Information

Accessible Information Standard

From the 1st of April the Accessible Information Standard is a new law to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are given information they can easily read or understand.  This applies to all NHS and adult social care organisations.

For more information please follow the link below:

The_Accessible_Information_Standard_leaflet
If you have any information or communication needs and how we can meet these please inform the practice in order for us to update your medical record.

Telephone Triage

All calls are recorded for training and quality monitoring purposes.

As many of you will have seen in the news there are growing strains on GP appointments. So that we can offer you the best service possible we have reviewed the way we book appointments and to help with demand have been operating a triage system when booking appointments. When calling for a GP appointment on the day patients are now offered an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner, if appropriate, or a telephone triage call with the GP on duty that day. This GP will call the patient to assess whether it is something that can be dealt with over the phone or book them a relevant appointment. So far we have had a lot of positive feedback regarding this service. Patients are also able to pre-book appointments with GPs for ongoing problems. The pre-booked appointments are available to book with reception or online. Please do not be offended if our reception staff ask for the nature of your problem—they are not preventing you from seeing a clinician they are trying to make sure you are seen by the appropriate clinician.

Text Messaging Service

We are now able to text appointment reminders to patients who pre-book appointments. To participate in this service please advise the reception staff of your mobile telephone number when you next attend.
Remember you need to tell us if you change your mobile number.

For Compliments, Complaints and Comments relating to East Kent Hospitals please contact:

Patient Experience Team
Trust Offices (1st Floor)
Kent and Canterbury Hospital
Ethelbert Road
Canterbury
Kent CT1 3NG

Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ekhuft.nhs.uk
Telephone: 01227 783145 or 01227 864314

Your local Clinical Commissioning Group
The CCG are always keen to hear from patients and public alike, good experience or bad. Perhaps you’ve even got a bright idea on how services can be improved. Whatever the reason, get in touch with them using the details below:

South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group
Council Offices
White Cliffs Business Park
Whitfield
CT16 3PJ

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 03000 424700

Patient Survey

Patient Feedback and surveys are important to us the opportunity to listen to patients views and gives patients the opportunity to give their opinions on improvements they would like to see and how they would like to be involved with the practice in the future.

The Results of the National GP Survey for 2014 have been received and these are available to read here. The survey questionnaires were sent out during January and July of 2014 and our results reflect the responses received.

We have, in the past, had a virtual patient reference group who have given us help, support and guidance in providing services for our patients. This has now progressed into an actual Patient Participation Group (PPG) and the results of this survey will be discussed at our next PPG meeting.

We would welcome your comments and feedback on the results of this survey.

Terms & Conditions for using Online Services

About Patient Access (formally known as Emis Access)

Patient Access is only available to patients who are registered with our surgery.

Using Patient Access, you can now view, book and cancel appointments at Hawkinge Health Centre or The Elham Surgery and request repeat medication prescriptions from home, work or on the move – wherever you can connect to the internet. What’s more, because Patient Access is a 24 hour online service – you can do this in your own time, day or night.

Confidentiality and Security

Information sent via Patient Access is encrypted. This means that messages sent cannot be intercepted or read by others, and only the Patient and the Practice are able to see any personal information.

The computer system is connected to Patient Access through the NHS network, which is more secure than a normal internet connection. The Surgery will only enable the internet access facilities if requested to do so by the Patient.

Terms and Conditions

Whilst the Surgery makes all reasonable efforts to provide the Service, it is not liable for any failure to provide the Service, in part or full, for any cause that is beyond its’ reasonable control.

This includes, in particular, any suspension of the Service resulting from maintenance and upgrades to the systems or those of any party used to provide the Service.

You must keep your Personal Details secret and take all reasonable precautions to prevent the fraudulent use of your Personal Details. If fraudulent use is suspected, contact the Surgery as soon as possible.

  • This facility is currently available for ROUTINE doctors’ appointments only, to discuss a single issue.
  • The system is set to allow three appointments to be booked online at any one time.
  • All booked appointments are cancellable on-line; if an appointment booked on-line, is not cancelled without good reason, and results in a ‘did not attend’, the Surgery reserves the right to revoke its use and remove the patients from our list.
  • If your selected GP becomes unavailable at short notice we may move your appointment to another GP without notification.
  • If the appointment can not be found on our system we will only honour the appointment if you have printed the confirmation of booking
  • Requests for repeat medication prescriptions will take 2 working days to process.

The Hawkinge and Elham Valley Practice reserves the right to change the Service from time to time and shall give appropriate notice of any material changes. They may, where considered appropriate for patient protection, suspend, withdraw or restrict the use of the Service or any part of the Service. Patients will be notified as soon as practicable if any such action is taken. The surgery reserves the right to vary these Terms and Conditions and appropriate notice will be given of any material changes.

We have taken all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the contents of this site. However, because of the nature of the site, we do not give any warranties, express or implied, as to the availability of the site or the accuracy of the information contained in any of the materials accessed via the site or the suitability of the information of any particular purpose and hereby disclaim such warranties to the extent permitted by law.

Within the site you may find links or references to third party web sites outside the site. We accept no liability in respect of the contents of such sites. We are not party to, or responsible for, any services available from such third party web sites nor for the content therein.

Any images published on the site are deemed to be in the public domain. If it is discovered that any image is subject to copyright, we will remove it immediately.

Data Sharing

The NHS is changing and services are being restructured. These reforms will impact upon the way that clinical data are collected, shared and analysed. Under the powers of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (HSCA), the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) can, under certain circumstances, require Personal Confidential Data (PCD) from GP practices without seeking patient consent. One of the first initiatives using these new powers is the care.data service. This service has been commissioned by NHS England and will be delivered by the HSCIC. The HSCIC is England’s central authoritative source of health and social care information (see FAQ 1 for further information).

In the future, approved researchers may also benefit. The HSCIC will link PCD extracted from GP systems with PCD from other health and social care settings. The BMA supports the use of patient data for secondary purposes, including commissioning, and recognises the importance of greater transparency and more intelligent use of data to improve the quality of care delivered to patients.

Achieving these aims must not undermine existing high standards of confidentiality.
NHS England has made a commitment that personal confidential data will not be shared unless there is a legal basis or an overriding public interest in disclosure.

Named GP

GP Contract Requirement
All patients registering with the practice will be assigned a named GP who will be responsible for overseeing their care. Patients can, however, choose to see any GP or Nurse in the practice in line with current arrangements.

Dr Qasim Mahmood oversees the residential/nursing homes and patients with surname J-R

Dr Gavin Oochit oversees surnames A-I

Dr Theodora Nelson oversees surnames S-Z

Average 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 for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparisons with other practices.”
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GP’s working to deliver NHS services to patients in each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in the practice of The Hawkinge & Elham Valley Practice in the last financial year was £55,907 before Tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 4 part time GPs who worked for the practice for more than six months.

The average pay for GP’s working in the Hawkinge & Elham Valley Practice Surgery for the 2016 – 2017 financial year was £62,127 before Tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GP’s and 3 part time GP’s who worked in the practice for more than six months.

The average pay for GP’s working in the Hawkinge & Elham Valley Practice Surgery for the 2015 – 2016 financial year was £79,400 before Tax and National Insurance. This is for 3 full time GP’s and 2 part time GP’s who worked in the practice for more than six months.