Practice Information

Our job is caring for the sick and positively promoting health in our patients, so, we will promote and provide the best possible healthcare in a pleasant working environment through an efficient first-class healthcare team making good use of NHS resources.

Tywyn Health Centre has an active patient participation group (PPG), which was established in 2022 to improve communication between the practice and the community.  The group consists of local councillors, representatives from each of the villages in our catchment area and members of the Health Centre team.

The group now has a Facebook page, created and maintained by one of our PPG members. You’ll find the minutes from our latest meeting, up-to-date news articles relating to the practice and a forum for discussion on this page. Our non-Health-Centre-staff PPG members are our community ambassadors so if you have an issue you’d like to raise or a question you’d like answered and you find it easier to contact your community PPG member then please don’t hesitate to contact them or visit the PPG Facebook page:

Facebook page for Patient Participation Group at Tywyn Health Centre

• Be registered with a General Practitioner
• Change doctor if desired
• Be offered a health check on joining the Practice
• Receive emergency care from the Practice
• Receive appropriate drugs and medicines
• Be referred for specialist or second opinion if they and the GP agrees
• You are entitled to the same treatment regardless of age, race or religion.
• You have the right to access your medical records and those who wish to do so must make their requests in writing and address them to Mrs Beverley Williams, our Practice Manager. A fee will be charged for this service.

The Practice adheres to a strict code of confidentiality. Any medical information can only be disclosed to another party (e.g. a Solicitor) with your written consent (with the exception of a few rare circumstances). Thus we are not at liberty to disclose information regarding relatives unless you are the parent or guardian of a minor.

If you prefer to have a chaperone present during an intimate examination please inform the Doctor. You can either ask a member of staff or a friend/family member to be present.

Your medical records are held in the strictest confidence. Information is not passed on without your consent unless it is within the confines of the NHS, via the legal framework, or is in the public interest.

Certain anonymised patient data may be shared for the purposes of public health and audit, research, teaching and training. This practice is registered under The Data Protection Act. It is a practice and legal requirement that all staff maintain confidentiality of patient’s records. If you require a copy of our Freedom of Information Act Model Publication scheme write to Mrs Beverley Williams, Practice Manager.

Sharing your GP medical record with other healthcare professionals involved in your care

In Wales, 64 groups of GP practices have been established and these are known as “Primary Care Clusters”. Their job is to ensure that the health and social care needs of all of their patients are met, in the best possible way. Within each cluster, GPs will work alongside Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists and other Allied Health Professionals, such as Physiotherapists, to share information and resources between them. Some of the benefits of this way of working are:

• continuation of the existing patient-doctor relationship in the absence of your usual GP
•  improved access to consultations across different sites
• a wider range of services

A qualified healthcare professional will be able to access your GP medical record. This will usually be for the specific problem you are presenting with, and will allow the professional assessing you to have quicker, easier access to relevant information about you.

Cluster Pharmacists may access your records when, for example, undertaking prescription reviews or answering any queries about your medication. This is to ensure that medicines are prescribed safely, efficiently and effectively.

Other staff within the practice, such as receptionists, will also have access to your medical record to carry out tasks such as processing prescriptions, delivering test results and directing you to the most appropriate healthcare professional.

All healthcare professionals accessing your records will normally be employed by either one of the GP Practices within the cluster or by the Local Health Board. For details of which practices are in your cluster, please refer to http://www.primarycareone.wales.nhs.uk/primary-care-clusters-in-gwynedd#meirionnydd

Information which can be accessed, where there is a need, includes:

• personal information, such as name, date of birth, gender;
• allergies;
• medication;
• hospital admission, attendances and referral dates;
• vaccinations and immunisations;
• test results, including measurements such as blood pressure;
• diagnoses (current and post problems);
• treatment and medical procedures.

No information will routinely be blocked from viewing unless you specifically ask for information to be hidden. For example, it may be possible to hide particularly sensitive information such as sexually transmitted diseases, termination of pregnancy, etc. from certain individuals. If you have any questions, please discuss this initially with your Practice Manager.

Your GP medical record is stored on a secure computer system and access to it is strictly controlled. All of the practices within the cluster, and the local health board, will have signed an agreement to confirm that they will follow the strict controls in place around the computer system itself, and around from viewing any staff who are allowed to access the system. Everyone working within the cluster has a legal, contractual and professional duty to keep information about you secure and confidential.

Every time your electronic GP medical record is accessed an audit log is created. These audit logs are retained so if you are concerned that someone has inappropriately accessed your record, please discuss this initially with the Practice Manager.

Contracts are in place with the supplier of the clinical computer systems to ensure that they have robust security measures installed. These measures will prevent any information from being accessed without permission, lost or accessed inappropriately by a third party.

Please see our leaflet “Primary Care Cluster; Access to your medical information” (also available on our website or from GP Reception). It explains how you can access your own health records, how you can get further  information and what to do if you have any concerns about your information. If you would like additional information you can discuss the sharing of your medical records with the Practice Manager, GP or any other member of the healthcare team.

PRIVACY NOTICE

This Supplementary Privacy Notice describes how your Practice may use patient information to protect them and others during the COVID – 19 outbreak. This supplements your main Privacy Notice for Patients and can be found via the link below for use by your Practice.

The rationale of this supplementary notice is that NHS Wales is facing significant pressures due to the COVID 19 pandemic and action is being taken to manage and ease the spread and impact of the outbreak. To do this Practices are working closely with other health and care organisations to provide the services people need as quickly and as easily as possible. In the current emergency it has become even more important to share health and care information across relevant organisations so that you can better support your patients during this outbreak.

The practice is a training practice. At times there may be a training GP (GP Registrar) attached to the practice. This is usually for periods of 6 months but can be for up to a year at a time.

GP Registrars are fully qualified Doctors who are working with us prior to joining their own practice. During their training some consultations will be videoed – your consent will be asked when you make the appointment.

Medical students from the Welsh National School of Medicine are taught in the surgery from time to time. They work under close supervision and patients are always given the opportunity to decline to be seen by a student. Please do not hesitate to tell the receptionist. Your wishes will be fully respected.

Please support the doctors of the future and help them to learn.

Individual Rights Request Form

Download Practice Leaflet

Zero Tolerance Poster

Complaints Procedure

Please click on the link to read our publication scheme:

Practice Publication Scheme