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

The average pay for GPs working in Vanbrugh Group Practice in the last financial year (2023-24) was £66,096 before tax and
National Insurance. This is for 1 full time GP and 15 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months

What GDPR means for patients

The GDPR sets out the key principles about processing personal data, for staff or patients:

• Data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently
• It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes
• It must be limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed
• Information must be accurate and kept up to date
• Data must be held securely
• It can only be retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold about them. These include patients:

• Informed about how their data is used
• Being able to have access to their own data
• Being able to ask to have incorrect information changed
• Being able to restrict how their data is used
• Being able to move their patient data from one health organisation to another
• Having the right to object to their patient information being processed (in certain circumstances)

What is GDPR

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulations and is a piece of legislation that superseded the Data Protection Act. It not only applies to the UK and EU; it covers anywhere in the world in which data about EU citizens is processed.

The GDPR is similar to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 (which the practice already complies with), but strengthens many of the DPA’s principles. The main changes are:

• Practices must comply with subject access requests
• Where we need your consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
• There are new, special protections for patient data
• The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
• Higher fines for data breaches – up to 20 million euros

What is ‘Patient Data’?

Patient data is information that relates to a single person, such as his/her diagnosis, name, age, earlier medical history etc.

What is Consent?

Consent is permission from a patient – an individual’s consent is defined as “any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”

The changes in GDPR mean that we must get explicit permission from patients when using their data. This is to protect your right to privacy, and we may ask you to provide consent to do certain things, like contact you or record certain information about you for your clinical records.

Individuals also have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

The surgery provides an accessible entrance and bathrooms for wheelchair users.

When you register with us we create a new health record for you and obtain your past health records from your previous GP practice. We make every effort to keep your information confidential and secure. You have the right to see your health records, though there may be a charge.

The primary health care team (including doctors, nurses, health visitors, district nurses, midwives, managers and support staff) use your information to provide healthcare and administer the practice. We share information with other people involved in your care, such as hospital doctors.

We use your information to help us improve the type and quality of service that we offer and we provide information to the NHS for financial and monitoring purposes. We use personal information to assist in teaching medical and nursing students. Information from health records is sometimes used for research purposes, although details that could identify a patient will not be removed from the premises.

All telephone calls to and from the practice are recorded and may be monitored for training and quality purposes.

The doctors and staff at this practice are committed to providing high quality healthcare and services to patients.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. The complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

It is best to tell a member of staff about any concerns or problems as soon as they arise and we will try and sort them out. If you’re not satisfied with our response or wish to escalate your concern, please ask for complaints form and a copy of our complaints procedure.

If you wish to make a complaint, please let us have details of your complaint as soon as possible so that we can find out what happened. It helps us if you can give us as full details as possible.

You can either complain to us directly about the service provided or to the commissioner of the services (South East London Integrated Care Board – contactus@selondonics.nhs.uk), which is the body that pays for the NHS services you use. The responsibility for investigating any issue arising from a complaint remains with the practice that provided the service to you.

You need to make your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem OR within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem relating to a specific incident.

What we will do

We will contact you about your complaint within 3 working days and discuss with you the best way to investigate it, including the time scales for a reply. We will aim to offer you an explanation within that time frame, or a meeting with the people involved.

We will look into your complaint 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
• Apologise where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Medical records are protected by the Data Protection Act 1998. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else we need to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (i.e. due of illness) of providing this.

Getting help

Many issues can be resolved quickly by speaking directly to the staff. Some people find it helpful to talk to someone who understands the complaints process first and get some guidance and support.

POhWER can provide free impartial support when you are making a complaint. They can help to draft or write a letter, can arrange interpreting or can accompany you to a meeting. Their telephone number is 0203 553 5960 and website is www.pohwer.net

If you are not satisfied with our response

If your problem persists or you’re not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with locally, you can complain to the relevant ombudsman.

Remember:

• We want you to let us know if you are unhappy or have a suggestion about how we can do things better.
• All complaints are treated in the strictest confidence.
• Making a complaint will not affect your treatment or care.

Vanbrugh Group Practice uses personal and confidential information for a number of purposes. Our privacy notice provides a summary of how we use your information.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with existing laws and with guidance from organisations that govern the provision of healthcare in England such as the Department of Health and the General Medical Council.

Our privacy notice will explain about how we will use and protect any information about you that you give us. Please click here for more information