Keeping Everyone Safe

 

Safeguarding Children and Young People

Our Primary Care Team is committed to safeguarding children. The safety and welfare of children and young people who come into contact with our services either directly or indirectly is paramount, and all PCN staff have a responsibility to ensure that Best Practice is followed, including compliance with statutory requirements.

We are committed to a Best Practice which safeguards children and young people irrespective of their background, and which recognises that a child may be abused regardless of their age, gender, religious beliefs, racial origin or ethnic identity, culture, class, disability or sexual orientation.

The Primary Care Team are committed to working within agreed policies and procedures and in partnership with other agencies, to ensure that the risks of harm to a child or young person are minimised. This work may include direct and indirect contact with children, access to patient’s details and communication via email or text message/telephone.

We have a specific Safeguarding Policy we follow with Designated Safeguarding Leads.

Our Surgery is supported by the Integrated Care Board who have designated Nurses andDoctors in post who offer professional expertise and advice regarding safeguarding children.

Further information about Safeguarding

 

Removal of Patients from Our List

After interaction with Social Prescribers a shared decision-making discussion will take place and an agreed plan of action will be formulated.

Social Prescribers will support patients to gain confidence, develop resilience and direct patients to external agencies for support if required.

It is our policy not to remove patients without serious consideration. However, if a patient doesn’t actively engage with Social Prescribers or a Social Prescriber feels in danger, we may remove patients from our service.

Possible grounds for consideration of removal include:

  1. Physical violence to social prescribers, other members of East Hants PCN staff, GP surgery staff or other patients
  2. Threat of violence to social prescribers, other members of East Hants PCN staff, GP surgery staff or other patients
  3. Abusive or disruptive behaviour including when under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  4. Abusive telephone calls, voicemails, texts, messages, letters or emails
  5. Language, which is designed to insult or degrade, is derogatory, racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic or which makes serious allegations that individuals have committed criminal, corrupt, perverse or unprofessional conduct of any kind, without any evidence, is unacceptable. We may decide that comments aimed not at us, but at third parties, are unacceptable because of the effect that listening or reading them may have on our staff.
  6. Excessive communication via telephone calls, voicemails, texts, messages, letters or emails.
  7. Theft from the Surgery, staff, Doctors or other patients
  8. Criminal damage to staff property or at the GP Surgery
  9. Dangerous dogs posing a real or potential hazard on home visits
  10. Altering documents e.g. prescriptions, insurance certificates
  11. Defamation of Doctors or staff
  12. Misuse of appointments
  13. Misuse of home visits
  14. Moving out of our catchment area
  15. Any other breakdown of the bond of trust between Social Prescriber and patient
  16. No response from patients after repeated attempts to arrange an appointment

It should be noted that if a patient does not attend their appointment whether at the surgery or at their home we can’t guarantee when the next appointment will occur. In the event of a patient not attending on three occasions they will be discharged from the Social Prescribers list.

 

Social Media

Patients are reminded that if they are found posting any derogatory, defamatory, or offensive comments on social media directed to the PCN or members of PCN staff on social networking sites, this may result in them being removed from the PCN team List. We ask if you have a complaint to please contact the PCN Business manager Emma Lance in the first instance.

NHS staff should be able to come to work without fear of violence, abuse or harassment from patients or their relatives.