Confidentiality and The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. Great care is taken at all times to ensure the highest standards of confidentiality are maintained and that your right to confidentiality is respected.

The practice is registered under the DGPR and is compliant with its terms - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents

The Practice has a Privacy Notice for your information with details of how we use your information and why, how we protect it and what to do if you have any concerns.

Practice Privacy Notice

Disclosure of Patient Records
There may be circumstances in which your personal medical record or parts of it may be disclosed to other people, apart from your GP and practice staff.  If you require details of these circumstances please contact the Practice Manager, Louise McCallum.

You can find out more about your health information rights at www.nhsinform.co.uk/rights/ 

Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 recognises that members of the public have the right to know how public services are organised and run, how much they cost and how decisions are made.  

Complaints Policy

We always try to provide the best service possible but there may be times when you feel this has not happened.  

If you wish to make a complaint, please write to our Practice Manager, Louise McCallum.

You will receive an acknowledgment of your complaint within four working days.   We will then look into the circumstances which led to your complaint.

• We will find out what happened and what went wrong
• Enable you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this.
• Ensure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can change within the practice organisation to make sure the problem does not happen again

You may find it useful to visit https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/health-rights/feedback-and-complaints/nhs-scotland-complaints where you can find more information about making a complaint.  

Zero Tolerance

The practice operates a zero tolerance to abuse, aggession and / or  violence policy. 

Abuse and aggression is defined as any personal, abusive and /or aggressive comments, cursing and/or swearing, physical contact and/or aggressive gestures. The practice will request the removal from the practice list of any patient , who is abusive or aggressive to a doctor, member of staff or other patient.

Damage to practice property will also be viewed as grounds for removal from the practice list. If a patient commits an act of physical violence we will request that the patient is immediately removed from our list. In addition, all instances of actual physical abuse on any doctor or member of staff, by a patient or their relatives will be reported to the police as an assault.

Dr F M Johnstone and Partners

Practice Charter

THE BRIDGE OF ALLAN HEALTH CARE TEAM hope to make available a comprehensive individual medical service in a courteous and timely manner to all our patients. The reception staff endeavour to provide you with access to the services of the Primary Health Care Team at the earliest possible time which is suitable to you.

Whilst we hope to provide a trouble free service, occasional glitches do occur. If you have any problems with the service please ask for our Practice Manager, Louise McCallum or Dr Johnstone, Senior Partner. The Primary Health Care Team normally hope to achieve the following quality standards:

1. VERIFIED EMERGENCIES will be seen within 30 minutes of the call.
2. Patients who feel they need to be seen URGENTLY THAT DAY will receive clinical assessment that day.
3. NON-URGENT appointments will be accommodated within 2 working days unless demand is exceptional. 
4. Non-urgent home visits requested before 10am will be seen before 4pm that day.
5. The appointment system is based on 10 minutes appointments. It is possible to book a double appointment if you feel that you genuinely need more time with your doctor. If the surgery is running more than 20 minutes late an explanation will be offered.
6. Patients on long-term treatment or having a long term health problem will have an individual contract care plan with the health care team.
7. The medical staff endeavour to maintain their medical knowledge to the highest standards by participating in Continuous Professional Development activities and undergoing peer review in the form of GP Appraisal annually. The partners and nurses have a number of special interests and your doctor may invite you to see another member of the Health Care Team with specialist knowledge. Should a hospital opinion be required, the team will refer you to the best and most appropriate specialist service.

The BRIDGE OF ALLAN HEALTH CARE TEAM value your decision to register with us and we would appreciate your help to allow us to provide the highest quality service. Please TALK TO US IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM as we would like to address any difficulties you have with our service.
a) Please cancel appointments you can’t keep. This will allow us to offer the appointment to another patient.
b) Please try to be on time and let us know if you are delayed.
c) Try to request a home visit before 10am (where the condition allows) and only ask for home visits where your condition prevents you coming to the surgery.
d) Please ask for emergency visits or out of hour’s visits only when the condition cannot wait until the next day’s clinic.