Information Area 

Practice Policies

Care Quality Commission

The regulation of health and adult social care is carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and they have brought in a new registration system that applies to all regulated health and adult social care services.

 

The CQC is aiming to achieve a registration system that encourages consistency, enables comparison, and recognises good practice.

 

To achieve these aims, the CQC has set out 16 registration requirements based on the core risks inherent in the provision of care. 

 

In order to obtain and maintain registration we have demonstrated compliance in all of these areas and are committed to maintaining these high standards on an ongoing basis. 

 

For further information please visit the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk

 

Complaints Procedure

In this practice we take complaints very seriously and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. This procedure is based on these objectives.

 

Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to patients’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way. 

  1. If a patient complains by telephone or in person, we will listen to their complaint and offer to refer him or her immediately to the Practice Manager, Mrs.Nicola Stockdale. If the Practice Manager is not available at the time, then the patient will be told when they will be able to talk to the Practice Manager and arrangements will be made for this to happen. The member of staff will make a written record of your complaint and provide the patient with a copy as well as passing it on to the Practice Manager. If we cannot arrange this within a reasonable period or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter, arrangements will be made for someone else to deal with it.
  2. If the patient complains in writing or by email it will be passed on immediately to the Practice Manager.
  3. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the dentist concerned, unless the patient does not want this to happen.
  4. We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within three working days. We will offer to discuss the complaint at a time agreed with the patient, asking how the patient would like to be kept informed of developments, for example, by telephone, face to face meetings, letters or e-mail. We will inform the patient about how the complaint will be handled and the likely time that the investigation will take to be completed. If the patient does not wish to discuss the complaint, we will still inform them of the expected timescale for completing the process.

 

If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure then a complaint may be referred to:

NHS Leeds Head Quarters, NHS Leeds, North West House, West Park Ring Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS16 6QG

 

The Practice’s CCTV Policy

  1. CCTV is in place in the waiting rooms, offices, reception, car park and in our surgery.
  2. CCTV has been installed solely for the safety and security of our patients and staff.
  3. Images are recorded 24 hours a day, seven days a week and stored on the hard drives of the recording devices. The recording devices are situated in locked rooms and only the manager and owners of the practice have access to the recordings. The manager regularly checks that the CCTV devices are working as intended.
  4. The CCTV only records images and does not record audio.
  5. All CCTV recordings are stored on our recording devices’ hard-drives for 30 days before being wiped.
  6. Signs informing visitors that CCTV is in place can be found at reception. 
  7. The recording devices have the capability of transferring data to an external drive for cooperation with the relevant authorities. We only ever do this where there is cause to believe the safety and security of patients/staff has been compromised. We do not ever share images with other third parties.
  8. Visitors to the practice have the right to request to see images of themselves on CCTV as part of a Data Protection request. Like all Data Protection requests, this request must be made in writing and the same exceptions apply. We charge an administration fee of £10 for this. We will also require information that will allow us to identify the visitor and the date/time of the visit.
  9. We have followed the CCTV guidelines produced by the Information Commissioners’ Office, http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection throughout.