Delaying a period for holiday/sport 

 We are no longer able to give Norethisterone (a hormone medication) to delay periods for travel or sport on the NHS as per our local NHS Sussex rules. 

If you would like to use this to postpone your period, you can visit your local pharmacy and discuss delaying your period, there is cost for this medication. You can also search online for ‘delay period pill’, have an online counselling session with a pharmacist and order the medication from them. 

 If you are seeking contraception or want advice on how to use your contraceptive pill to delay your period please speak to your pharmacist or complete an online request form on our website. 

Please be aware that hospitals are as busy as ever, dealing with urgent cases as well as prioritising cancer care. We urge all patients awaiting hospital appointments to be patient and wait to be contacted. 

If your appointment is delayed and you desperately need an update, please ring the secretary of the hospital consultant that you are under directly for this information. 

We do not have dedicated hotline numbers to the hospital and we are not notified in advance of any hospital appointments or operation dates you might have, therefore if you need this information, we ask that you get in touch with the hospital. 

Due to hospital contract changes from April 2017, hospitals are now obliged to respond to any queries you might have about your care, in the same way that we as GP’s respond to patients with queries about the care provided by our practice. Accordingly, hospital matters should not fall to your GP to resolve. 

The following is an extract from the NHS Standard Contract, which hospitals must work to, regarding the queries from patients: 

12.2 The Provider [hospital] must: 

12.2.1 provide Service Users [patients] (in relation to their own care) and Referrers [GP’s] (in relation to the care of an individual Service User) with clear information in respect of each Service about who to contact if they have questions about their care and how to do so; 

12.2.2 ensure that there are efficient arrangements in place in respect of each Service for responding promptly and effectively to such questions and that these are publicised to Service Users and Referrers using all appropriate means, including appointment and admission letters and on the Provider’s website; and 

12.2.3 wherever possible, deal with such questions from Service Users itself, and not by advising the Service User to speak to their Referrer. 

Therefore, please do not accept any comments that you must speak with your GP, as the hospital is contractually obliged to speak with you and answer your queries directly. 

Written requests to expedite appointments

We are aware that patients are often told by the hospital to ‘get a letter from the GP’ so that their appointment can be expedited. This is in fact unnecessary and creates an additional administrative burden on already stretched GP services. 

As indicated above, hospitals are contractually obliged to communicate directly with patients and respond directly and appropriately to their queries, including specifically questions about appointments. Failure to do so represents a breach of their contract. 

Please be aware that waiting a longer time than you want to does not make your request urgent. Unfortunately, in the current situation, everyone is waiting longer*. We cannot write letters to expedite your appointment for this reason. 

*Official figures as of March 2024 show that a total of 7.54 million people were waiting to start hospital treatment in England, the highest number since records began. 

If, however, your condition is actively deteriorating, we advise you to speak to your specialist so that they can assess if you need to be seen sooner. An initial response might still be ‘get a letter from your GP’, however we are finding that we are merely reporting what you have told us and it seems more sensible for patient and consultant to have a direct conversation. Should you continue to have difficulty in accessing your consultant, we advise that you contact the PALS department of the hospital for advice and assistance via their website.

If you have already called the hospital to update them on your condition and they remain insistent that your GP supply a letter, please download and complete the following letter. You can then bring the letter to the practice so we can forward it on to the hospital on your behalf.

Download the letter template

We must stress, however, that getting a quicker appointment is not always guaranteed, and we have no influence on how the hospital is managing and prioritising its own workload. 

Open of ‘Patient Initiated Follow-Up’ (PIFU) appointments

If you have an open appointment from the hospital, this usually lasts for 6 months from the date of your last outpatient appointment, unless otherwise specified. If you wish to take up the offer of a further appointment with the hospital, you can do so directly with the consultant’s secretary – you do not have to go via your GP. Simply ring the hospital and ask to be reinstated onto your consultant’s appointment books. 

If you are within your open appointment time frame yet you are still told by the hospital to speak to your GP, please request that the hospital reinstate your appointment. 

Your GP surgery is not responsible for any aspect of hospital care.

This information page provides some general information about various issues around hospital care, which we are frequently presented with, and informs you how to address your concerns or queries directly with the hospital concerned. 

 WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ARE REFERRED TO HOSPITAL 

NHS England, the British Medical Association and the National Association for Patient Participation have come together to produce an information leaflet for patients, which provides details on what you can expect to happen before, during or after your hospital visit. This leaflet covers some of the topics on this page and you might find it a useful read. What happens when you are referred by your GP to see a specialist? 

QUERIES REGARDING HOSPITAL CARE 

Please be aware that all NHS organisations are as busy as ever, dealing with urgent cases as well as prioritising clinical care. We urge all patients awaiting a hospital appointment or a result to be patient and wait to be contacted by the hospital directly. However, if you have a query about any hospital related matter, please contact the hospital directly. 

In fact, hospitals are contractually obliged to answer your queries regarding hospital care, and should not simply be telling you to ‘speak to the GP’. 

The following is an extract from the NHS Standard Contract, which hospitals must work to, regarding queries from patients: 

12.2 The Provider [hospital] must:
12.2.1 provide Service Users [patients] (in relation to their own care) and Referrers [GP’s] (in relation to the care of an individual Service User) with clear information in respect of each Service about who to contact if they have questions about their care and how to do so;
12.2.2 ensure that there are efficient arrangements in place in respect of each Service for responding promptly and effectively to such questions and that these are publicised to Service Users and Referrers using all appropriate means, including appointment and admission letters and on the Provider’s website; and
12.2.3 wherever possible, deal with such questions from Service Users itself, and not by advising the Service User to speak to their Referrer [GP]. 

HOSPITAL APPOINTMENTS 

APPOINTMENT QUERIES Please direct all queries regarding hospital appointments to the secretary of the consultant you are under. They can advise you when your appointment is likely to be. Do not accept any requests to ‘speak to your GP’ to facilitate a speedier hospital appointment. 

WAITING LISTS AND EXPEDITING APPOINTMENTS GP’s have no control over and are in no way responsible for hospital waiting lists. If your query is regarding your position in the waiting list, or when you are likely to be seen for your outpatient appointment or your hospital procedure, please ring the secretary of the consultant you are under in the first instance. 

If you feel that you need your appointment bringing forward, again you need to speak with the hospital team.   

MISSED APPOINTMENTS If you miss an appointment at the hospital for the first time, the hospital should have in place a reasonable policy to re book your appointment, rather than an automatic discharge back to the GP for yet another new referral. After all, the hospital will still be in receipt of the original referral from the GP, so should have the necessary information to work with. 

If you find you have been discharged inappropriately, please ring the secretary of the consultant you were meant to see and explain the circumstances of your missed appointment.  

 HOSPITAL TESTS AND RESULTS 

The responsibility for providing results of hospital tests, or acting on hospital tests lies with the hospital directly. This is in line with good clinical practice and GMC guidance. 

We do not have any special hotline numbers to the hospital and we are not routinely copied in to results of tests carried out by other services, therefore our staff cannot provide you with results of tests organised elsewhere. Furthermore, our admin staff simply do not have the capacity to ring hospital departments and chase results of tests organised by the hospital. 

Indeed, due to hospital contract changes from April 2017, hospitals are now obliged to provide you with results of your tests and also to respond to any queries you might have about your care, in very much the same way that we as GP’s respond to patients with queries about the care provided by ourselves. Accordingly, hospital matters should not fall to your GP to resolve. 

Please contact the secretary of the consultant whom you are under so that you can put your query directly to the responsible doctor. 

HOSPITAL PRESCRIPTIONS IMPORTANT NOTE ON URGENT MEDICATIONS REQUESTED BY HOSPITAL 

There are no circumstances in which a GP must prescribe urgent medications requested by the hospital. Regardless of what you may have been told at hospital, the hospital itself is responsible for supplying any urgent medications they recommend. Failure of the hospital to supply the required urgent medications represents a breach of the hospital contract. More information is available immediately below. 

GP’s do prescribe medications requested by hospital, but these are on a routine basis and require written instructions that are sent to us in the form of discharge summaries, outpatient prescriptions or clinic letters. As they are routine requests, they are processed in the normal manner and can take anything from 2-5 working days or more. 

For the avoidance of doubt, we do not prescribe medications simply on patient say-so – even if the hospital has told you to approach us – for clinical safety reasons, we always need sight of some form of hospital correspondence. 

URGENT/SPECIALIST MEDICATIONS

If the hospital needs you to start specialist or urgent/same-day medications, then as part of the hospital contract, it is actually their responsibility to provide that medication for you, whether this is after a face-to-face appointment or a remote assessment. If you require urgent medication as recommended by the hospital, please contact the secretary of the hospital doctor or the hospital department that has made the recommendation. 

In situations where you have already left the hospital without your urgent medication, hospitals must still meet their responsibility of supplying it to you. Hospitals have access to electronic means to send a prescription to your chemist (as we do), as well as paper prescription pads, the postal service and even transport to be able to supply you with the urgent medication that they want you to start. Do not accept any disingenuous claims that you would need to make a special journey to the hospital to collect a prescription and that therefore you should see your GP instead. 

The following is an extract from the NHS Standard Contract, which hospitals must work to, regarding the supply of urgent medication: 

11.10 Where a Service User [patient] has an immediate clinical need for medication to be supplied following outpatient clinic attendance, the Provider [hospital] must itself supply to the Service User an adequate quantity of that medication to last for the period required by local practice, in accordance with any requirements set out in the A, CR, MH NHS Standard Contract 2023/24 21 | Service Conditions (Full Length) Transfer of and Discharge from Care Protocols (but at least sufficient to meet the Service User’s immediate clinical needs until the Service User’s GP receives the relevant Clinic Letter and can prescribe accordingly) 

HOSPITAL PHARMACY PRESCRIPTIONS

If you are issued with a hospital prescription at your appointment, please take it to the hospital pharmacy to get it dispensed. Many patients present to us because they do not wish to wait at the hospital pharmacy. Please note, we are under no obligation to convert any hospital issued prescription to a GP issued one. If we do so, it will be at our discretion and the timescale will be in line with the non-urgent medication process as described below. For medications that must be urgently started, these must be supplied by the hospital as previously indicated. 

NON-URGENT MEDICATIONS

Where the hospital wishes us to commence you on non-urgent medication, they will send us an outpatient prescription. These will be processed routinely as per our normal prescription process, which may take anything from 2-5 working days (as indicated on the outpatient prescription itself). These are not urgent and in any case, urgent medications must be supplied by the hospital as described above. Therefore, please do not be offended if the processing of your non-urgent prescription does not meet with your expected timescale. 

MEDICATIONS IN RELATION TO HOSPITAL PROCEDURES

Responsibility for advising on and prescribing medications in relation to hospital procedures or operations lies with the hospital. For instance, the hospital will advise you on stopping blood thinners before an operation, or whether you need a loading dose of antibiotics or blood thinners before a procedure. Responsibility for issuing such medication lies with the hospital, therefore if you have any queries regarding these matters, please contact the hospital. 

FIT NOTES AFTER HOSPITAL CARE  

For fit notes (sick notes) following hospital admission, outpatients or operations, please ask your hospital doctor to provide you with one before you leave hospital. Despite what the hospital might say about seeing your GP for a fit note, it is the legal and contractual duty of the hospital doctor treating you to provide a fit note should you require it. 

If you have already left hospital without your fit note, please contact the secretary of the consultant whom you were under. It remains a hospital responsibility to issue the first fit note after any hospital attendance. 

When asking for your fit note please ensure that it is for the full time period required – there is no regulation that states the hospital fit note can only ever issue you fit notes of maximum two weeks’ duration. If your consultant has already advised that you need to be off work a lot longer, then they must issue a fit note for the full duration (see extract from hospital contract below). 

Hospitals have access to paper fit note pads, the postal service and electronic means to get your fit note to you, and as of November 2023, as part of hospital contract changes, all hospital must have in place facilities to be able to send a fit note to any patient electronically. There is therefore no excuse for the hospital not to be able to issue a fit note for you should you require it. 

The following is an extract from the NHS Standard Contract, which hospitals must work to, regarding the supply of urgent medication: 

11.12 Where a Service User [patient] either: 

11.12.1 is admitted to hospital under the care of a member of the Provider’s [hospital’s] medical Staff; or 

11.12.2 is discharged from such care; or 

11.12.3 attends an outpatient clinic or accident and emergency service under the care of a member of the Provider’s medical Staff, 

the Provider must, where appropriate under and in accordance with Fit Note Guidance, issue free of charge to the Service User or their Carer or Legal Guardian any necessary medical certificate to prove the Service User’s fitness or otherwise to work, covering the period until the date by which it is anticipated that the Service User will have recovered or by which it will be appropriate for a further clinical review to be carried out. 

You will notice the contract states the fit note supplied should cover the full period until recovery (or until next review), not for two weeks or other or shorter arbitrary time period. If your fit note is not for the correct duration, please contact the hospital for them to correct this problem. 

If you still have difficulty obtaining your fit note from the hospital, please contact the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) of the hospital concerned and they can assist you (see bottom of page for link). 

CHASING HOSPITAL LETTERS 

Please note that we have no control over how quickly (or slowly), it takes for the hospital to write to us. Although hospitals are contractually obliged to send outpatient letters to us within seven days of the clinic attendance, this is rarely the case, and some letters take a month or more to arrive. The following is an extract from the NHS Standard Contract, which hospitals must work to, regarding outpatient letters: 

11.7 Where, in the course of delivering an outpatient Service to a Service User, the Provider becomes aware of any matter or requirement pertinent to that Service User’s ongoing care and treatment which would necessitate the Service User’s GP taking prompt action, the Provider must communicate this by issue of a Clinic Letter to the Service User’s GP. The Provider must send the Clinic Letter as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 7 days following the Service User’s outpatient attendance. The Provider must issue such Clinic Letters using the applicable Delivery Method. 

If is wrong to assume that we will already have received outpatient letters and have taken any necessary action within a matter of a week and that if that necessary action has not been taken, it is then our fault. If we have not received an outpatient letter, we will not be in a position to have our already extremely busy admin staff ringing the hospital to chase letters and as indicated above, we have no special hotline to the hospital in order to do this. 

We therefore kindly ask that patients ring the hospital secretary to chase up any letters that are not yet with us. As indicated above, in their own contract, it is the hospital’s responsibility to ensure that letters are promptly with the GP if they want us to take action, and not for the GP to chase up what the hospital wants from us. 

  

   

Practice Policy on Prescribing Diazepam 

Diazepam for Fear of Flying, and other requests (including scans and dental appointments) 

Lindfield Medical Centre – Practice Policy 

Background 

Benzodiazepines (including diazepam, Lorazepam, Temazepam, Clonazepam) are medicines that have been in use since the 1960’s for a wide range of conditions, such as alcohol withdrawal, epilepsy, and muscle spasms. They are strongly sedating drugs that have negative effects on memory, coordination, concentration, and reaction times. They are addictive and withdrawal can lead to seizures, hallucinations, agitation, and confusion. 

Unfortunately, Benzodiazepines have widely become drugs of abuse, and as a result they are controlled in the UK as Class C, Schedule 4 drugs. This means there are restrictions on when and how much can be prescribed under the Controlled Substances Act, and inappropriate use, supply or possession of these medications is illegal in the UK under the Misuse of Drugs Act. 

Many people approach their GP practice asking for diazepam to help with fear of flying, or to sleep during a flight. There are several good reasons why prescribing diazepam is not recommended, and as a result we will no longer prescribe diazepam for patients who wish to use this for a fear of flying. 

Reasons 

1. The national prescribing guidelines followed by GP’s (the British National Formulary – BNF) states that all Benzodiazepines are ‘contraindicated’ (not allowed) in treatment of phobias (fear conditions, such as fear of flying). It also states that the use of Benzodiazepines to treat short-term anxiety is ‘inappropriate’. Benzodiazepines are only licensed for short-term use in a generalised anxiety crisis – but if this is the case for you, you should seek proper care and support for your mental health, and it would not be advisable to go on a flight. Your GP would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against these national guidelines. 

1. Diazepam is a sedative, so it makes you sleepier. If an emergency occurred during the flight, this could impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions, or react to the situation. This could seriously affect the safety of you and the people around you. Such incidents are rare but they do occur, and it can be fatal if you are unable to evacuate the plane properly (an example event is flight BA28M, where 55 people sadly died while the plane burned while sat on Manchester Airport runway, and the official AAIB incident report specifically commented on evacuation delays contributing to the deaths). No-one else on board a plane will evacuate for you – the cabin crew are there to guide an evacuation, but you need to be responsible for yourself. As a result, many airlines consider sedative medications as a reason why someone would not be allowed on a plane, in a similar way that someone who has consumed excessive alcohol may be removed from a plane. 

1. Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep; however, the sleep is an unnatural non-REM sleep. Your movements during this type of sleep are reduced and this can place you at an even higher risk of developing blood clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis – a DVT) or lungs (pulmonary embolism – a PE). These blood clots are very dangerous and can even be fatal. This risk further increases if your flight is over 4 hours long. 

1. Going on an aeroplane normally involves your blood oxygen levels decreasing from around 98% to as low as 90%, due to the air pressure decrease at cruising altitudes. Normally your body compensates for this by altering the rate and depth of your breathing. However, Benzodiazepines work to depress your breathing and this can put you at risk of hypoxia (excessively low blood oxygen), especially if you have lung problems already, which can be very dangerous. 

1. Most people feel sleepy when they take diazepam, but a small proportion of people experience the opposite effect and can become aggressive. This is called a paradoxical effect, and it can be unexpectedly inconsistent, even if diazepam has been used in the past. Alongside aggression and agitation, this response can cause disinhibition and make you behave in ways you normally wouldn’t. This could also impact on your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers or could lead you to get in trouble with the law. Recently, a passenger in this situation was detained by the aircrew, arrested after an emergency landing, given jail time, and was also fined for the costs of redirecting the plane. 

1. In several countries, diazepam and similar drugs are illegal (Greece, Japan, and many Middle Eastern countries including the UAE are just some examples). They would be confiscated, and you might find yourself in trouble with the police for being in control of an illegal substance, even if it has been prescribed by a doctor in the UK. This has led to people spending time in a jail a foreign country. 

1. Diazepam has a long half-life, which means it stays in your system for a significant time. If your job requires you to submit random drug testing, you may fail these tests. 

1. There is a possible link between occasional use of Benzodiazepines and earlier onset of dementia in later life. 

 

What you can do 

A fear of flying is frightening and can be debilitating. However, there are much better and effective ways of tackling the problem. We recommend you tackle your problem with a Fear of Flying Course, which are aviation-industry approved and are run by several airlines. These courses are far more effective than diazepam and have none of the undesirable effects. Also, the positive effects of the courses continue after the courses have been completed. 

Easy Jet :                       www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com                                      Tel: 0203 813 1644 

British Airways:             http://flyingwithconfidence.com/courses/venues           Tel: 01252 793 250 

Virgin Atlantic:              https://flyingwithoutfear.co.uk/collections                    Tel: 01423 714 900 

Fly And Be Calm is an instant download audio course which includes instructions, a fear removal tool and two hypnotic tracks. You can find this at: https://flyandbecalm.co.uk/ 

Alternatively, you could contact your local psychology therapy provider to consider having Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Details of the local Healthy Minds service for Oldham can be found here: https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/healthymindsoldham 

Ultimately, if you still feel unable to fly, then it may be appropriate to consider alternative routes of transport. 

If you still wish to consider diazepam for fear of flying, we suggest consulting with a private GP or a private travel clinic, who may be able to help you further. These services are private and not offered by the NHS. The private clinics may then liaise with the airlines directly to arrange a medically-trained escort for a passenger who is taking sedative medications, which can be expensive. 

Other situations – scans, dental appointments etc. 

We do not provide sedative medications such as diazepam for use in other situations, such as for dental/hospital procedures or scans. The Royal College of Radiologists sets out clear guidance for sedation in hospital radiology departments (New publication: Sedation, analgesia and anaesthesia in radiology, third edition | The Royal College of Radiologists) which states “Sedation and analgesia should be administered by a competent and well-trained sedation and oversight provided by a sedation committee within the institution”. 

The Intercollegiate Advisory Committee for Sedation in Dentistry has a similar guideline (https://www.saad.org.uk/IACSD%202020.pdf) which states “The monitoring and discharge requirements for oral sedation are the same as for intravenous sedation. Oral sedation must only be administered in the place where the dental treatment is provided and must only be carried out by practitioners who are already competent in intravenous sedation.” 

As a result, responsibility for this type of treatment lies with your dentist or hospital staff, and not your GP. If you feel this is required, we suggest consulting with your dentist or the hospital teams in good time before any scans or treatments occur. 

 

Please note, GP’s are under no professional or contractual obligation to enter into shared care arrangements with any provider, NHS, private or otherwise. Shared care is voluntary for GP’s and therefore we reserve the right to decline any request for shared care, without reason.

We will not consider shared care arrangements if any of the following conditions apply (most of these describe situations that are, by definition, not shared care):

• •  There is no written shared care agreement

• •  There is a shared care agreement, but it does not match the equivalent Sussex or NHS shared care agreement for the same situation

• •  The private provider is an assessment or diagnosis only service (that is it does not prescribe medication at all)

• •  The private provider has not completed an appropriate assessment of patient’s suitability for the medication, performed baseline investigations (e.g. blood tests/ECG) or provided counselling for the medication (for example, information on side effects, interactions)

• •  The private provider has not initiated the patient on medication and/or has not adjusted dosage accordingly and/or has not stabilised the patient on the medication

• •  The private provider has discharged or will discharge the patient back to sole GP care

• •  The medication being recommended is one that falls outside the GP’s knowledge, experience or competence to prescribe

• •  The private provider is recommending use of medication that falls outside its licensed indications (for instance, it is being used for a different age group or different reason from the manufacturer’s recommendations)

The reason why we do not consider prescribing medication in any of the above situations is that there is no specialist oversight and consequently patient safety is potentially at risk. Whilst it may seem convenient (and cheaper) to get a prescription from the GP, we will not accept any arrangement that has the potential to put a patient at risk.

If none of the above apply, we may consider the request for shared care from a private provider on an individual basis, but please note that such consideration does not guarantee that a prescription will be provided. In addition we can terminate the Shared Care agreement at any time and cease prescribing if the Consultant or the patient fails to keep up with reviews/blood test/providing observations.

YOUR PRIVATE PROVIDER NEEDS TO PROVIDE ALL THE CARE

If you are concerned you might not get the investigations and medications you need as part of the care from your private provider, you are advised to purchase or negotiate a package with your private provider that includes all of this. If your private provider says, don’t worry, your GP will just do it, they are providing you with false assurance and factually incorrect information.

Should patients require any tests or medications as part of the care given by a private provider, the private provider themselves can request tests or supply medication to the patient for the appropriate fee.

We respect the universal right of any patient to choose (and pay for) a private provider, however, it is not an NHS GP’s responsibility to request tests or prescribe medications on behalf of that provider purely for the purposes of reducing the cost burden of private care for the patient* or for the purposes of reducing waiting times to assessment and/or treatment, and due consideration must always be given towards proper clinical oversight and patient safety.

—
*NHS guidance states that private and NHS care should be kept as clearly separate as possible, so that funding, legal status, liability and accountability are appropriately defined, that the patient should bear the full costs of any private services, and that NHS resources should never be used to subsidise the use of private care.

General practice responsibility in responding to private healthcare (BMA guidance)

Introduction 

 At Lindfield Medical Centre we have a legal duty to explain how we use any personal information we collect about you at the organisation. We collect records during the recruitment stage and then data is continued to be collected for any successful candidate. This is in both electronic and paper format.     

 This privacy notice applies to personal information processed by or on behalf of this organisation. We are required to provide you with this privacy notice by law. It provides information on how we use the personal and healthcare information we collect, store and hold about you. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or are unclear about how we process or use your personal information or have any other issue regarding your personal and healthcare information, then please contact our data protection lead Katy Edwards, Practice Manager. 

 This notice explains:  

• Who we are, how we use your information and our Data Protection Officer (DPO) 
• What kind of personal information about you we process  
• What the legal grounds are for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)  
• What you should do if your personal information changes  
• How long your personal information is retained by us  
• What your rights are under data protection laws  

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) became law on 24th May 2016. This is a single EU-wide regulation on the protection of confidential and sensitive information. It entered into force in the UK on the 25th May 2018, repealing the Data Protection Act (1998).  

 For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation (including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (the “GDPR”), and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) the organisation responsible for your personal data is Lindfield Medical Centre  

This notice describes how we collect, use and process your personal data and how, in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights. This privacy policy applies to the personal data collected from candidates applying for roles within the organisation. 

 How we use your information and the law 

This organisation will be what is known as the ‘controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. Upon applying for work with the organisation you will be asked to supply the following personal information: 

•  Name
• Address 
• Telephone numbers 
•  Email address  
•  Date of birth 
• Previous employment data 
• Recruitment information such as your application form and CV, references, qualifications and membership of any professional bodies and details of your employment history, skills and experience 
• Information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements
• Whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process 
• Information in relation to your right to work in the UK [as per the Rights to Work in the UK –  guide to checking] 
• Information from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in order to administer relevant checks and procedures
• Vaccination and immunisation status/information 

The information that we ask you to provide to the organisation is required for the following reasons: 

• In order for us to review your application 
• In order for us to contact you with interview details 
• To comply with appropriate employment law 
• To ensure that we can provide any reasonable adjustments as necessary 

The organisation may collect this information in a variety of ways, for example from application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents such as your driving licence and from forms completed by you or through interviews, meetings or other assessments including on-line tests. 

This personal data might be provided to us by you, or someone else (such as a former employer’s reference, information from background check providers including criminal records checks permitted by law) or it could be created by us. 

The organisation will seek information from third parties only once a job offer has been made to you and we will inform you that we are doing so. 

Your personal data will be stored in a range of different places including in your application record, in the organisation’s HR management systems and in other IT systems (including the organisation’s email system). 

Throughout the application process we will collect data and add this to your personnel file i.e., interview question answers, interview scores etc.  

Special categories of personal data 

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, is processed to carry out employment law obligations (such as those in relation to job applicants with disabilities). 

For some roles, the organisation is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where we seek this information, we do so because it is necessary for us to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. 

Where the organisation processes other special categories of personal data such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. 

If your application is unsuccessful, the organisation may keep your personal data on file in case there are future job opportunities for which you may be considered. We will seek your consent to do this and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time. 

Automated decision-making 

Employment decisions are not based solely on automated decision-making. 

 How do we lawfully use your data? 

• We need to know your personal, sensitive and confidential data in order to employ you. Under the General Data Protection Regulation we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with: 
  
• Article 6, (b) Necessary for performance of/entering into contract with you  
• Article 9(2) (b) Necessary for controller to fulfil employment rights or obligations in employment 

 This notice applies to the personal data of our candidates applying for work at this organisation. 

 How do we maintain the confidentiality of your record? 

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:   

• Data Protection Act 2018 (incorporating the UK GDPR at Part 2, Chapter 2) 
• Human Rights Act 1998  
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality  
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management  

 We will only ever use or pass on information about you to others who have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e., life or death situations) or where the law requires information to be passed on. 

Our policy is to respect the privacy of our candidates and to maintain compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and all UK specific Data Protection Requirements. Our policy is to ensure all personal data will be protected.  

All employees and sub-contractors engaged by this organisation are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. The organisation will, if required, sign a separate confidentiality agreement if the client deems it necessary. If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for the organisation, an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information.  

Where do we store your information electronically? 

All the personal data we process is processed by our organisation in the UK. However, for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance this information may be located on servers within the European Union.  

No third parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so and appropriate safeguards have been put in place.  We have a data protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal and or special category (sensitive, confidential) data. 

Who are our partner organisations? 

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations: 

• Primary Care Networks 
• Integrated Care Systems 
• NHS Commissioning Support Units  
• Clinical Commissioning Groups  
• NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Digital (NHSD)  
• Local authorities  
• CQC 
• Private sector providers providing employment services 
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of  

 Sharing your personal data 

Your information may be shared internally for the purpose of the recruitment exercise including with members of the practice management and recruitment team, interviewers in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with the vacancy and other staff if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. 

The organisation will not share your personal data with third parties except those engaged for the purposes of the recruitment process or unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment.  We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal record checks. 

The organisation will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area. 

You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for consent for this to happen when this is required. 

We may also use external companies to process personal information such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.  All employees and sub-contractors engaged by this organisation are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for the organisation, an appropriate contract (art 24-28) will be established for the processing of your information. 

Who is the data controller?  

This organisation is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 2018. Our registration number is Z6232325 and our registration can be viewed online in the public register at http://www.ico.gov.uk. This means we are responsible for handling your personal and healthcare information and collecting and storing it appropriately. 

We may also process your information for a particular purpose and therefore we may also be data processors. The purposes for which we use your information are set out in this privacy notice. 

How long do we keep your personal information? 

We are required under UK law to keep your information and data for the full retention periods as specified by the NHS Records Management Code of Practice for health and social care and national archives requirements. 

If your application is unsuccessful, the organisation will hold your personal data for a period of six months following the recruitment process. If you agree to allow the organisation to keep your personal data on file, for consideration for future job opportunities, we will hold your data for a further six months.  At the end of that period (or once you withdraw consent), your data will be deleted or destroyed.   

If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment.   

More information on records retention can be found online at: NHSE – Records Management Code of Practice 2023. 

Storing DBS certificates 

The correct storage of DBS certificate information is important. The code of practice requires that the information revealed is considered only for the purpose for which it was obtained and should be destroyed after six months. 

How can you access, amend or move the personal data that you have given to us? 

Even if we already hold your personal data, you still have various rights in relation to it. For further information about this, please contact the Practice Manager. We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay and in any event in accordance with the requirements of any applicable laws. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise. 

Right to object: If we are using your data because we deem it necessary for our legitimate interests to do so, and you do not agree, you have the right to object. We will respond to your request within 30 days (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases). Generally, we will only disagree with you if certain limited conditions apply.

• Right to withdraw consent: Where we have obtained your consent to process your personal data for certain activities (for example for a research project), or consent to market to you, you may withdraw your consent at any time. 
• Right to erasure: In certain situations (for example, where we have processed your data unlawfully), you have the right to request us to “erase” your personal data. We will respond to your request within 30 days (although we may be allowed to extend this period in certain cases) and will only disagree with you if certain limited conditions apply. If we do agree to your request, we will delete your data but will generally assume that you would prefer us to keep a note of your name on our register of individuals who would prefer not to be contacted. That way, we will minimise the chances of you being contacted in the future where your data is collected in unconnected circumstances. If you would prefer us not to do this, you are free to say so.
• Right of data portability: If you wish, you have the right to transfer your data from us to another data controller. 
• Your rights as a candidate applying for work 

Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR): You have a right under the data protection legislation to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information this organisation holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. To request this, you need to do the following:  

•  Your request should be made to the Practice Manager at sxicb-wsx.lindfield.reception@nhs.net 
• There is no charge to have a copy of the information held about you. However, we may, in some limited and exceptional circumstances, have to make an administrative charge for any extra copies if the information requested is excessive, complex or repetitive
• We are required to provide you with information within one month. We would ask therefore that any requests you make are in writing and it is made clear to us what and how much information you require
• You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified, and your records located 

 What should you do if your personal information changes? 

You should tell us so that we can update our records. Please contact the Recruiting Manager as soon as any of your details change, this is especially important for changes of address or contact details (such as your mobile phone number).  

What to do if you have any questions 

Should you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you, you can:  

Contact the organisation via email at sxicb-wsx.lindfield.reception@nhs.net 

Objections or complaints 

In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with any element of our data-processing methods, do please contact the practice manager at Lindfield Medical Centre in the first instance. If you feel that we have not addressed your concern appropriately, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO. For further details, visit ico.gov.uk and select “Raising a concern” or telephone: 0303 123 1113 

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the regulator for the General Data Processing Regulations and offers independent advice and guidance on the law and personal data including your rights and how to access your personal information. 

Changes to our privacy policy 

We regularly review our employee privacy policy, and any updates will be published to reflect the changes. This policy is to be reviewed Nov 2026.  

 

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INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (IPC)

ANNUAL STATEMENT 2023-2024

GP LEAD – DR KATIE SPENSLEY

IPC LEAD FOR PRACTICE – HELEN SHAW PRACTICE NURSE

PREMISE LEAD – KATY EDWARDS (PRACTICE MANAGER)

It is a requirement of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance that the Infection Prevention and Control Lead, produces an annual statement with regard to compliance with good practice on infection prevention and control and makes it available for anyone who wishes to see it, including patients and regulatory authorities.

As best practice, the Annual Statement should be published on the Practice website.

This annual statement will be generated every June/July and will summarise;

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action (these will be reported in accordance with our significant event procedure)
• Details of IPC audits undertaken and actions undertaken
• Details of staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines

INFECTION TRANSMISSION INCIDENTS (SIGNIFICANT EVENTS)

Significant events (which may involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events) are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.

There were no significant events relating to IPC in the previous 12 months.

INFECTION PREVENTION AUDITS

All staff are aware of the importance of hand hygiene in reducing healthcare associated infections, annual audit of hand hygiene is in progress.

An aseptic technique was performed in July with all clinicians involved in this procedure with excellent results.

An infection Prevention Control Annual Audit was also carried out in July.

A Pre-acceptance waste audit was carried out by Sister Helen Shaw in October 2023 for Anenta Waste Management Service.

RISK ASSESSMENTS

Risk assessments are carried out so that best practice can be established and then followed. In the last year the following risk assessment were carried out/reviewed.

Legionella (Water) Risk Assessment

TSS Facilities Ltd, carried out legionella risk assessment every 2 years and perform a legionella test twice a year. Julie Taylor (deputy practice manager) monitors the water temperature monthy

Cleaning specifications, frequencies and cleanliness: We work with our cleaners to ensure that the surgery is kept as clean as possible. Monthly assessments of cleaning processes are conducted with our cleaning contractors to identify areas for improvement

IPC ADVICE TO PATIENTS

All eligible patients have been invited for Flu vaccine (2023-24)

Parents/Guardians are sent regular invites/reminders for childhood immunisations.

There are posters in the surgery and information on the surgery website regarding current vaccination programmes.

In additional the nurses have opportunistically offered MMR, Shingles and Pneumonia to eligible patients during routine appointments.

STAFF TRAINING

All clinical staff receive annual training in infection control and prevention.

All non-clinical staff receive 3 yearly training in infection control and prevention.

POLICIES

All infection Prevention and Control related policies are in date for this year.

Policies relating to infection Prevention and Control are available to all staff and are reviewed/amended on an ongoing basis as current advice, guidance and legislation changes.

 

25/07/2024

HS

Sharing Your Medical Record

Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.

The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.

e.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients’ control and can be shared on a ‘need to know’ basis.