The Hungerford Medical Centre

Services Outside The NHS

Certain services provided by your doctor are not covered by the NHS, and you may therefore be asked to pay a fee in line with British Medical Association recommendations. Medical examinations can be arranged for travel, insurance purposes and HGV and PSV licences. The practice is a recognised yellow fever vaccination centre. Our practice nurse is happy to advise about holiday vaccinations, some of which are chargeable.

Teaching

As part of our continuing links with local Hospitals and Universities, we are privileged to be recognised as a teaching practice. Consequently, medical students or junior doctors may be in the surgery but you will always be asked for your consent first if it is planned that they should they be present at a consultation.The practice may also have a GP registrar who is already fully qualified but is with us to gain experience in general practice under our supervision.

Occasionally a video recording may be made of consultations and we would appreciate your help with this important part of medical teaching. However, if you do not want the video-camera to record your consultation then all you have to do is to inform the receptionist when you book in for your appointment.

Patient Information

Why You May Be Asked For Personal Information
In order to provide you with the best possible healthcare, we need to maintain proper records of your health, and make sure that such data is available to your medical team, wherever and whenever possible.

Doctors need to make notes relevant to your treatment about any diagnosis, test results, treatments (including drug prescriptions) and other information that may be provided. Nurses and other health professionals also need access to these records and will add their own notes as part of the overall healthcare record. Secretaries, receptionists and other clerical staff need access to your records in order to complete administrative tasks, such as booking appointments and for communicating with you, other parts of the NHS and care providers.

Protecting Your Information
Everyone working for the NHS has a responsibility and indeed a legal duty to protect your information so that it is not disclosed to unauthorised bodies or people. Information is recorded, either on paper or in computer files, but is all treated with the same strictly controlled confidential care.

We need to be able to move electronic information from system to system, extracting the data and modifying it for the next system. Periodically, tests will need to be made on the data to check that it has been transferred correctly. This is done under secure, carefully controlled conditions. The law strictly controls the sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information.

We May Also Use Some Of The Information For Other Reasons
Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential. You may be receiving care from other organisations as well as the NHS. Therefore to enable us to work together for your benefit, we may share some information about you. Information may also be needed to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone. Research projects are always approved by local Research Ethics Committees. If anything to do with research would involve you personally, you will be contacted beforehand to see if you would be willing to take part.

Improvements and advances in medical care and treatment can only occur by monitoring current practices. Sometimes managers and planners as well as researchers may need to examine records to assist in the monitoring process. All data that could identify you personally is removed. In addition, the NHS maintains a number of registries for diseases such as cancer, to allow the NHS to plan the services it provides. These registries are used to monitor the effectiveness of treatments, and therefore over time improve the outcomes for specific conditions.

How To Access Your Health Records
You have a right of access to your own health records, subject to certain conditions. Please make a written request to the practice manager if you want to see the information that is kept about you at this GP surgery.

Patient Panel

We have a panel of interested patients who meet every other month. The duties are not onerous, so if you feel that you have two hours to spare every couple of months and would like to join us, please contact the practice manager at the surgery. There is a patient panel notice board next to the main reception desk.