Freedom of Information
Click the following ink to download our freedom of information leaflet:
Freedom of Information Act Leaflet
Routine GP Clinic Times
Monday – Friday
Mornings – 9.00 am to 12pm
Evenings – 3.00 pm to 5 pm
Appointments
All surgeries are by appointment only. We will always see you on the same day if your problem is urgent. For routine matters please book an appointment as far in advance as possible and always cancel if you cannot attend
Named GP
From 1st April 2015, in line with new regulations, all patients have a named GP. Please ask at reception if you wish to know who your named GP is. You can of course continue to book to see any GP you wish.
If you have a preference as to who your named GP is please let us know and we will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate your wishes.
The named GP will take lead responsibility for the coordination of services required and will ensure these are delivered to you where required, based on the clinical judgement of the GP.
Seeing a Doctor
Expressing a preference – providing you have been accepted for inclusion on the practice list, you may express a preference to receive services from a particular doctor or nurse, either generally or in relation to a particular condition. If you wish to do this, please write to the practice manager, who will ensure that your preference(s) will be recorded in your records. We will endeavor to comply with your request but there may be occasions when we may not be able to do so.
Consultations
10 minutes is the NHS general practice standard. This is very, very difficult for the clinicians and for you, the patients, especially if there are complex issues. We do limit appointments to one problem – this can be frustrating but if we rush, we’ll make mistakes. One of the most problematical statements a patient will make at the end of a consultation is, ‘Just a quick question, doctor…’ It never is.
Please when booking try and remember “one appointment, one problem”. If you need a longer appointment, we can arrange this, you’ll just need to ask for this when booking your appointment if you’re wanting to discuss a few issues.
Test Results
To obtain the results of tests and investigations, please telephone personally after 2pm or use our online consultation tool to send a request to your GP. Some results require clarification and you may be asked to telephone again, speak to the doctor or make an appointment. You can also use the NHS app.
Home Visits
If you are too ill to attend the surgery please telephone for a visit before 10.30am. Our doctors typically see four patients in the practice it takes to do a single home visit. For this reason, we ask our patients to come to the practice if at all possible. Lack of transport is not a reason for requesting a house visit. We visit housebound patients whenever possible.
Emergency Out of Hours services
Should you require an emergency doctor when the surgery is closed (6:30pm – 8.00am Monday – Thursday and 6:30 pm Friday – 8.00am Monday, we are closed at Weekends.) your telephone call to the surgery will be automatically diverted to the out of hours service. The telephone number for the Out-of-Hours service is now 111. Your call will be handled by someone who will take your details and one of several things may happen:
- If it is very urgent an ambulance may be called
- For the majority of problems which only require advice there will be a doctor available
- Should you actually need to see a doctor, a time will be arranged for you to attend either the local Primary Care Centre at Hereford
- On occasions a home visit may be necessary for those too ill to attend the centre and a visit will be arranged.
The minor injury unit at Ledbury Community Hospital is for accidents and injuries and they can be contacted on 01531 – 632488. Should the nurses based at the unit be unable to deal with your problem you may be asked to attend the Out of Hours Centre at Hereford or be transferred to the County Hospital in Hereford.
For RNID typetalk text phone users if you need to contact the Out of Hours Service the number is listed in the ‘Disabled Patients’ section of the leaflet.
Disabled patients
The surgery has full access and facilities for disabled patients and Deaf Link.
For RNID typetalk text phone users, if you need to contact the Out of Hours Service please call 18001 0845 6018803.
Patient information
We ask for information about you so that you can receive the best possible care and treatment. We keep this information together with details of your care, to ensure that your doctor or nurse has accurate and up to date information when you need to seen.
There are times when we have to pass on information about you to other people such as hospitals, Social Services or Herefordshire Primary Care Trust. This is always done confidentially, or by removing your identifying details when they are not essential. These officers working within the NHS are bound by the strictest rules on confidentiality and the protection of patient information and have a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality relating to patient information.
Chaperone Policy
The practice is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.
All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. You may have a family member or friend present to provide support and comfort but they do not fulfil the role of a chaperone.
Wherever possible we would ask you to make this request at the time of booking your appointment so that arrangements can be made and your appointment is not delayed in any way. Where this is not possible we will endeavour to provide a formal chaperone at the time of request. However occasionally it may be necessary to reschedule your appointment.
Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our chaperone policy.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this please ask to speak to the practice manager.
Data Protection Act
The practice is fully computerised and we are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. A charge will be made for information requested under the terms of act.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
The practice is registered under the terms of the Act. A charge for information released within the Publication Scheme will be made.
Medical Research
The practice is a member of the Medical Research Council’s General Practice Research Framework – a national group of general practices interested in research in many topics. If the practice takes part in a study we may pass anonymised information from your medical records or our practice computer to the researchers coordinating the study. If we do, the information will not be able to be linked back to you in any way and will be used only for research which has been approved by an Ethics Committee. We may also write to you to ask whether you or your children would consider helping with some research. If we contact you, you would be free to refuse to help at this point without your medical care for the practice being affected in any way.
Patient Rights and Responsibilities
We aim to treat our patients 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, patients or property. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be warned to stop their behaviour. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients. Instances of violent behaviour will be referred to the Herefordshire Primary Care Trust Violent Patients Scheme, with access to healthcare services being severely compromised as a result.
Comments and Complaints
We aim to provide a high quality service and are very interested in hearing any constructive comments you may have.
The practice has an approved complaints procedure and we always welcome the opportunity of dealing with any part of our service that may be causing you concern. Please contact our practice manager by letter, telephone or in person to take advantage of this service.
We aim to provide a high quality service and are very interested in hearing any constructive comments you may have.
Should you require support making a complaint there is an Outside Advocacy Service (Worcester based) leaflets for which are available on request.
NHS England can advise you about your complaint on behalf of the Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group. The service is free of charge and may be contacted at:
Post: NHS England PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT
Telephone: 0300 311 2233 ( Mon – Fri 8am to 6pm excluding Bank Holidays)
Email: England.contactus@nhs.net
Confidentiality
All patients’ records and information will be handled in the strictest of confidence in accordance with NHS regulations and codes of practice. We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure. This information is only available to those involved in your care. For this reason staff may refuse to release information, particularly over the telephone, to a relative. This may occasionally appear unreasonable but it is hoped it will be recognised as being in the best interest of the patient.
AQP’S
AQP means Any Qualified Provider who have been approved by the NHS to give care to our patients. Please click on the link below to see the range of treatments that can be given. If you have any queries, please telephone the surgery for more information.
http://www.herefordshireccg.nhs.uk/contractors-contact-details
Vaccine Information
Please Click Here to Download the practice Vaccine Information
Required Information Publication
All GP Practices are required to declare the mean earnings (i.e. average pay) for GPS working to deliver NHS Services to patients at each Practice. The average pay for GPs working at Cradley Surgery in the financial year ended 31 March 2023 was £35,931 before the deduction of employees’ superannuation contributions, tax and national insurance. This is the average pay for two full-time and two part-time locums who worked in the Practice for more than six months during that year.
