Author: emis
Last saved by: Jasmine Snelling (Chepstow - Town Gate Practice)

TOWN GATE PRACTICE
Dr Alison Van Buren, Dr Sarah Smith, Dr Siwan Rees,
 Dr Gemma Bryning, Dr Oriana Pampolini-Roberts, Dr Rehana Purcell, Dr Dee Clark.

PRACTICE INFORMATION BROCHURE

Welcome to Town Gate Practice

This Practice Information Leaflet is to introduce you to the services offered by the Practice, and how best to access them.

The Doctors and Staff of the Practice are listed below. Our receptionists are there to assist you to identify the most appropriate member of the medical team to help you with any problem or enquiry you may have. You can choose to be seen at either the Chepstow or Sedbury surgery with appointment availability at both.

Contact Numbers

Chepstow Surgery						01291 440065
Sedbury Surgery						01291 626041
Emergency Out of Hours					111

Introducing the Practice Team:-
The Doctors
Dr Alison Van Buren	Dr Sarah Smith	              Dr Gemma Bryning	       Dr Dee Clark      	             Dr Rehana Purcell               Dr Siwan Rees 
Advanced nurse practitioners 
April Brittan		Helen Murley
Nurses
Emma Downer 	Hana Barlow 	Ailsa Lambert 
Health Care Assistants
Linda Sandison	Amanda D’Leny	Lesley Elworthy	

Practice Manager         
Carol Evans                           
Assistant Practice Manager 
Jane Scriven 
Administration
Jasmine Snelling 
Practice Secretaries 
Julie Jones		   Pauline Russell

Reception Manager         Sedbury Surgery Supervisor
 Helena McMahon                Claire Compton				
Receptionists
Cheryl Jordan	Susan Werikhe	     	Jackalyn Keating-Farnham
Debbie Smith 	Jane Griffiths 		Carol Dunsbee
Kim Dunter 		Jenna Edwards 	
Dispensers
Rebecca Lovell	Claire Foster	Wendy Harding 
Prescribing Clerk
Sian Prior

Town Gate Practice is a training Practice for undergraduates and postgraduates.
A post-graduate trainee is a qualified doctor who is gaining experience as a General Practitioner and will hold his or her own surgeries.
Undergraduates will sometimes be attached to the Practice and sitting in on surgeries. You will always be advised if this is the case, and you will be able to decide whether you wish them to be present at your consultation.

Town Gate Practice operates from two sites.

Town Gate Practice, Tempest Way, Chepstow NP16 5XP 
Telephone		01291 440065
  
Sedbury Surgery, Beachley Road, Sedbury, Chepstow NP16 7AA.
Telephone 	 	01291 626041

Patients can be seen at the surgery of their choice.The Practice is available by telephone from 8:00am to 6:30pm on Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Urgent General Medical Services can be accessed outside these hours on
 111.  This service is provided by the Gwent Out of Hours Service.

Chepstow surgery is open.
Monday | 8:00am to 6:30pm
Tuesday | 8:00am to 6:30pm
Wednesday | 8:00am to 6.30pm
Thursday | 8:00am to 6.30pm
Friday | 8:00am to 6:30pm

Sedbury surgery is open. 
Monday | 9:00am to 1:00pm | 2:00pm to 6:15pm
Tuesday | 9:00am to 1:00pm | 2.00pm to 6.15pm
Wednesday | 9:00am to 1:00pm | 2.00pm to 6:15pm
Thursday | 9:00am to 1:00pm | 2.00pm to 6:15pm
Friday | 9:00am to 1:00pm | 2.00pm to 6.00pm

Life Threatening Emergencies
If you suffer life threatening symptoms, for example sudden onset of chest pain, shortness of breath or uncontrolled haemorrhage you should DIAL 999

If you, or someone you are with, require immediate medical attention it is the responsibility of the Ambulance Service to attend DIAL 999

For 24 hour confidential healthcare advice, or if you have queries about NHS services and accessing them in non-urgent circumstances then you can ring NHS Direct on 111. 

Town Gate Practice Medical Services

Appointments

Town Gate Practice Appointment System Policy
Town Gate Practice operates an appointment system for seeing a GP or Practice Nurse. We do not operate a ‘walk in’ clinic at any time. 

Protocol for booking appointments with a GP
1. Each appointment with a GP is for 12 minutes which is usually sufficient for the doctor to deal with one medical problem. If you have multiple medical problems that you wish to discuss, the doctor may ask you to make a further appointment.
2. An appointment is for one person only. If there are other members of the family who need to see a doctor, they must make a separate appointment.
3. Patients may make an appointment to see any of the doctors. Although we will do our best to offer appointments with the doctor of choice, this may not always be possible.
4. The receptionist will ask the reason for the appointment. This is the doctor’s request to give the most suitable appointment with the most appropriate clinician. Declining to give a reason will not prevent the allocation of an appointment but is requested in the best interest of the patient.

Routine Appointments
These are with the GP of choice and available to book in advance. We endeavour to appoint you within three weeks of the appointment request. These appointments are for those that do not require urgent care or assessment. They offer continuity of care for ongoing conditions.

Same Day Appointments 
Acute appointments are available for those problems that need to be dealt with more quickly such as infections or acutely painful conditions. We do not offer a choice of GP for these appointments but all patients including children will be appointed with the dedicated doctor of the day.
Please only call when you are available to attend the surgery, lines are open from 8am. All patients with an acute presentation are offered a same day consultation. Acutely poorly children will always be offered a same day appointment.
House Calls
Patients can request a house call if they are housebound and unable to attend the surgery for a medical reason. We do not offer house calls to patients that have a problem with transport or to children. The clinician may telephone to obtain more details before confirming a visit. 

Accessing Appointments
We would encourage you to use our digital solutions to access a GP for routine appointments and advice. This will leave the phone lines available for urgent matters. Klinik is available from a link on the website at towngatepractice.net.
Patients may also email non-urgent enquires to admin.tg@wales.nhs.uk. We aim to respond within two working days to digital communication. Patients may telephone the surgery on 01291 440065 or 01291 626041, patients can call either surgery for appointments at either site.

When requesting an appointment please note that the GP can conduct appointments over the telephone and face to face depending on the condition and preference. 

Clinics
The Nurses run several clinics and appointments for these are made via the receptionists.

Ante-Natal Clinic
There is a midwife run weekly clinic in both our Chepstow. For midwife care in Sedbury please call 03304218188/8189

Phlebotomy Appointments
Phlebotomists are people trained to draw blood and the Practice employs Healthcare Assistants to take blood tests for you when you may need them. The practice does not take bloods requested by hospital Consultants, please contact Jane Bevan on 07891314067 for bloods to be done in Chepstow community hospital outpatients department. 

Health Care Assistant Appointments
Linda, Lesley and Amanda are Health Care Assistants (HCA’s) working in the Practice their duties include phlebotomy, giving some immunisations, blood pressure checks, ECG's, spirometry, dressings urinalysis and well person checks. They may even contact you at home to invite you for various tests or to arrange appointments for routine clinics.
Travel Injections
We do not offer travel advice. Please go to a private travel clinic for advice. 
We can administer Hepatitis A and or Typhoid injections if you need them and this has been advised by the travel clinic.   

Routine Health Checks
Routine health checks can be booked. 
•	All patients newly registered with the Practice can request a routine health check with a doctor. 
•	For patients over 75 a health check can be requested annually
•	For those patients under 75 a health check can be requested every 5 years.

Medical Certificates (sick notes)
NHS medical certificates are provided for periods of incapacity from work, which are greater than 7 days. There is a legal requirement that these certificates are not issued until the 7^th day of incapacity and cannot be issued without seeing a Doctor, either in hospital or in General Practice. For periods of absence less than 7 days you must complete a self-certification form and this is available from your employers. 

Dispensary
The Practice can offer a dispensing service to our patients who living more than one mile from the nearest chemist, or for any patient with special circumstances i.e. frail, elderly, disabled living anywhere. This enables you to collect your actual medication from Sedbury surgery. If you think you may qualify for ‘special circumstances’ dispensing. The dispensers will be pleased to help you complete the appropriate paperwork.

Practice Values
1. The practice will manage medical conditions according to the highest standards as defined by the profession.

2. All staff will treat you with courtesy and respect.

3. You will receive appropriate information regarding your medical condition and treatment.

4. Partners, nurses and staff will be encouraged to undertake appropriate further training.

Patients Responsibilities

1. Patients should attend their consultations at the arranged times and if this is not possible inform the practice as soon as possible.

2. Patients should understand that consultations are for one person only. A further consultation should be booked for more than one person.

3. Patients are responsible for their own health and the health of their children and should cooperate with the practice in trying to keep themselves healthy.

4. We ask that patients treat the staff and doctors with respect and courtesy. The practice operates a zero tolerance policy with regard to aggression and violence towards staff and doctor. In the case of, or threat of, violence the police will be asked to attend the practice. Verbal aggression will not be tolerated. Any case of verbal aggression will be reviewed by the Practice Partners, and will result in a warning letter from the Partners, or a request for removal from the Practice list.

How we use your information 
This privacy notice explains why Town Gate Practice collects information about you, and how that information may be used.  

As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998.  This means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled in ways that are safe, transparent and what you would reasonably expect.  The Health and Social Care Act 2012 changed the way that personal confidential data is processed. Therefore it is important that patients are made aware of, and understand these changes and that you have an opportunity to object if you so wish and that you know how to do so.

Health care professionals maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within the NHS (e.g. NHS Hospital Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.).  These records help to provide the best possible healthcare.

NHS health records may be processed electronically, on paper or a mixture of both, and a combination of working practices and technology are used to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.  Records held by this GP Practice may include the following information:

•	Details about you, such as address and next of kin
•	Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
•	Notes and reports about your health
•	Details about your treatment and care
•	Results of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
•	Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you
This GP Practice collects and holds data for the sole purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and we will ensure that information is kept confidential.  We can disclose personal information if:
(a)	It is required by law
(b)	You consent – either implicitly for the sake of your own care or explicitly for other purposes
(c)	It is justified in the public interest
Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes.  Where we hold data centrally, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.
Sometimes information about you may be requested to be used for research purposes.  The Practice will always endeavour to gain your consent before releasing the information.
Under the powers of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (HSCA) the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) can request Personal Confidential Data (PCD) from GP Practices without seeking the patient’s consent.  The Care.Data Programme allows PCD to be collected by the HSCIC to ensure that the quality and safety of services is consistent across the country.  Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare providers with the objective of providing you with better care. 
Any patient can choose to withdraw their consent to their data being used in this way.  When the Practice is about to participate in any new data-sharing scheme we will make patients aware by displaying prominent notices in the surgery and on our website at least four weeks before the scheme is due to start.  We will also explain clearly what you have to do to ‘opt-out’ of each new scheme. 
A patient can object to their personal information being shared with other health care providers but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time. 
How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (which is overseen by the Information Commissioner’s Office), Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security.  

All of our staff, contractors and committee members receive appropriate and on-going training to ensure they are aware of their personal responsibilities and have contractual obligations to uphold confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures.  Only a limited number of authorised staff has access to personal information where it is appropriate to their role and is strictly on a need-to-know basis.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times.  We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it.  We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to access/view information the Practice holds about you, and to have it amended or removed should it be inaccurate.  This is known as ‘the right of subject access’  If we do hold information about you we will:

•	give you a description of it; 
•	tell you why we are holding it; 
•	tell you who it could be disclosed to; and 
•	let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form. 

If you would like to make a ‘subject access request’ visit our website to complete a form.  The Practice is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998.  The registration number is Z764947X and can be viewed online in the public register at.  

Practice Area
The Practice area is marked on the map below by a thick black line. The Practice area broadly covers the NP16 postcode area and the southern end of GL15. If you are resident outside of these postal areas and wish to register with the Practice please let our receptionists know and they will be happy to check whether it is possible for you to register. Patients moving outside the practice area will be asked to register with surgery closer to their home.

 	
If you have any queries about any aspect of the service we provide then please do not hesitate to ask the receptionist.

If you have any queries, comments or complaints that you do not wish to address through reception, then you can contact the Practice Manager, Mrs Carol Evans in writing. The Receptionists will also be happy to pass any requests to her.

Jan 2024