Practice Policies

Please attend appointments on time. If you arrive late, the clinician may not be able to see you if this would delay other patients or affect safe clinical care. In some cases, you may be asked to rebook.

If you no longer need your appointment, please cancel it as early as possible so it can be offered to another patient.

Repeated missed appointments may be reviewed by the practice. We understand that there may be genuine reasons why an appointment is missed, but missed appointments reduce access for other patients.

Home visits are for patients who are housebound or clinically unable to attend the practice. Lack of transport is not usually a reason for a home visit.

Home visit requests are assessed by the clinical team. A GP or other appropriate clinician will decide whether a home visit is clinically necessary, or whether advice, an appointment at the practice, pharmacy care, community services, NHS 24 or emergency care would be more appropriate.

If you think you need a home visit, please contact the practice as early as possible.

Please order repeat prescriptions in good time and only order the medicines you need. Routine prescription requests should not be treated as urgent clinical requests.

Reception staff cannot authorise medication. Prescription requests, early requests, medication changes and hospital recommendations may need to be reviewed by a GP, pharmacist or other appropriate clinician.

If you have stopped taking a medicine or no longer need it, please tell the practice or your community pharmacy.

Reception staff can pass on factual information from your record but cannot interpret test results or give clinical advice.

If a clinician has asked you to check your result, please contact the practice after the advised timescale. If a test was arranged by a hospital or another service, that service is usually responsible for reviewing and explaining the result unless they have specifically asked the practice to follow it up.

Medical reports and forms requested by travel insurance companies, employers, private companies or other third parties are not part of NHS general medical services. These requests are treated as private work and are completed at the discretion of the practice, subject to GP availability, appropriate written consent and payment of the relevant fee.

Patients should submit the full form or report request in writing, along with any insurer or claim reference details. We cannot complete forms from a telephone request alone.

Private reports are not urgent NHS clinical work and cannot be prioritised ahead of patient care. Our usual turnaround time is up to 28 days once we have received the full request, valid consent and payment where applicable.

The practice may decline to complete a form if the request is unclear, inappropriate, outside the information held in the GP record, or if there is insufficient GP capacity.

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We aim to provide an accessible service for all patients.

If you have a disability, long-term condition, communication need or additional support need, please tell us what would help. You can tell us when booking your appointment, before your appointment, or when you arrive at the practice.

We will consider reasonable adjustments to help you access our services safely and fairly.

Access to the building

There is access via the main entrance.

A wheelchair is available for use within the surgery. Please ask at reception if you would like to use this.

Communication and support needs

Please let us know if you need support with communication or access. This may include, for example:

• difficulty hearing your name being called;
• needing information in a different format;
• needing more time or a quieter approach where possible;
• needing support because of a learning disability, autism, dementia, anxiety or another condition;
• needing an interpreter or communication support.

If you may not hear your name being called, we can add a confidential note to your record so staff are aware and can support you. For example, we may use an alternative way to call you from the waiting room or come to collect you where possible.

We also have a portable induction loop available. Please ask at reception if you would like to use this.

Assistance dogs

Registered assistance dogs are welcome in the practice.

Keeping your information private

Any information you share about your access or support needs will be treated confidentially and used only to help us provide appropriate support.

Where helpful, we may add a note to your record so staff know how best to support you when you contact or attend the practice.

You can ask for a chaperone for any appointment.

A chaperone is a trained member of staff who can be present during an examination. Their role is to support your dignity and comfort, act as an impartial observer, and help ensure the examination is carried out appropriately. Chaperones are bound by confidentiality.

We will offer a chaperone for intimate examinations, for example breast, genital or rectal examinations. You can accept or decline a chaperone, and you can change your mind at any time.

A chaperone may need to be able to see the examination, as far as practical, while still respecting your privacy and dignity.

You may also ask for a friend, relative or advocate to be present for support. This is separate from a formal chaperone.

If you would like a chaperone, please tell reception when booking or speak to your clinician during the appointment.

If a suitable chaperone is not available, we may offer an alternative appointment time, provided this would not adversely affect your care. If your clinician considers that a chaperone is necessary and you do not want one, they will discuss this with you and may need to consider alternative arrangements.

We will record in your medical record whether a chaperone was offered, accepted or declined. If a chaperone is present, we will record their name and role.

Speaking to Someone on Your Behalf

We cannot normally discuss your medical information with another person, including a spouse, partner, family member, friend, employer or insurer, unless we have appropriate consent or there is another lawful basis to do so.

If you would like someone to speak to the practice on your behalf, please contact us so we can advise what information or consent may be needed.

Everything you tell us is treated confidentially.

Our doctors, nurses, healthcare staff, reception staff and administrative team are required to follow strict confidentiality rules. Staff must only access or use patient information where they have a legitimate work-related reason.

We may share relevant information with other health and care professionals involved in your care where this is necessary to provide safe and effective treatment.

There are also limited circumstances where we may need to share information without your permission, for example where required by law, where there is a serious risk of harm, for safeguarding reasons, for public health purposes, or where we are required to respond to a court order or other lawful request.

Young people and confidentiality

Young people have confidentiality rights. We will not normally share information about a young person with parents, carers, family members, school staff or others without their agreement, where the young person has sufficient understanding to make decisions about their own information.

There may be exceptions where sharing information is necessary to protect the young person or someone else from serious harm, or where the law requires it.

Speaking privately

If you would like to speak privately with a receptionist or another member of the practice team, please let us know. We can arrange a more private space where available.

For more information about how we use, share, store and protect personal information, please see our Data Protection & Privacy section.

Telephone calls to and from Eastfield Medical Practice may be recorded.

Call recordings are used for patient safety, staff safety, training, quality monitoring, complaint handling, incident review, safeguarding concerns, patient safety concerns and legal or regulatory matters.

Access to call recordings is restricted to authorised staff.

Call recordings are normally stored for one calendar month before being deleted, unless there is a specific reason to retain a recording for longer, such as a complaint, incident, safeguarding concern, patient safety concern, legal matter or investigation.

Patients are informed about call recording through our telephone message. Where we make an outgoing call, staff may also explain that the call is recorded where appropriate.

Call recordings form part of the personal information we hold and are handled in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For more information about how we use, store and protect personal information, please see our Data Protection and Privacy section.

We follow the NHS Scotland Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities.

This explains what patients can expect from NHS services and how patients can help us provide safe, effective and respectful care.

Read more: Patient Rights and Responsibilities

We welcome feedback, including compliments, suggestions, concerns and complaints.

Raising a concern or complaint will not affect the care you receive from the practice.

For full details, please see our Feedback, Concerns and Complaints page.

GPs in Training

Our practice is approved to train fully qualified doctors who wish to specialise in general practice. Our GP registrar will have had 2-4 years of experience as a qualified hospital doctor working in various specialities. They consult patients on their own, under the mentorship of our trainer, Dr Burt and Dr Zealley. Occasionally we ask permission to video a consultation. You will always be asked in advance and are given the option not to take part, and this will not affect your care in any way. No recording will be taken without your consent and the camera will be switched off on request. These videos are used only for educational purposes with the doctor doing the consultation and are destroyed after use.

Medical Students

Medical students are sometimes attached to the practice for a number of weeks as part of their training. If you do not wish a student to be present during your consultation, please inform the receptionist.

Freedom of Information requests are different from requests for your own medical records or personal information.

Eastfield Medical Practice publishes information under the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme.

Read more: Freedom of Information.