Our safeguarding leads are Dr Gina Finch (adult safeguarding) and Dr Sonal Nicum (child safeguarding) at Valley Surgery and Dr Sarah Thomas at Chilwell Meadows Surgery. Health care professionals have a privileged access through our role in caring for those individuals who may be vulnerable in society to the risk of abuse.

It is our duty to be alert to this possibility and to be proactive in raising concerns, liaising with other professionals involved in the individuals care and if concerns exist, reporting this to Social Services. Please click here for a leaflet that will inform you on what to do if you have any suspicions about the welfare of any vulnerable child or adult.

Our Caldicott Guardian is Dr Kate Hodson. A Caldicott Guardian is a senior person within a health or social care organisation who makes sure that the personal information about those who use its services is used legally, ethically and appropriately, and that confidentiality is maintained. Caldicott Guardians provide leadership and informed guidance on complex matters involving confidentiality and information sharing.

Calls to and from the surgery are recorded and processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018, calls are recorded for monitoring, training and dispute resolution purposes.

The purpose of call recording is to provide an exact record of the call which will:

• Protect the interests of both parties;

• Help improve Practice performance and best practice;

• Establish the facts in the event of a complaint either by a patient or a member of staff and so assist in resolving it;

• Establish the facts and assist in the resolution of any medico-legal claims made against the practice or clinicians;

• A call recording may also be used as evidence in the event that an employee’s telephone conduct is deemed unacceptable. In this situation the recording will be made available to the employee’s manager, to be investigated as per the Practice Disciplinary Policy

For further information please contact the surgery.

See our chaperone policy.

The practice is registered by the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Our registration document can be found here.

Our statement of purpose can be found here.

As part of the practice’s contribution to medical research, we provide completely anonymous details of patient treatment to certain reputable third party organisations. No individual is ever identified from the information and we ourselves as potential patients stand to benefit from this work. More information can be found here.

These new regulations came into force on 25 May 2018 and it is important that all patients are aware of them. Click here to download a copy of our Data Protection Privacy Notice. Children’s version here.

Click here for the Covid19 Privacy Notice.

Click here for our candidate Privacy Notice

NHS Digital’s daily collection of GP data will support vital health and care planning and research. The data held in the GP medical records of patients is used every day to support health and care planning and research in England, helping to find better treatments and improve patient outcomes for everyone. NHS Digital has developed a new way to collect this data, called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.

The new data collection reduces burden on GP practices, allowing doctors and other staff to focus on patient care.

For more information, click here.

If you would like to opt out of sharing your data you can register a Type 1 Opt Out by completing the form here and either emailing it back to us at [email protected] or printing it out and dropping in the box at the side of the surgery.

All patients at Chilwell Valley and Meadows Practice have a named, accountable GP who is responsible for patients’ overall care at the practice. Your named GP has been allocated to you by the practice. If you wish to know who your allocated GP is, please contact the practice. You can still talk to or make appointments to see any of our doctors or nurses, not just your named GP.  New patients will be given their named accountable GP at the point of registration by the receptionist.

This GP practice is taking part in an important national project about people at risk of diabetes and diabetes care and treatment in the NHS. The project is called the National Diabetes Audit (NDA).

If you have diabetes, non-diabetic hyperglycaemia, impaired glucose tolerance or pre-diabetes, your GP practice will share information about your diabetes care and treatment with the NDA. The type of information, and how it is shared, is controlled by law and enforced by strict rules of confidentiality and security.

For further information about how your data is used, please click here to see the NDA patient information leaflet.

Taking part in the NDA shows that this GP practice is committed to reducing diabetes and improving care for people with diabetes.

Did you know that clinical research takes place at this GP Practice?

We’re proud to give our patients the opportunity to take part in research here so that together we can develop new treatments and medicines for the future.

There are many different types of research available for people to take part in, and the overwhelming majority of people have a positive experience of research.

Last year, more people took part in research in primary care settings (such as GP Practices) in the East Midlands than any other part of England. Join them, and help us to improve healthcare.

To find out more about taking part in research here, please speak to a member of staff at the Practice.

Alternatively, you can search for research taking place near you here.

Find here a summary of our recent research activity.

In accordance with NHS regulations we will see anyone who is from another country irrespective of the country of origin or  length of stay free of charge, however such patients should be aware that secondary care (i.e. treatment at a hospital etc.) can incur costs depending on the person’s country of origin.

As a patient you have the right to:

• Be registered with a named doctor
• Have your issues and concerns listened to and acknowledged
• Receive a high standard of evidence-based care based on relevant and up to date national and local guidelines
• To be given sufficient and correct information and advice to help you manage your medical conditions and move forwards in your current situation
• Request a second opinion within the practice
• Request a referral to an NHS specialist within the local and national guidelines for care
• See your medical records or a copy, subject to certain laws
• Know that by law, everyone working for the NHS must keep the contents of your medical records private.

With these rights come responsibilities for the public.

This means being:

• polite and respectful to all our staff all of the time
• on time for all appointments with any staff at the practice
• responsible for cancelling appointments in adequate time for someone else to use that appointment

We aim to treat you courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. If you are deliberately violent or abusive, you will be warned to stop your behaviour. If you persist with the behaviour within a certain specified length of time we will usually exercise our right to have you removed from our list of patients.

Your GP record contains information recorded by health workers who are involved in your care. Information may have been added to your record at many different care locations. Making your record available means that care professionals will have your most up to date information.  This means that you won’t have unnecessary tests, have to repeat information or be given drugs that you may be allergic to. Everyone should make their record available in case they need to be seen in an emergency.  If you have certain health conditions, illnesses or have to go to the hospital a lot, then you should definitely make your record available. Nottinghamshire policy to do this means that all care professionals will have up to date information to improve the coordination of your care. Your records will be automatically shared unless you choose to opt out.

Click here to view out Summary Care Record Consent Form (Opt-in / Opt-out form)

To help with the education of future doctors we are linked to Nottingham University Medical School. We therefore may have medical students in the surgery from time to time. You will be informed when you book an appointment, or on arrival if this is the case. If you do not wish to have the student present during your consultation please let reception or the doctor know.

You will always be asked if you are happy to see a student or a student may sit in observing the consultation. Students are expected to behave in the same professional way as doctors and have the same understanding of confidentiality as we do.

We also have fully qualified doctors working with us for periods of between 4 and 12  months so that they gain experience in general practice. These enthusiastic, well trained and supervised doctors bring many benefits to the team and patients alike. Occasionally a consultation may be recorded on video, but only with the patient’s permission. These recordings are strictly confidential, seen only by doctors involved in training, and are erased afterwards.

We have been using our texting services since 2016. When we first started we gave everyone the opportunity to opt out of receiving text messages if they wished. Subsequently it is made clear that anyone who registers with the practice and gives us their mobile phone number is giving consent for us to send them text messages, along with a clear message that they can opt out at any time.

We use text messages to remind you of appointments and to give you other relevant information related to your health. If you wish to opt out of receiving text messages please inform us and we will ensure you no longer receive them. You can always change your mind at a later date.

We may also send you messages inviting you to take part in clinical studies, you can separately opt out of receiving these at any time.

Occasionally you may wish to send us an email or we may want to email you. Please click here to read our Policy on Email Security

We have opted in to the UK Biobank. The UK Biobank is a national health research study set up with the aim of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses. The study requires data relating to specific patients who have given informed consent for their medical records to be used for this health research. The primary care data extract for UK Biobank has been reviewed, and is supported, by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the joint RGCP / BMA GP IT Committee, and NHS Digital. Full details regarding UK Biobank, the work they do, participant consent and the data requested can be found here

Please see this leaflet for more information about how your data is used.