This document and the information contained therein is the property of Southgate Medical Group.
It must not be used by, or its contents reproduced or otherwise copied or disclosed without the prior consent in writing from Southgate Medical Group.
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). It is an electronic record, which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.
Storing information in one place makes it easier for healthcare staff to treat you in an emergency, or when your GP practice is closed.
This information could make a difference to how a doctor decides to care for you, for example, which medicines they choose to prescribe, for you.
Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record.
96% of the population of England now have a Summary Care Record. You can find out whether you have a Summary Care Record by asking your GP.
For further information visit:
It is the aim of our practice and the Crawley Care Collaborative PCN to provide a safe and pleasant environment in which patients and visitors may receive healthcare and staff may carry out their work.
To assist in providing this, all persons accessing the services of the practice are expected to observe Practice Code of Conduct.
The code of Conduct states:
Persons attending the practice whether in person or telephone should behave in a manner that respects the rights of others and the practice environment.
The following behaviour falls outside the Code of Conduct and is therefore considered to be unacceptable:
Any person acting in an unacceptable manner will be asked by a member of staff to stop behaving in such a way and to observe the Practice Code of Conduct. If a person repeatedly fails to observe the Code of Conduct, the NHS patient Allocation team will make alternative arrangements for the patient concerned to receive His / her healthcare. The patient will be advised of these arrangements in writing.
Violent behaviour (verbal or physical) is never tolerated and will result in police prosecution of the aggressor and the direct and immediate removal of the patient concerned from the practice list.
As a patient registered at the practice, I confirm I have received, read and understood the Practice Code of Conduct and agree that I / My relative will abide by it in all contact with the practice.
The Annual Statement will be generated each year in September in accordance with the requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will include the following summary
Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events and are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All Significant events are reviewed monthly in the staff meetings and learning cascaded to all relevant personnel.
In the past year there has been 1 significant event raised related to a breach in the cold chain due to fridge failure and following this a new fridge was purchased. There has been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control issues.
The annual infection control audit for SMG was completed by infection prevention solutions in August 2023. As a result of the audit the following points have been changed or currently being reviewed.
Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised to be as low as reasonably practical and best practice can be established and followed. The following risk assessments have been carried out.
Legionella (water) risk assessment. Monthly checks are conducted to ensure that the water supply does not pose a risk to patients, visitors or staff. Every six months water samples are sent away for comprehensive testing and every 3 years the water tank is emptied and disinfected and re-filled
Immunisations- SMG ensures that clinical staff are up to date with Hepatitis B immunisation. All staff are offered annual influenza vaccination and Covid 19 vaccinations as recommended by the UK government.
The surgery is cleaned by G H Cleaning Company following the end of each working day. Clinical staff are responsible for cleaning their own working areas between patient interactions and at the end of their working day. Training
All staff receive annual training in infection prevention and control. Currently we use e-learning (e-lfh.org.uk) for all staff which provides infection prevention and control courses for non-clinical and clinical staff. Annual infection control training is a mandatory requirement for all surgery staff.
All hand washing facilities have a pictorial display of correct hand washing techniques. We try and demonstrate hand washing techniques to staff annually.
All infection Prevention and Control Policies are currently being updated for this year. Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff on the intranet and are updated and amended on an on-going basis as current advice and guidance and legislation change.
It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this statement and their role and responsibility under it.
Review Date: By 30th September 2024
The ICP Lead Ayeasha Tobin and deputy Marian Clayton are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.
Wheelchair and disabled access is available at Southgate Medical Group.
If you have any compliments, comments, concerns or complaints about our service, we want to hear about it.
We would encourage you to speak to whoever you feel most comfortable with – your doctor, a nurse, a receptionist or manager – but if you prefer to give your feedback in writing, please send it to the Practice Manager at the surgery address.
If you have a complaint to make, please don’t be afraid to say how you feel. We welcome feedback to help us improve our standards and you will not be treated any differently because you have complained. We will just do our best to put right anything that has gone wrong.
Please complete the complaints form.
Alternatively, you have the right to approach NHS England if you do not feel comfortable in contacting us directly and raise your complaint directly with them.
If you would like free help or support when making a complaint, residents of West Sussex may contact the Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service (IHCAS).
The contact details for the new IHCAS service are:
Tel: 0300 012 0122
Website: www.healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk
Healthwatch West Sussex,
Billingshurst Community Centre,
Roman Way,
Billingshurst,
RH14 9QW
If, having made a formal complaint, you have received a response from us and you are not satisfied with that response, you can refer the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who are independent of the NHS and government.
You may contact the PHSO via their helpline on 0345 015 4033, or go to https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint for more information.
All requests for letters from your GP will carry an administration charge if they are non NHS related. This will also apply to all letters related to DWP.
NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is published 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 comparisons with any other practice.
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (eg average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in the Southgate Medical Group in the last financial year (2022/23) was £56,188 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 3 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.
March 2024
The purpose of the policy is to set out the obligations for all staff working at Southgate Medical Group concerning the practice approach to protecting both patients and staff from abuse or allegations of abuse and to assist patients to make an informed choice about their examinations and consultations.
If an intimate or personal examination is required or if the nature of the examination poses a risk of misunderstanding then the following guidelines should be considered:
• Give the patient a clear explanation of what the examination will involve.
• Always adopt a professional and considerate manner.
• Always ensure that the patient is provided with adequate privacy to undress and dress.
• A sign offering a chaperone is in every consulting room.
If a clinician or a patient feels uncomfortable about an examination it would always be appropriate to consider using a chaperone. Once the patient has expressed a wish to use a chaperone the examination should never start until the chaperone is present. If a chaperone is unavailable then the appointment should be re-arranged.
We should also be aware that on very rare occasions a chaperone would be needed for a home visit.
The Clinician will contact the admin team to request a chaperone.
The Clinician will record in the clinical notes that the chaperone is present, and also identify the chaperone.
Where no chaperone is available the examination will not take place – the patient should not be permitted to dispense with the chaperone once they have expressed a desire for one to be present.
The chaperone will enter the room discreetly and remain there until the clinician has finished the examination.
The chaperone will normally attend inside the curtain at the heads of the examination couch and watch the procedure.
To prevent embarrassment, the chaperone should not enter into conversation with the patient or clinician unless requested to do so, or make any mention of the consultation afterwards.
The chaperone will make a record in the patient’s notes after the examination.
They should state that there were no problems, or give details of any concerns or incidents that occurred.
A patient can refuse a chaperone; if they do it must be recorded in their medical record.
