depending on their stage of training, from 4 months to over 12 months. They are supervised and assessed on a regular basis. Patients may, on occasion, be asked whether they mind having their consultation videoed for assessment purposes and/or to complete patient satisfaction questionnaires.

Foundation Doctors

Foundation doctors are fully qualified doctors who are rotating around various specialities to increase their experience. Some of them may choose to go on to do further training to become a GP.

Each foundation doctor will be with us for a 4 month placement. They will be closely supervised and assessed throughout their time with us. They will have longer appointment times.

Medical Students

The surgery provides placements for medical students who are training to become doctors. Patients may be made aware of students sitting in with GPs, observing a surgery or may sometimes be asked if they mind being interviewed by a student as part of their training.

Patients do, of course, have the right to decline in helping with assessment and training. However, we hope that most will feel happy to assist in the education and training of our future health professionals.

Department of Health Connecting Programme

To understand the needs of patients and the pressures NHS staff face, every Department of Health civil servant will be expected to gain first hand experience of life in health or social care for at least 1 month every year.

A key recommendation in the Francis report was changing the culture of the department to make sure the needs of patients are always the first priority.

As an important step, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in 2013 that he wants his staff to lead the way across Government, by gaining a personal understanding of life on the front line and using that experience to shape policies that serve patients and their families. The surgery supports this programme by participating and placements are overseen by our practice manager.

Suggestions, Comments and Complaints

We welcome your comments and suggestions on the facilities and services provided by the Practice.  If you are pleased with the service you receive or feel that there could be an improvement please let us know.

If you have a complaint or are concerned about the service you have received from the doctors or the staff working in this practice, please let us know by completing our Feedback and Complaints Triage. We operate a practice complaints procedure are part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints procedure meets national criteria.

How to complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.  If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible or at the most within a few weeks – this will enable us to establish what happened more easily.  If it is not possible to do that please let us have the details of your complaint:

  • Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem
  • Within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident

Complaints should be addressed to practice manager the designated complaints officer, or any of the doctors.  Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with the practice manager in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.  It will be a great help if you are as specific as possible about your complaint.

We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

Taking your complaint further

If you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner, you will now contact the Black Country Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England.

You can do this by: 

Telephone: 0300 0120 281
Email: bcicb.time2talk@nhs.net
Writing to us at: Time2Talk, NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) Civic Centre, St Peter’s Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SH

Who can complain?

  • The patient
  • Anyone with the patient’s written consent
  • Anyone on behalf of someone too ill or too old to complain for themselves
  • Where the patient is a child, by either parent or in the absence of both parents, the guardian or other adult who has care of the child
  • Normally the next of kin where the patient has died

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.  If you are complaining on behalf of someone else we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so.  A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of physical or mental illness) of providing this

What shall we do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within three working days beginning with the day on which the complaint was made or, where that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable, and aim to have looked into your complaint within seven working days of the date when you raised it with us.  We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved.

When we look into your complaint we shall aim to:

  • Find out what happened and what went wrong
  • Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
  • Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
  • Identify what we can do to make sure the problem will not happen again.

What happens next

First of all you will be invited to an informal discussion with the complaints officer who may be able to provide you with a satisfactory answer at that stage, if not you will be advised that the matter with be fully investigated and a further meeting arranged to discuss the outcome of this investigation.

The practice will agree an appropriate timescale with the complainant to resolve the complaint depending on the complexities and complainants expectations of response time, but we try to resolve with a 10 to 25 working days however, this timescale will depend upon the complexities of the complaint and the complainant’s expectation of response times.

If you still remain dissatisfied after the above you may then refer to the parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) at the following address.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
LONDON,
SW1P 4QP

Alternatively they are available by email at phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk

You can contact them by telephoning their helpline on 0345 015 4033.  Calls are charged at a local rate from wherever you are in the United Kingdom, and the helpline is open from 08:30 to 17:30, Monday to Friday.

The PHSO carry out independent investigations into complaints about UK government departments and their agencies, and the NHS in England – and help improve public services as a result.

The practice would comment however, that within the NHS there is great emphasis on resolving complaints at a local level, and that the PHSO may refer a complaint back to the surgery for further review if it is felt that all measures to resolve your concerns have not been taken.

Should you remain dissatisfied therefore, we find that a face to face meeting with the doctors can be helpful to identify and address any outstanding issues, and if you wish, the complaints officer would be happy to arrange this for you. Please contact the surgery and ask for the practice manager if you feel such a meeting would be of benefit to you.

Thank you once again for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Dated March 2018
Revision date March 2021

GP Earnings

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.

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.

The average pay for GPs working in the Clement Road Surgery in the last financial year was £88,762 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.

Freedom of Information

The practice complies with Information Commissioner’s Office stipulations. Before requesting information, patients are asked to consult the ICO’s website and consider whether this information is already or more easily available elsewhere.

For more information please visit the ICO website.

Disability Access

We have excellent access for all disabled patients that is approved under the Disability Discrimination Act. We have a portable hearing loop in the practice available upon request.

Covid-19 Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is to run alongside our standard Practice Privacy Notice.

Due to the unprecedented challenges that the NHS and we, Clement Road Medical Centre face due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater need for public bodies to require additional collection and sharing of personal data to protect against serious threats to public health.

In order to look after your healthcare needs in the most efficient way we, Clement Road Medical Centre may therefore need to share your personal information, including medical records, with staff from other GP Practices including Practices within our Primary Care Network, as well as other health organisations (i.e. Clinical Commissioning Groups, Commissioning Support Units, Local authorities etc.) and bodies engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.

The Secretary of State has served notice under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) to require organisations to process confidential patient information in the manner set out below for purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI.

Purpose of this Notice

The purpose of this Notice is to require organisations such as Clement Road Medical Centre to process confidential patient information for the purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI to support the Secretary of State’s response to Covid-19 (Covid-19 Purpose). “Processing” for these purposes is defined in Regulation 3(2) and includes dissemination of confidential patient information to persons and organisations permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI. This Notice is necessary to require organisations such as Clement Road Medical Centre to lawfully and efficiently process confidential patient information as set out in Regulation 3(2) of COPI for purposes defined in regulation 3(1), for the purposes of research, protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the Covid-19 outbreak and incidents of exposure.

Requirement to Process Confidential Patient Information

The Secretary of State has served notice to recipients under Regulation 3(4) that requires Clement Road Medical Centre to process confidential patient information, including disseminating to a person or organisation permitted to process confidential patient information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI, renewed 01 July 2022 until 31 October 2022.

Clement Road Medical Centre is only required to process such confidential patient information:

  • where the confidential patient information to be processed is required for a Covid-19 Purpose and will be processed solely for that Covid-19 Purpose in accordance with Regulation 7 of COPI
  • from 01 July 2022 until 31 October 2022.

Covid-19 Purpose

A Covid-19 Purpose includes but is not limited to the following:

  • understanding Covid-19 and risks to public health, trends in Covid-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of Covid-19 and such risks
  • identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with or at risk of Covid-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to Covid-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of Covid-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from Covid-19
  • understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services and the need for wider care of patients and vulnerable groups as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19 and the availability and capacity of those services or that care
  • monitoring and managing the response to Covid-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about Covid-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
  • delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with Covid-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services
  • research and planning in relation to Covid-19.

Recording of processing

A record will be kept by Clement Road Medical Centre of all data processed under this Notice.

Sending Public Health Messages

Data protection and electronic communication laws will not stop Clement Road Medical Centre 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 Clement Road Medical Centre 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.

Research and Pandemic Planning

The Secretary of State has directed NHS Digital to collect, process and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020, 17 March 2020 (as amended) (COVID-19 Direction) and below. This enables NHS Digital to collect data and analyse and link the data for COVID-19 purposes with other data held by NHS Digital.

The purpose of the data collection is also to respond to the intense demand for General Practice data to be shared in support of vital planning and research for COVID-19 purposes, including under the general legal notice issued by the Secretary of State under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI).

NHS Digital has therefore been requested by the joint co-chairs of the Joint GP IT Committee (JGPITC) (the BMA and RCGP) to provide a tactical solution during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic to meet this demand and to relieve the growing burden and responsibility on General Practices. On 15 April 2020 the BMA and RCGP therefore gave their support via JGPITC to NHS Digital’s proposal to use the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) to deliver a data collection from General Practices, at scale and pace, as a tactical solution to support the COVID-19 response in the pandemic emergency period.

It is a requirement of the JGPITC that all requests by organisations to access and use this data will need to be made via the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process, that will triage and prioritise these requests and refer appropriate requests on to the NHS Digital Data Access Request Service (DARS). NHS Digital will consult with representatives of the BMA and the RCGP on all requests for access to the data. An outline of the process for this agreed with the BMA and the RCGP is published here. Requests by organisations to access record level data from this collection will also be subject to Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) consideration. Data applicants will need to demonstrate they have a lawful basis to access the data for COVID-19 purposes.

Benefits of this sharing

Organisations, including the Government, health and social care organisations and researchers need access to this vital data for a range of COVID-19 purposes, to help plan, monitor and manage the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will help save lives. COVID-19 purposes for which this data may be analysed and used may include:

  • understanding COVID-19 and risks to public health, trends in COVID-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and such risks
  • identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with, or at risk of COVID-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to COVID-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of COVID-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from COVID-19
  • understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19, and the availability and capacity of those services • monitoring and managing the response to COVID-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about COVID-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services
  • delivering services to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with COVID-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services; and
  • research and planning in relation to COVID-19

Data may be analysed and linked to other data held by NHS Digital or held by other organisations to which access to the data is granted for COVID-19 purposes, through the process described above.

Data will be collected nationally from all GP Practices by NHS Digital every fortnight. All requests to access this data will be triaged through the NHSX SPOC COVID-19 request process and assessed and fulfilled by NHS Digital through DARS. This will significantly reduce the burden on General Practice at a time when demand on resources is high, enabling General Practice to focus on delivering health care and support to patients. It will also reduce compliance burden and risk for General Practice associated with sharing data and complying with the terms of the general legal notice issued under COPI, which applies to General Practices.

Legal Basis for this collection

NHS Digital has been directed by the Secretary of State under section 254 of the 2012 Act under the COVID-19 Direction to establish and operate a system for the collection and analysis of the information specified for this service: GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19). A copy of the COVID-19 Direction is published at: www.digital.nhs.uk – COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020.

Details of the information to be collected can be found on the NHS Digital website – Specification of this DPN. Type 1 objections will be upheld in collecting this data from General Practices and therefore the data for those patients who have registered a Type 1 objection with their GP will not be collected. The Type 1 objection prevents an individual’s personal identifiable confidential information from being shared outside of their GP Practice except when it is being used for the purposes of their direct care. The National Data Opt-Out will not apply to the collection of the data, as this is a collection which is required by law.

This information is required by NHS Digital under section 259(1)(a) of the 2012 Act to comply with the COVID-19 Direction. In line with section 259(5) of the 2012 Act, all organisations in England that are within the scope of this Notice, as identified below under Health and Social Care Bodies within the scope of the collection, must comply with the requirement and provide information to NHS Digital in the form, manner and for the period specified in this Notice. This Notice is issued in accordance with the procedure published as part of NHS Digital’s duty under section 259(8) of the 2012 Act.

In August 2020, the NHS announced that the seasonal national flu immunisation programme criteria for 2020 – 2021 will be expanded to include patients on the SPL. Therefore, to provide information that will support the identification of patients at moderate or high risk of complications from flu, a revision to the weekly extract of data has taken place. This, version three of the extract for the purpose of maintaining and updating the SPL, will continue until the expiry of the COVID-19 Direction. This is currently 30th June 2022.  The frequency of the data collection may change in response to demand.

 

Data collection extracted on a weekly basis week commencing 13 April 2020 Revised weekly data collection. The first collection is due week commencing 28 September 2020
All patients with defined long-term medical conditions which pose a COVID-19 risk, identified as clinically extremely vulnerable to that risk and/or on certain drug treatments as below: All patients with defined long-term medical conditions which pose a COVID-19 risk, identified as clinically extremely vulnerable/potentially clinically vulnerable to that risk and/or on certain drug treatments as below:
Medical Conditions that provide information on clinically vulnerable patients 

  • Severe asthma and dust related lung disease with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (asthma treatment & prednisolone OR high dose cortiscosteroid safety card)
  • COPD emphysema, and associated lung diseases with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (COPD drugs OR high dose high dose cortiscosteroid safety card
  • Non-asthma and non-COPD respiratory disease
  • Cancer(haem and others)
  • Genetic, metabolic or autoimmune disease
  • Immunosuppression drugs in the last 12 months
  • Flu-like symptoms or respiratory tract infections from 1 November 2019
  • Transplants with severe Immunosuppression drug treatment in the last 12 months
  • Pregnant in last 9 months
Medical Conditions that provide information on clinically vulnerable patients 

  • Severe asthma and dust related lung disease with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (asthma treatment & prednisolone OR high dose cortiscosteroid safety card)
  • COPD emphysema, and associated lung diseases with relevant treatment in the last 12 months (COPD drugs OR high dose high dose cortiscosteroid safety card
  • Non-asthma and non-COPD respiratory disease
  • Cancer(haem and others)
  • Genetic, metabolic or autoimmune disease
  • Immunosuppression drugs in the last 12 months
  • Flu-like symptoms or respiratory tract infections from 1 November 2019
  • Transplants with severe Immunosuppression drug treatment in the last 12 months
  • Pregnant in last 9 months

No change

  • Patients designated separately as at risk from COVID-19 using high/medium/low risk SNOWED CT Codes, for example
  • Patients designated separately as at risk from COVID-19 using high/medium/low risk SNOWED CT Codes, for example

No change

Patients with a COVID-19 activity code Patients with a COVID-19 activity code 

No change

Clinically vulnerable patients (eligible for seasonal flu vaccination) 

  • Chronic Respiratory disease
  • Unresolved asthma with recent asthma drug treatment (in the last 12 months) or has ever had an emergency hospital admission due to asthma
  • Chronic heart disease
  • Unresolved chronic kidney disease stage 3,4 and 5
  • Unresolved diabetes mellitus
  • Unresolved immunosuppression diagnosis
  • Immunosuppression procedure in the last 12 months
  • Chronic Liver disease
  • Chronic neurological disease
  • Pregnant in the last 9 months (different cluster to clinically extremely vulnerable group)
  • In patients aged 16 and over : BMI of 40+ in the last 12 months
  • In patients aged 16 and over : Latest BMI in the last 3 years was 40+
  • Learning disability (including Down’s)
  • Has a “requires flu vaccination” code
  • Identified as a healthcare worker in the last 12 months
  • Household contact of an immunocompromised individual

Other Potentially clinically Vulnerable patients

  • Unresolved hypertension
  • Pulmonary hypertension
  • Dementia
  • Systemic lupus
  • Discoid and non-systemic lupus
  • Psoriasis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis and associated disorders
Additional Data items for Patients from the above groups 

  • Latest ethnic category code (all groups)
  • Earliest code indicating that the patient has died (all groups)
  • Latest smoking status (all groups)
  • Blood pressure from the last 2 years (all groups)
  • In patients aged 16 and over: all BMI and weight in last 5 years plus height (all groups)
  • IFCC-HbA1c in the last 2 years (for diabetic patients in the flu group only)
  • Latest COPD resolved and admission codes (for COPD Patients in the clinically extreme vulnerable group only)
  • ACE inhibitors, ARBs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the last 12 months (all groups)
  • Latest asthma emergency admission codes (for asthma patients in flu group only)
  • Asthma-related drug treatments in the last 12 months (for asthma patients in the flu group only)

The Secretary of State has directed NHS Digital to collect, process and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020, 17 March 2020 (COVID-19 Direction) (as amended) (COVID-19) Direction) and below. This enables NHS Digital to collect data and analyse and link the data for COVID-19 purposes with other data held by NHS Digital. The rationale for changing the data extraction is that the initial data collection was based on an existing specification for flu vaccination eligibility. This data extraction was then refined in order to more accurately reflect the patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and also to minimise the data we are collecting. A further refinement of the data extraction has taken place leading to the inclusion of new data being extracted. This will provide information to inform vaccination programmes.

This General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) data will be extracted weekly and be used to assist in producing a weekly update of the SPL. The objective of this collection is on an ongoing basis to identify patients registered at General Practices who may be:

  • clinically extremely vulnerable if they contract COVID-19
  • at moderate or high risk of complications from flu or COVID-19

The data collected will be analysed and linked with other data NHS Digital or other organisations hold to identify:

Further information on the flu programme can be found at: Coronavirus (england.nhs.uk).

The extract may also be used for future direct care purposes relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. The methodology NHS Digital has used to produce the SPL is explained in detail and is published on the NHS Digital SPL website page at: www.digital.nhs.uk – Shielded Patient List.

Patients added to the SPL will be contacted by post, email (and/or SMS message where this is necessary) by the NHS on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, to:

  • advise of the measures they can take to reduce their risk of contracting the virus and sign-post them to the Extremely Vulnerable Persons service operated by gov.uk at www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable.
  • offer a flu vaccination or to contact non-responders who remain unvaccinated (as per NHS England specifications for the service). The SPL will also be used to inform GPs of their individual patients on the SPL, by flagging those patient records on GP patient record systems. The SPL will be shared with a variety of other organisations involved in the care and support of those patients and for planning, commissioning and research purposes associated with COVID-19. Full details of those with whom information has been shared can be found on the NHS Digital SPL website at: www.digital.nhs.uk – Dissemination of the Shielded Patient List.

Requests by organisations to access record level data from this collection will be subject to Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) consideration. Data applicants will need to demonstrate they have a lawful basis to access the data for COVID-19 purposes.

Benefits of the Collection

Organisations, including Government, health and social care organisations need to access this vital data for a range of COVID-19 purposes, to help plan, monitor and manage the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will help save lives. COVID-19 purposes for which this data may be analysed and used may include:

  • understanding COVID-19 and risks to public health, trends in COVID-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and such risks
  • identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with, or at risk of COVID-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to COVID-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of COVID-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from COVID-19.

Data will be analysed and linked to other data held by NHS Digital or held by other organisations to which access to the data is granted for COVID-19 purposes, through the process described above. Data will be collected nationally from all General Practices by NHS Digital every week. All requests to access this data will be through Data Access Request Service (DARS). This will significantly reduce the burden on General Practice at a time when demand on resources is high, enabling General Practice to focus on delivering health care and support to patients. It will also reduce compliance burden and risk for General Practice associated with sharing data and complying with the terms of the general legal notice issued under the National Health Service (Control of Patient Information Regulations) 2002 (COPI), which applies to General Practices Patients facing the greatest risk if they contract COVID-19 and/or are in the moderate to high risk of complications from flu:

  • will be identified and known to health organisations
  • will have a greater awareness of the recommended preventative shielding measures
  • will be able to follow clear advice
  • will be able to ask for help and support, including social care support and essential food supplies, through the Extremely Vulnerable Persons service operated by gov.uk.

It will enable the SPL to be updated weekly to identify new patients and changes to patients on the List and will enable support provisions to be more dynamic and responsive to both social and clinical need.

It will also enable vital planning, commissioning, and research to be carried out for COVID-19 purposes. If patients facing the greatest risk follow advice, it is hoped that this will contribute to the delay and mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.

Visitors to The Practice

We have an obligation to protect our staff and employees’ health, so it is reasonable for staff at Clement Road Medical Centre to ask any visitors to our practice to tell us if they have visited a particular country, or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. This must only be in pre-approved circumstances and we would also ask all patients to consider government advice on the NHS 111 website and not attend the practice.

Where it is necessary for us to collect information and specific health data about visitors to our practice, we will not collect more information than we need, and we will ensure that any information collected is treated with the appropriate safeguards.

 Review and Expiry of this Notice

This Notice will be reviewed on or before 31 October 2022 and may be extended by The Secretary of State.  If no further notice is sent to Clement Road Medical Centre by The Secretary of State this Notice will expire on 31 October 2022.