We now ask all new patients to sign an agreement which is then filed on your medical record. Existing patients may be asked to sign this agreement.

We are dedicated to treating everyone with respect and dignity, including patients, families, carers, and our team. To stay registered with us, please follow this guide on expected behaviour.

All patients are expected to behave in the following manner:

• To be polite and respectful towards all individuals (staff and other patients) in person, on the phone, in writing, and on social media.

• To not make inappropriate or unacceptable remarks to any member of staff or other patients at the practice including any abusive remarks related to any individuals:

  • age
  • disability
  • gender reassignment
  • marriage or civil partnership
  • pregnancy
  • race
  • religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation

• To not undertake any form of threatening abuse or violence towards any individual (staff and other patients) at the practice.
• To use our services responsibly including:
  • To request routine appointments in accordance with practice policy
  • To request urgent appointments only for genuine urgent conditions
  • To engage with any remote appointments we may offer over the telephone (or video)
  • To attend face-to-face services where it is important to be seen in person, (including when physically able to do so, rather than requesting a home visit)
  • Attend all appointments on time
  • Cancel any booked appointments that are no longer required
  • Request repeat prescriptions in good time (allowing 3 working days until ready to collect), ensuring that all items are ordered together rather than in individual lots

  • Use our health care professionals time in an appropriate manner.
    For example:
    • do not seek appointments for minor ailments that can be self-treated in the first instance
    • recognise that the time allocated to an appointment or visit is limited and it may not be possible to deal with all the issues that you would like to raise at a single appointment or visit

    • it may not be possible for health care professionals at the practice to meet all your needs in the manner that you would prefer

• To raise only genuine concerns or complaints you may have about your care or the services we provide you
• To not make unnecessarily persistent or unrealistic service demands that cause disruption (to the practice, our staff, or other patients).
• To respect surgery premises and property
• To not take any photos of videos in the practice
• To not park in the ambulance bay
• To attend the surgery premises for the purpose of engaging with our services

In return, as a patient you can expect to:

• continue to access all our services, to be provided with respect, dignity and confidentiality.
• to raise any concerns or complaints about your care or our services and that these will be investigated and responded to.

If any member of staff feels that your behaviour is not consistent with this guidance they will inform you if they feel safe to.

If the behaviour continues then staff will disengage from the conversation. This might involve hanging up the telephone or similar and refusing to answer further calls or questions.

The practice will not re-engage for at least one-hour. If you feel that you have a medical emergency during this time then please call 999.

All patients are free to register with a practice of their choice, as long as the practice has an open patient list for new registrations and the patient lives within the practice area.

All incidents will be reported to the practice management team.

Any patients who commits any inappropriate or unacceptable behaviours towards any member of the practice staff, other patients or the surgery premises or property, risk being removed from the practice list with eight-days’ notice. We will normally provide a warning letter which will be held on record for 12 months before issuing such a notice.

Any threatening abuse or violent incidents will not be tolerated. Any such incident will be reported to the police and will mean your immediate removal from the practice list and your care transferred to a special allocation scheme which manages violent and aggressive patients.

We invite patients to agree to the terms of this guide as a commitment to our ongoing relationship.

The NHS requires that every patient is allocated a named accountable GP. All registered patients have been allocated a named GP, and any newly registered patients will be allocated a named GP within 21 days of registering.

This is for administrative purposes only and you retain the right to see any of our GPs.

You will still be able to book an appointment with the GP of your choice, depending on availability. All our GPs work on a part-time basis.

What does ‘accountable’ mean?

The named accountable GP takes responsibility for the co-ordination of all medical services and ensures they are delivered to each of their patients where required. This new arrangement has been introduced to reassure patients that they have one GP within the practice who is responsible for ensuring that work is carried out on their behalf.

Does the requirement mean 24-hour responsibility for patients?

No. The named GP will not:

• take on responsibility for the work of other doctors or health professionals.
• take on 24-hour responsibility for the patient.
• have to change their working hours.
• or be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient.

Can patients choose their own named GP?

Patients have been allocated a named GP by the practice. However, if a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate their preference.

Do patients have to see the named GP when they book an appointment with the practice?

No. Patients are free to choose to see any GP or nurse in the practice.
If you would like to know who your named accountable GP is, or you have a preference as to which GP you are allocated please contact the Surgery for more information.

We will always respect your privacy, dignity and your religious and cultural beliefs particularly when intimate examinations are advisable – these will only be carried out with your express agreement and you will be offered a chaperone to attend the examination if you so wish.

You may also request a chaperone when making the appointment or on arrival at the surgery (please let the receptionist know) or at any time during the consultation.

You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, whether doctor, nurse or receptionist, will remain confidential. Even if you are under 16, nothing will be said to anyone, including parents, other family members, care workers or teachers, without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission would be to protect either you or someone else from serious harm. In this situation, we would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you have any worries or queries about confidentiality, please ask a member of staff.

If you would like to discuss matters of a confidential nature at reception, we have a side room available in reception for this purpose.

NHS Digital has been collecting data from GPs through its trusted General Practice Extraction Service. This system is now being replaced with their new General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) service, a broader general-purpose collection which will enable faster access to pseudonymised patient data for planners and researchers.

More information about the service can be found on NHS Digital’s website.

Opting out

If you don’t want your identifiable patient data to be shared for purposes except for your own care, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both. These opt-outs are different and they are explained in more detail on the NHS digital website. Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option.

We need to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.

Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.

All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.

In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.

To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone, email, text, or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends, or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.

You have a right to see your records if you wish. All patients were given prospective access to their medical records online from 1 February 2023. For online access prior to this date, please email the practice stanhope.practice@nhs.net or fill in an online admin miscellaneous form An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.

There is wheelchair access through the main door at Stanhope and St John’s Chapel.

We have a wheelchair available for use in surgery at Stanhope.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, 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 comparison with any other practice.

The average pay for GPs working at The Weardale Practice in the last financial year was £51,006 before tax and national insurance. This is for 1 full time GPs, 5 part-time GPs and 1 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

For the financial year ending 31 March 2024

If you are experiencing hearing difficulties when being called in to see the doctor or nurse, please do let us know in order for us to set up an alert on your medical records and personally collect you from the waiting room.

If you would like to use this, please ask at reception for assistance.

This practice is committed to preserving, as far as is practical, the security of data used by our information systems. This means that we will take all reasonable actions to;

Maintain the Confidentiality of all data within the practice by:

• Ensuring that only authorised persons can gain access to our systems
• Not disclosing information to anyone who has no right to see it

Maintain the integrity of all data within the practice by:

• Taking care over input
• Ensuring that all changes are reported and monitored
• Checking that the correct record is on the screen before updating
• Reporting all apparent errors and ensuring that they are resolved

Maintain the availability of all data by:

• Ensuring that all equipment is protected from intruders
• Ensuring that backups are taken at regular, predetermined intervals
• Ensuring that contingency is provided for possible failure or equipment theft and that any such contingency plans are tested and kept up to date

Additionally we will take all reasonable measures to comply with our legal responsibilities under:

• The Data Protection Act (2018)
• The Health and Safety at Work Act (1992)
• The Access to Health Records Act (1990)

The following IT systems are in use at the practice:

• Referral Management (using NHS numbers in referrals)
• Electronic Appointment Booking (the facility to book routine appointments online and, similarly, to cancel appointments
• Online booking of repeat prescriptions
• Summary Care Record (uploading details of your current medication and allergies to the national “spine” so that these are available for doctors involved in your care elsewhere)
• GP to GP transfers (the electronic transfer of records from practice to practice when you re-register
• Patient Access to records (the facility to view your medical records online).

If you are not already registered for online access and would like to be please complete our online form.

If you would like access to your medical records enabled or would like to opt out of the local or national summary care record, please contact reception.

Please click here to view.

Please click here to view.

Proxy access is where someone is given access another person’s medical record.

For example:

• A parent or guardian who has legal responsibility for a patient under 11
• A parent or guardian where a patient aged 11 or over has given permission
• A parent or guardian who has legal responsibility for a patient between 11 and 16 where GP has assessed that the patient is not capable of making their own decisions re medical health
• A carer for a patient over the age of 16 – we would need a letter from the patient giving them permission

The proxy does not have to be a registered patient at the practice, but must be registered for online services on the GP system and always use their own login credentials.

To be given proxy access, a patient’s representative must have the informed consent of the patient or, in cases where the patient does not have capacity to consent, the GP has decided that it is in the best interests of the patient for them to have proxy access.

Patients aged 16 or above are assumed to have the capacity to consent unless there is an indication that they are not. Young patients between the ages of 11 and 16 who are judged as having capacity to consent by their GP may also consent to give proxy access to someone else.

Legitimate reasons for the practice to authorise proxy access without the patient’s consent include:

• The patient has been assessed as lacking capacity to make a decision on granting proxy access and/or the applicant has a lasting power of attorney for health and welfare registered with the Office of the Public Guardian,
  • the applicant is acting as a Court Appointed Deputy on behalf of the patient, or
  • the GP considers it to be in the patient’s interest in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 code of practice.
• The patient is a child who has been assessed as not competent to make a decision on granting proxy access

The practice may refuse or withdraw proxy access, if they judge that it is in the patient’s best interests to do so.

On a child’s 11th birthday, the scope of the current proxy access will be restricted, unless the GP has already assessed the child as able to make an informed decision and the child has given explicit consent for their record to be shared. This is a national standard created and imposed by NHS England to protect the confidentiality rights of young people.

From 11-16, a parent with proxy access will be able to manage certain elements of the young person’s record, such as demographic data, and make appointments and order repeat prescriptions, but they will not be able to see the young person’s past appointments or clinical record, although they would still be able to see the current repeat prescription record.

At the child’s 16th birthday the remaining proxy access will be switched off, except where the young person is competent and has given explicit consent to the parental access. If the child wants proxy access reinstated, they will need to come to the surgery in person, with proof of ID, to request it.

Parents may continue to be allowed proxy access to their child’s online services, after careful discussion with the GP, if it is felt to be in the child’s best interests.

Please contact the practice to:

• apply to access services for someone else
• give someone you trust access to your services.

You can only add people at same practce

under construction

Your patient record is held securely and confidentially on the electronic system at your GP practice. If you require treatment in another NHS healthcare setting such as an Emergency Department or Minor Injury Unit, those treating you would be better able to give you appropriate care if some of the information from the GP practice were available to them.

This information can now be shared electronically via: The Summary Care Record, used nationally across England.

The information will be used only by authorised health care professionals directly involved in your care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, unless the clinician is unable to ask you and there is a clinical reason for access.

If you would like to opt out, please ask reception for our opt out form.

A parent or guardian can request to opt out children under 16 but ultimately it is the GP’s decision whether to create the records or not, because of their duty of care to the child. If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16 and feel that they are able to understand, then you should make this information available to them.

Who Has Access?

Across all health care settings, including urgent care, community care and outpatient departments in England.

Information Source

GP record

Content

• Your current medications
• Any allergies you have
• Any bad reactions you have had to medicines
• Additional information (upon request to your GP)

For more information visit:

www.digital.nhs.uk

Training Practice

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

We ask that all new patients sign an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement. Click here to read the rights and responsibilities of patients.

You and your general practice (YYGP) has been developed to help patients understand what to expect from their general practice and how they can get the best from their GP team. YYGP also enables patient to provide feedback or raise concerns with their GP Practice, Healthwatch or the integrated care board (ICB).

YYGP describes what practices and patients can expect of each other. Patients are encouraged to be on time, be prepared, and avoid wasted appointments by cancelling early. Patients can ask to be supported by general practices in a variety of ways (for example, by making reasonable adjustments).

Click on the link below to read the guide which tells you what to expect from your general practice and how you can help them so you get the vest from the NHS.

Please note that The Weardale Practice is open from 8am to 6pm.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/you-and-your-general-practice-english/