In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records.
Such requests should be made through the site manager and may be subject to an administration charge.
No information will be released without the patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.
How We Manage Appointment Requests
We want to offer every patient timely, safe and appropriate care. To do this fairly, we follow a structured process that allows our clinicians to assess your needs and respond as quickly as possible.
How We Review Your Request
Every appointment and triage request- online, by phone or in person- is carefully reviewed by an experienced clinician so you receive the right care at the right time. They will decide the safest and most appropriate next step:
This ensures you receive the right care at the right time.
When Your Request Will Be Processed
To keep our service running smoothly:
We know timing matters, and we do our best to review requests promptly. These timeframes help us maintain safe clinical decision-making while meeting demand fairly for all patients.
Telephone Appointments
If a telephone consultation is the most suitable option, we will provide an estimated call window:
We will always try to accommodate preferences for fixed call times; however, this is not always possible. Clinical demand can vary throughout the day, and our clinicians may need to prioritise urgent or complex cases.
Where appropriate, we may also offer you a telephone appointment through our Confederation Hub, which can sometimes provide additional flexibility.
Please keep your phone nearby and ensure it can receive calls.
Face-to-Face Appointments
Some issues need to be seen in person. Face-to-face appointments are offered based on clinical need and on-the-day availability. Because demand for specific time slots is high, we may not always be able to match exact time requests.
To keep the practice running safely and efficiently, we cannot guarantee fixed appointment times, even when requested. However, we will always try to find a suitable alternative. This may include:
If a clinician advises that you need to be seen promptly, please be prepared to attend the practice at short notice to avoid delays in your care.
How You Can Help Us Help You
To support safe and fair access for all patients, please:
Your cooperation allows us to use appointments efficiently and reduces waiting times across our community.
What is a complaint?
Its’ recognised that this is not always easy to determine, however, it is usually when someone voices their dissatisfaction with the service provided and where a response is required.
Common causes of Complaint:
What do Patients Want?
Who Can Complain?
What to do if a patient makes a complaint:
Some complaints can be dealt with on the spot e.g. prescription not ready or sent to chemist in error, forms or letters not ready for collection etc.
Apologise to the patient and show empathy (let them know that you understand how they feel). Remember to stay calm and speak softly even if the patient is abusive.
Collect as much information as you can about the patient (name address telephone etc.) and their problem. Confirm the information with the patient.
Investigate the problem in an effort to try to identify possible solutions and if possible provide the patient with an explanation.
Agree with the patient a way forward. This can sometimes be difficult if patients are very upset and are not happy with any of your suggestions in which case it may useful to ask the patient how they would like to see the matter resolved.
Ensure that you follow through any agreed action and check that the patient is happy with the solution.
If you are unable to satisfy the patient please make the patient aware of the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) who may be able to help, particularly useful for patients who do not wish to make a formal complaint.
Provide the patient with a copy of the NHS Complaints Procedure, which can be located in the red complaints/suggestions file in reception.
Record the incident in the red complaints/suggestions file.
We can learn from our mistakes. The complaints will be reviewed and used as a tool to improve our services.
Complaints that are Not Easy to Resolve:
These include more serious complaints such as, complaints against a GP or member of staff, breach of confidentiality, clinical matters etc. These patients should be given a copy of the NHS complaints procedure and referred to the Practice Manager. If the complaint is about the practice manager, please refer to the Senior Partner.
Complaints Procedure
The practice operates an internal complaints procedure known as local resolution. The practice aims to give you a quick but thorough response to your complaint.
Anyone who is receiving or has received NHS treatment or services can make a complaint.
If you are unable to make your complaint yourself, then someone else such as a relative or a friend can complain for you. If you are aged 16 or over your representative will need your written consent.
If you are complaining on behalf of a patient that has died you will need to provide a letter of administration or proof that you are the executor of the will.
It is important to make your complaint as soon as possible after the problem arises.
If we are unable to satisfy the complainant through local resolution, or the complainant is unhappy with our response, they have the right to take their complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent of the government and the NHS. You can contact their helpline on 03450154033, email phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk, fax 03000614000 or via post Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Further information about the Ombudsman is available at www.ombudsman.org.uk
Changes to making complaints from 1st July 2023
from 1 July 2023, the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing.
There are two ways members of the public can make a complaint:
West London instead of NHS England.
They will need to do this by:
The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:
If you do not wish that anonymous information about you be used in such a way, please let us know.
Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.
Patients failing to attend appointments is a huge and avoidable waste of valuable GP and Nurse appointments. Every year, on average, over 300 hours of appointment time is lost at the practice due to patients who “did not attend”; this is equivalent to us losing 1 hour of GP clinic every single day.
Please help us to avoid this by cancelling your appointment in good time (preferably 24 hours ahead) so that we may offer your appointment to another patient who needs it.
Mistakes do happen and the Practice understands that appointments can be forgotten about or overlooked. In such cases, the Practice will take into account the reason given by Patients.
Patients not attending their appointments has serious implications on the healthcare system and on those who genuinely need appointments but do not get because of other people not attending their appointments. We have a strict policy for those who do not attend their pre-booked appointment and do not bother to cancel or inform the practice of their non attendance.
To avoid all of this please ensure that you cancel your appointment in good time (and an absolute minimum of an hour before the appointment time. Anything cancelled after this time could still count as a DNA).
Information about the General Practitioners and the practice, required for disclosure under this act, can be made available to the public. All requests for such information should be made to the site manager.
NHS Digital will analyse the data they collect and securely and lawfully share data with other appropriate organisations, including health and care organisations, bodies engaged in disease surveillance and research organisations for coronavirus response purposes only.
These purposes include protecting public health, planning and providing health, social care and public services, identifying coronavirus trends and risks to public health, monitoring and managing the outbreak and carrying out of vital coronavirus research and clinical trials.
The British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Data Guardian are all supportive of this initiative.
NHS Digital has various legal powers to share data for purposes relating to the coronavirus response.
It is also required to share data in certain circumstances set out in the COVID-19 Direction and to share confidential patient information to support the response under a legal notice issued to it by the Secretary of State under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI Regulations).
Legal notices under the COPI Regulations have also been issued to other health and social care organisations requiring those organisations to process and share confidential patient information to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
Any information used or shared during the outbreak under these legal notices or the COPI Regulations will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis for organisations to continue to use the information.
Data which is shared by NHS Digital will be subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality and only the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the coronavirus purpose will be shared.
Organisations using your data will also need to have a clear legal basis to do so and will enter into a data sharing agreement with NHS Digital. Information about the data that NHS Digital shares, including who with and for what purpose will be published in the NHS Digital data release register.
For more information about how NHS Digital will use your data please see the NHS Digital Transparency Notice for GP Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19).
We aim to provide safe, timely and high-quality care for all our patients. To help us run our clinics smoothly, we kindly ask that you arrive on time for your scheduled appointment.
Arriving Late for an Appointment
If you arrive more than 5 minutes late, our clinical system will automatically record the appointment as “Did Not Attend (DNA)”. This is an automated function of the system and cannot be overridden by practice staff.
What Happens If Your Appointment Is Marked as DNA?
If your appointment is recorded as Did Not Attend (DNA) due to late arrival:
You will usually need to rebook your appointment, and our team will support you with this process.
In some cases, you may be offered the option to wait until the clinician has finished seeing other patients. This is only possible if they have availability later in the day and cannot be guaranteed.
This may lead to delays in your care, as patients who arrived on time must be seen first.
Please note that the practice regularly reviews DNA rates between April and April each year. Patients with repeated DNAs may receive a reminder or warning letter to support a change in attendance behaviour. In rare cases, persistent non-attendance may affect continued registration with the practice.
We recognise that unexpected delays can happen, and we will always try to help where we can. However, we must also ensure fair and timely access for all our patients.
Why Punctuality Matters
Arriving on time helps us to:
Repeated late arrivals or missed appointments may be noted in your medical record and could affect future access to routine appointments, as they reduce availability for others.
Thank You for Your Support
Your understanding and cooperation help us provide fair access and high-quality care for the whole community. If you think you will be late or can no longer attend, please let us know as soon as possible.
The application of the National Data Opt-Out to information shared by NHS Digital will be considered on a case by case basis and may or may not apply depending on the specific purposes for which the data is to be used.
This is because during this period of emergency, the National Data Opt-Out will not generally apply where data is used to support the coronavirus outbreak, due to the public interest and legal requirements to share information.
Under the new data protection regulations introduced from 25th May 2018, we will continue to contact patients via text messages regarding the delivery of care if they have provided consent to do so.
If practices are sending messages about recommended treatment for the management of a specific health issue, then this is defined as providing appropriate care for patients, not marketing purposes.
If you would like to opt out of any future contact via text messaging, then please complete the form and indicate in the marked section.
NHS Digital has been legally directed to collect and analyse patient data from all GP practices in England to support the coronavirus response for the duration of the outbreak.
NHS Digital will become the controller under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) of the personal data collected and analysed jointly with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse this data under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 (COVID-19 Direction).
All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act). More information about this requirement is contained in the data provision notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.
Under GDPR our legal basis for sharing this personal data with NHS Digital is Article 6(1)(c) – legal obligation. Our legal basis for sharing personal data relating to health, is Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest, for the purposes of NHS Digital exercising its statutory functions under the COVID-19 Direction.
Reducing prescribing of medicines and products that can be purchased without a prescription
North West London CCGs’ Governing Bodies have approved the approach outlined in this letter to reducing prescribing of medicines and products that can be purchased without a prescription.
Clinical judgement should be used when considering whether it is acceptable to ask patients to purchase their medication, e.g. Paracetamol when required for headache can be purchased, and however regular full dose Paracetamol for chronic osteoarthritis may be less suitable for purchase due to the quantities involved.
The General Medical Council’s Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices (2013) includes: “‘Prescribing’ is used to describe many related activities, including …….advising patients on the purchase of over the counter medicines and other remedies…….”
The approach outlined above, is consistent with (legally privileged) legal advice obtained for NWL CCGs.
NWL CCGs envisage aligning their approach with national guidance if and when such guidance is published.
A leaflet for patients about the approach outlined above and a range of relevant posters are available as follows:
Medicines that can be purchased without a prescription
Ordering repeat prescriptions online
The NHS prescription charge is a flat-rate amount which successive Governments have thought it reasonable to charge for those who can afford to pay for their medicines.
Extensive exemption and remission arrangements protect those likely to have difficulty in paying charges (NHS prescription and dental charges, optical and hospital travel costs).
If you think you may be exempt please ask for a medical exemption form from your pharmacist or doctor.
Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) offer real savings for people who need several items of medication on a regular basis.
You can also speak to your pharmacist for further information.
If you will have to pay for four or more prescription items in three months, or more than 15 items in 12 months, you may find it cheaper to buy a PPC .
To order a pre-payment certificate:
Telephone advice and order line 0845 850 0030
General Public – Buy or Renew a PPC On-line
There is further information about prescription exemptions and fees on the NHS website
Medicines that can be purchased without a prescription
Ordering repeat prescriptions online
Last reviewed: 26-Jan 2026
Next review: 25-Jan-2027
This privacy notice explains how Shakespeare Health Centre uses your personal information. It applies to all registered patients and their carers.
This notice has been adapted from British Medical Association (BMA), NHS England, and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance to ensure it meets national standards and legal requirements.
Shakespeare Health Centre , Elers Road, Hayes UB3 1NY, 02037943119, nhsnwl.shacadmin@nhs.net
We are the Data Controller, which means we decide how and why your personal information is used.
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
The Data Protection Officer for North West London GP practices is:
Norman Ernest-Williams – e.norman-williams@nhs.net
For day-to-day questions about your information or to exercise your rights, please contact the practice manager using the details above.
We hold information needed to provide you with safe and effective healthcare, including:
Your medical record may also include information such as ethnicity or other relevant details where this is necessary for your care.
Health information is classed as special category data and is given extra legal protection.
1. Direct care (your individual healthcare)
We use your information to:
Automated searches of GP records
We routinely use approved computer systems to search GP records to identify patients who may need:
These searches help us provide proactive care. All results are reviewed by trained staff or clinicians. We do not make fully automated decisions about your care.
We may use approved NHS systems to analyse information from GP records to help identify patients who may be at higher risk of illness or complications. This supports early intervention and better care planning. Where used:
You may have the right to object to this processing in some circumstances. Please speak to the practice if you would like more information.
We support national and local screening programmes, including (but not limited to):
We may share limited contact information so that you can be invited for screening. You can choose not to take part in screening. More information about screening and opt-out options is available at: https://www.gov.uk/topic/population-screening-programmes or speak to the practice.
4. Research, audit, and service improvement
We also use information to:
Where possible, information used for these purposes is anonymised or de-identified. Some research may take place without consent where allowed by law and with strict safeguards. Some studies will ask for your explicit consent before using identifiable information.
You can opt out of your confidential information being used for research and planning. This does not affect your direct care.
National Data Opt-Out
The National Data Opt-Out allows you to choose whether your confidential information is used for research and planning. It does not apply to direct care.
You can find out more or register your choice at: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/
When the law requires us to share information
In some circumstances, we must share information by law, including:
In these cases, you may not have the right to object.
Safeguarding
Sometimes we need to share information to protect:
These situations are rare. We do not need your consent to share information for safeguarding where the law requires or allows this.
Who we share information with
We only share information when necessary and lawful.
NHS and care organisations
Approved data processors
We use trusted organisations to support our services under strict contracts and instructions, including:
These organisations are not allowed to use your information for their own purposes.
Remote access to information (including outside the UK)
Some administrative support may be provided by authorised staff working remotely, either within the UK or outside the UK.
All staff are subject to the same confidentiality and data protection requirements.
Our lawful basis for using your information
Under UK GDPR, we use your information because:
We also comply with the common law duty of confidentiality.
How we keep your information secure
We follow NHS and industry standards to protect your information, including:
How long we keep your information
Medical records are kept in line with the NHS Records Management Code of Practice. Information is only kept for as long as legally required.
Your rights
You have the right to:
Some rights are limited for medical records where we are legally required to keep information. To make a request, please contact the practice.
Other information
If applicable, we may also collect information through:
Separate notices or policies are available for these where required.
Complaints
If you have concerns about how your information is used, please contact the practice first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): https://ico.org.uk Tel: 0303 123 1113
The data being shared with NHS Digital will include information about patients who are currently registered with a GP practice or who have a date of death on or after 1 November 2019 whose record contains coded information relevant to coronavirus planning and research.
The data contains NHS Number, postcode, address, surname, forename, sex, ethnicity, date of birth and date of death for those patients.
It will also include coded health data which is held in your GP record such as details of:
To read more about the health and care information NHS Digital collects, its legal basis for collecting this information and what choices and rights you have in relation to the processing by NHS Digital of your personal data, see:
A zero tolerance policy towards violent, threatening and abusive behaviour is now in place throughout the NHS. The doctors, nurses and staff in this practice have the right to do their work in an environment free from violent, threatening or abusive behaviour and everything will be done to protect that right. At no time will any such behaviour be tolerated in this practice. If you do not respect the rights of our staff we may choose to inform the police and make arrangements for you to be removed from our medical list.
The NHS Zero Tolerance Zone is a nation-wide campaign to tackle violence and abuse, both physical and verbal, against all members of staff working in the NHS. Its two principal aims are: · To inform the public that violence against staff working in the NHS is unacceptable and the Government is determined to stamp it out · To inform all staff that violence and intimidation is unacceptable and is being tackled. The practice fully supports this campaign and its legal requirements to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, conditions of working that are conducive to the prevention of and safe management of violence.
Background
In January 2000 the Department of Health (DOH) issued guidelines to Health Authorities to introduce local initiatives as part of a Zero Tolerance Campaign which addresses any incident where a General Practitioner (GP), or his/her staff are exposed to violent or abusive behaviour. As well as having a right to protect themselves, GPs have a duty, as employers, to protect their staff and as providers of a public service, those with reason to be on their premises. The DOH established the following definition for violence/abuse – “Any incident where a GP, or his or her staff, are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, wellbeing or health”. The definition does not define violence just as physical assault but also includes threats that challenge the “Safety, wellbeing or health of staff”.
Here are some examples of the breaches of the Zero Tolerance Policy;
Process
The practice operates a Zero Tolerance Policy towards any member of our staff or patients. Patients are expected to be considerate and act reasonably. Management cites but does not restrict, the following unacceptable behaviour within its Zero Tolerance Policy: · any display of a violent temper · shouting, raised voices, sarcasm, pointing fingers. · repeated or insistent points being made; not engaging with staff in a positive way; being pushy or trying to intimidate staff · hostile or aggressive behaviour · threats, swearing, spitting · any mention or display of any object that could be used as a weapon. Should a member of staff (or patient) feel that they have encountered behaviour that could be classed as unacceptable within the Practice Zero Tolerance Policy, a complaint should be made to the Practice Manager. Once the matter has been reviewed by the Practice Manager the person in question will be sent a formal warning letter, depending on the severity of the incident they may then be either sent a warning letter with behavioural agreement to be signed within 30 days of the warning letter been issued or be removed from the practice list. We will have no hesitation in having the patient removed from the building by the Police should his/her behaviour warrant it.
Police involvement
If an incident is taking place and staff feel that a Police presence is required, regardless of the circumstances, the Police will be called to deal with the incident. It is our responsibility to protect our staff and patients and therefore no hesitation will be made if a Police presence is required. If the patient has left the premises and there is no immediate danger, the Police will still be notified of the incident so it can be recorded for future reference. The GP will also keep a record of the incident.
Warning system
Following an incident where a complaint has been made about a patient’s behaviour a formal warning letter will be sent with a behavioural agreement to be signed within 30 days of the date of the warning letter. The letter will notify the person that their behaviour was unacceptable and will not be tolerated, if the person is a patient at the surgery they will be warned that they run the risk of being removed from our practice list if they do not sign the behavioural agreement within the specified time period. The letter will clearly state that if there is any reoccurrence of their behaviour in any way that they will be removed from the Practise list. A permanent record of the warning, including the date and reason for the warning, will be made and retained. Although this procedure will be generally applied, there may be occasions where the Management Team feel that an episode of behaviour is so serious that a patient will removed from the Practice list with immediate effect. Where this is the case, the police will usually have been called to attend the Practice and one or more members of staff or patients will have been threatened or attacked or narrowly avoided being attacked. It is important to remember that it is not the intention of the perpetrator that is relevant, rather than the perception that is generated by the actions and behaviour of the perpetrator that will generate the Practice response.
Removal from the Practice List
Removal of patients from this Practice list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort. The practice must respect the safety and wellbeing of their staff and patients, and if a patient at the surgery is unable to respect the staff and treat them with courtesy then it is in the best interest of the patient in question and, more importantly, our staff that they register elsewhere. If the decision to remove a patient from the practice list is made, NHS England will be notified either immediately (in case of serious breaches where a deregistration is to be processed within 24hours with or without a police reference as necessary) or on 8 days’ notice for the protection of other NHS staff members. If a patient is removed from the Practice list, they will also be banned from entering the Practice premises or contacting Practice staff in any way.
Notifying the Patient
The Practice will take steps to contact the patient to inform them of the action being taken. After having a formal consultation with our integrated care board, we advise patients that following a breach of zero tolerance threshold, where the breach is not warranting a removal, practice is more than happy to carry on providing the service as normal provided a behavioural agreement is signed. This means that the practice will be monitoring patients behavioural after they have signed the agreement for a period of 12 months and should there be a reoccurrence of the same, a deduction will be processed as appropriate. Practice warning letter clearly specifies about the 30 days’ time period for signing the behavioural agreement and the patient will be informed in writing to their home address or through a verified email. Failing to sign the behavioural agreement within the given time period will result in the de-registration of the patient and no further notifications will be sent. Once this decision has been made the deduction will not be revoked under any circumstances, and the subject will not be entertained by any staff member and will be only considered as harassment. Practice is not obliged to send removal notifications in cases of serious breaches where it is necessary to remove patients within 24 hours’ time period, however all necessary measures will be taken by the practice to inform the NHS health authority of the event so that they can contact the patient directly to
Removing other members of the household
Because of the possible need to visit patients at home it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household. The prospect of visiting patients where a relative, who is no longer a patient of the practice by virtue of their unacceptable behaviour resides, or being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it too difficult for the practice to continue to look after the whole family. This is particularly likely where the patient has been removed because of violence or threatening behaviour and keeping the other family members could put Doctors or their staff at risk.
© 2026 Shakespeare Health Centre.
