Named GPs for all our registered Patients

As part of our contract with NHS England we now have to ensure that all registered patients have a named accountable GP who will take lead responsibility for the coordination of all services required under our contract and ensure they are delivered to each of our patients when required (based on the clinical judgement of the named accountable GP).

All patients at the practice have a named GP who is responsible for their overall care. If you wish to know who this is then please contact the surgery. If you have a preference as to which GP you would like to be assigned to please contact the surgery and all reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate requests.

Dealing With Abusive/Violent Patients

Violence or abuse from another person is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. All such occurrences should be immediately reported to the Practice Manager and a Doctor. The panic button system should also be used if any concern for safety is apparent, to call for help from others in the building.

Staff should not under any circumstances expose themselves to physical attack, and must use their judgement as to the appropriate course of action such as attempting to settle the situation, or calling the police.

Please can we remind patients that any abusive comments posted on social Media regarding Belford Medical Practice could result in their removal from our practice list. If you are dissatisfied with our services we ask that you contact us directly to give us the opportunity to deal with any problems that you have encountered.

Missed Appointments - DNAs

Due to the Number of Patients Failing to Attend for their Appointments this has put an increased burden on our appointment system, which means that others may not be able to see the Doctor/Nurse as easily as they would like to.

In an attempt to try and resolve this, the practice has developed the following Policy.

• If you fail to attend appointments without informing us or cancel appointments without giving the practice sufficient time to rebook the appointment (we request that at least 2 hours notice is given when an appointment is no longer required) we will write to you asking if there are any specific problems preventing you from letting us know.
• If you repeatedly fail to attend for appointments you may be removed from the Practice List and have to find an alternative GP Practice.

GP Earnings

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown below. However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.

The average pay for GPs working in Belford Medical Practice in the last financial year was £80,345 before tax and national insurance. This is for 1 full time GP, 4 part time GPs and 0 locum GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Non NHS Services

Certain services provided by your doctor are not covered by the National Health Service and you may be asked to pay a fee e.g., private medicals for insurance, employment, HGV license, insurance claims, private sick notes. If you have any queries about fees, please contact reception.