Access to medical records
The practice is registered and complies with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). Any request for access to notes by a patient, patient’s representative or outside body will be dealt with in accordance with the Act. Please contact the Practice Manager for further information.
Your Data Matters to the NHS
Your health records contain a type of data called confidential patient information. This data can be used to help with research and planning.
You can choose to stop your confidential patient information being used for research and planning. You can also make a choice for someone else like your children under the age of 13.
Your choice will only apply to the health and care system in England. This does not apply to health or care services accessed in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Find out how this data is used and how to opt out.
Compliments & complaints
We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.
We are continually striving to improve our service and any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated. Please email us at cricklewood.healthcentre@nhs.net.
You can also provide feedback through this website by completing our Friends & Family Test.
We take complaints very seriously. If you would like to make a complaint in person at the practice, please ask to speak to our Assistant Practice Manager.
We operate a practice complaint procedure as part of an NHS complaints system and follow national criteria. Complaints should be within 12 months of the incident, or within 12 months of you discovering that you a problem giving as much detail as you can.
You can make a complaint in the following ways:
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By calling Reception and asking to speak to the Assistant Practice Manager
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By email to the complaints manager at cricklewood.healthcentre@nhs.net
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By mail to The Complaints Manager, Cricklewood Health Centre, 7 Oaklands Road, London, NW2 6DJ.
If you are a registered patient you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority.
We can provide a form to register your complaint, this includes a third-party authority form to enable a complaint to be made by someone else. Please contact Reception if you would like a copy of this form.
You can also provide your own format providing as much detail as possible and any necessary third party authority.
Complaining on behalf of someone else
We keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are not the patient, but are complaining on their behalf, you must have their permission to do so. An authority signed by the person concerned will be needed – unless they are incapable (because of illness or infirmity) of providing this.
What we will do
We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have fully investigated within 4 weeks of the date it was received. If we expect it to take longer, we will explain the reason for the delay and tell you when we expect to finish. When we look into your complaint, we will investigate the circumstances; make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned; make sure you receive an apology, if this is appropriate, and take steps to make sure any problem does not arise again.
The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.
Taking it further
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome you may refer the matter to:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London,
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 0154033
Alternatively, you may contact NHS England at england.contactus@nhs.net
Mission statement
Our Vision
To work in partnership with our patients and staff to provide the best Primary Care services possible working within local and national governance, guidance and regulations.
Our Aims and Objectives
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To provide high quality, safe, professional Primary Health Care General Practice services to our patients.
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To focus on prevention of disease by promoting health and wellbeing and offering care and advice to our patients.
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To work in partnership with our patients, their families and carers towards a positive experience and understanding, involving them in decision making about their treatment and care.
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To be a learning organisation that continually improves what we are able to offer patients.
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To treat patients as individuals and with the same respect we would want for ourselves or a member or our families, listening and supporting people to express their needs and wants and enabling people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control.
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To work in partnership with other agencies to tackle the causes of, as well as provide the treatment for ill health and where appropriate involve other professionals in the care of our patients.
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To encourage our patients to communicate with us by joining our Patient Forum, talking to us, participating in surveys, and feeding back and on the services that we offer.
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To ensure all staff have the competency and motivation to deliver the required standards of care ensuring that all members of the team have the right skills and training to carry out their duties competently.
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To take care of our staff offering them support to do their jobs and to protect them against abuse.
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Have a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse.
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To provide our patients and staff with an environment which is safe and friendly.
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To operate on a financially sound basis.
Named GP
All patients at NHS GP surgeries have a named doctor.
Your named doctor will be allocated to you by the practice when you register and will be updated if a doctor leaves.
Any patient is welcome to enquire as to whom their named doctor is.
Your named, accountable doctor is responsible for coordinating your care, however you can still talk to or make appointments to see any of our doctors or nurses, not just your named GP.
A patient’s named doctor does not in any way affect the services you receive nor who you may elect to see.
Patient confidentiality
We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can give you the best possible care.
This information may be used for management and audit purposes. However, it is usually only available to, and used by, those involved in your care. You have the right to know what information we hold about you. If you would like to see your records please contact the Operations Manager at cricklewood.healthcentre@nhs.net.
Patient rights & responsibilities
We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. It is your responsibility to keep your appointments, inform us of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details.
Did Not Attend (‘DNA’) Policy
We are committed to ensuring that the best possible service is provided to all patients registered with the practice.
‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA) is when the patient does not turn up for a pre-booked GP appointment and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change appointment.
The impact of DNA’s is:
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An increase in the waiting time for appointments
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Frustration for both staff and patients
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A waste of resources
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A potential risk to the health of the patient
Our Objectives
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To free up appointments for those who genuinely need them
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To reduce the waste of clinical time
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To reduce the pressure on all staff in being able to offer prompt appointments
How we will monitor and act on DNA’s
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All DNA incidences are coded onto the patient record.
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1st DNA – patient will be sent a text, email or letter reminding them how to cancel appointments they cannot attend.
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2nd DNA – patient will receive a text, email or letter advising that should a further DNA occur in the next 12 months they may be removed from the list. Further we will advise on our DNA policy, how to cancel an appointment, and ask the patient to let us know if they have any specific issues which are causing DNAs.
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3rd DNA – the patients record will be reviewed and we may make the decision to remove them as a patient. If so, we will send you a letter (which may go by text or email) notifying you of this.
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Frequent DNA’s – if a patient DNA’s 3 times in a 6 week period their record will be reviewed and we may make the decision to remove them as a patient even if the we have not sent notification re DNA 1 and DNA 2.
How to avoid becoming a DNA
Please help us to maximise appointment availability in the future by contacting us as soon as you know you will be unable to attend your scheduled appointment.
If you cannot attend or no longer need an appointment, please ring us on 0203 826 8084, email cricklewood.healthcentre@nhs.net or by responding to the appointment reminder text message you will have received.
Keep your contact details up to date.
Mistakes do happen and we understand that appointments can be forgotten about or overlooked, or exceptional circumstances can arise; in such cases, we will take into account the reason given by Patients.
What We As A Practice Are To Doing To Reduce DNAs
We will send all patients text reminders of their appointments.
We will inform patients when they miss appointments and will make every effort to understand why a DNAs has occurred.
We encourage patients to feedback on our processes and to make suggestions on how we can improve our service for all patients.
We will remove patients as a last resort and only once their record has been reviewed.
Privacy notice
What is this?
We are required by law to provide you with information on how we use your data. There is a highly detailed privacy notice available from our website at https://www.penceatmedical.com/privacy-notice, but this simplified notice is provided for clarity.
This notice was last updated October 2023.
Who are we?
We are Cricklewood General Practice. We provide medical services to you as a patient as part of the NHS.
NHS Services at Cricklewood General Practice are provided by Penceat Medical Limited.
Address: Cricklewood General Practice, 7 Oaklands Road, London, NW2 6DJ
Email: cricklewood.healthcentre@nhs.net
Telephone: 0203 826 8084
Data Protection Officer
The practice is required by law to have a Data Protection Officer. The contact details are:
Name: Steve Durbin
Email: Dpo.Ncl@nhs.net
Address: Please use the practice address above, marking “For the attention of the Data Protection Officer
Purposes of Processing, Legal Basis, Types of Data
We process data to carry out our role as your General Practitioner in providing you with healthcare.
The legal basis for this purpose is provided by the various NHS and social care acts. The Data Protection Act 2018 section 8 allows us to process data for these purposes. This provides a legal basis for processing under the UK GDPR Article 6 1(e) – task in the public interest.
For special category data, the Data Protection Act section 10 applies (health and social care purpose) and hence UK GDPR Article 9 2(h) – provision of health and social care. There are additionally some situations where other provisions are used; these are given in more detail in the full notice.
The types of data we keep relate to your health and care. These include both personal identifiers (e.g. your name, NHS number) and special category personal data (e.g. your health conditions).
Further details are provided in the full notice.
Recipients of Your Data
We share data with other health and social care providers in order to provide you with care. You can opt out of this sharing, but this may affect your care. See the full privacy notice for details.
We are additionally required to supply data to other parts of the NHS for commissioning and audit purposes, as well as to provide information that’s used in the NHS App.
We share data for research purposes, and for health and care planning. You again can opt out of these purposes; this will generally not affect you individually, but will mean that research and planning may not take into account needs of people such as yourself. See the full privacy notice for details.
Transfers to Other Countries
We do not store or transmit your data outside of the UK unless this is either:
a) Required for your care and you have consented to this
b) Covered by a formal contract with a system provider to the NHS ensuring your data is not used for any purposes not in this notice and compliant with the UK GDPR; or
c) We are required to under international law
We do not sell your data.
How Long Will You Keep My Data?
This depends on a number of factors such as how long you stay with our practice and the type of data. Generally, when you leave our practice, your data is transferred to the new practice or to central records and we do not retain after that point.
Full details of how long different types of data are held can be found in the NHS Records Management Code of Practice.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
• Receive a copy of your data (Subject Access Request)
• Have your data corrected, erased or restrict processing
• Complain to our Data Protection Officer or the supervisory authority (the Information Commissioner) about our use or handling of your data
If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact the practice in the first instance – details above. You can also contact the Data Protection Officer if you prefer – details are again given above, or you can contact the Information Commissioner (ICO) – details via their website at https://ico.org.uk.
Provision of Data
It is not generally a legal requirement for you to provide us with data – however if you do not do so we may be unable to provide you with treatment. For more detail see the full privacy notice.
Automated Decision Making
We use various tools to simplify care and ensure that you get the best care possible.
Some of these have a degree of automation, for example, where a regular test is recommended for a health condition you have, or you are in a particular age and gender range and have not had a recommended screening test, we will have an automated list that flags you to be contacted. These recalls are automated, but it’s up to you to book an appointment; no action is taken beyond contacting you.
No decisions on your care are taken without human intervention.
Violent or abusive behaviour
We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be warned to stop their behaviour. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients.