Beccles Medical Centre is not a limited partnership.

 

Partners of the practice are:

• Dr Julia McLean
• Dr James Connors
• Dr Ben Rackham
• Mr Kevin Clouting
• Mr David Lewis

We are committed to protecting your privacy. You can access our website without giving us any information about yourself. But sometimes we do need information to provide services that you request, and this statement of privacy explains data collection and use in those situations.

In general, you can visit our web site without telling us who you are and without revealing any information about yourself. However there may be occasions when you choose to give us personal information, for example, when you choose to contact us or request information from us. We will ask you when we need information that personally identifies you or allows us to contact you.

We collect the personal data that you may volunteer while using our services. We do not collect information about our visitors from other sources, such as public records or bodies, or private organisations. We do not collect or use personal data for any purpose other than that indicated below:

• To send you confirmation of requests that you have made to us
• To send you information when you request it.

We intend to protect the quality and integrity of your personally identifiable information and we have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to do so. We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to State institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should be aware that we don’t have any control over the other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting these sites.

Beccles Medical Centre is part of the South Waveney Primary Care Network (SWAN).

The other GP practices within the PCN are:

• Bungay Medical Practice
• Longshore Surgeries
• Sole Bay Health Centre
• Cutlers Hill Surgery

Our Practices

We are a part of Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB), formally known as Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which was officially formed on 1 April 2020 as a result of the NHS England approved merger between Norwich CCG, North Norfolk CCG, South Norfolk CCG, West Norfolk CCG, and Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG.

The Norfolk and Waveney ICB are responsible for planning and buying local health services. This process is known as commissioning. They serve a population of 1.1 million people. The ICB work with patients, healthcare professionals, local communities and councils to make sure the right services are in place.

For more information about what they do you can visit the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) website.

For more information on the Clinical and Care Professional Leadership Programme, please visit this link.

Everybody has the right to be safe, no matter who they are or their circumstances.

Safeguarding is about protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse. We are all responsible for the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults and must ensure that we are doing all we can to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

Beccles Medical Centre has safeguarding policies to help to ensure the safety of all our patients and their dependents. Our staff are trained to identify people who may be at risk.

We are professionally and legally obliged to report any concerns to the appropriate Safeguarding authorities.

The practice also has a GP safeguarding Lead and a GP Safeguarding Deputy, who with the Safeguarding Team regularly review all cases in the practice.

If you feel the matter is urgent because a child or vulnerable adult is in immediate danger, phone 999.

If you have a non-urgent concern about a child or adult you can make a referral via the following links:

Making a non-urgent referral – Members of the public

Suffolk:

For children or adults:

Concerned? » Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership (suffolksp.org.uk)

Telephone Referral

If you are concerned about a child or an adult and unable to use the Portal below, you can call Customer First on 0808 800 4005 (this is a freephone number).

If you don’t want to give your name you don’t have to, the important thing is to let somebody know if you are worried about someone’s safety.

Online Referral

If you have a concern about a child or an adult and wish to make a safeguarding referral you will need to use the relevant Suffolk County Council Portal (child or adult).

The first time you complete a form you will be asked to create a new portal account. It’s quick and easy to register for an account, and it means the information you send is secure.

Access the secure Suffolk Adult Care Portal

Access the secure Suffolk Children and Young People’s Portal

There are user guides and video guidance available below if you need help using the portals.

Access the Adult Portal User Guides and Video Guidance

Access the Children and Young People’s Portal User Guides and Video Guidance

If you feel the need, as a member of the public, to raise your concern anonymously you can do so by clicking the link below:

Raise your concern anonymously about a child

Raise your concern anonymously about an adult

Norfolk

For children:

How to Raise a Concern – Children (norfolklscb.org)

Telephone referral:

If you are a member of the public you can do this through Norfolk County Council’s Customer Services on 0344 800 8020.

For adults:

Raising a concern | Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board

You can raise a safeguarding adults concern to Adult Social Services by telephone or online.

By telephone: 0344 800 8020 – this connects you to NCC customer service centre and they will help you to find the right route for your concern.

Or online: Report a concern – Safeguarding – Norfolk County Council

Useful Information:

Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership (suffolksp.org.uk)

Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) | Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board

Support for families of children with neurodevelopmental differences/additional needs in Waveney

NSPCC helpline:

You can contact the helpline in a number of ways to get expert advice from one of their advisors ;all are trained child protection officers.
Tel: 0808 800 5000
Text: 88858
Email: help@nspcc.org.uk

Childline 0800 1111: Offers free, confidential advice and support for any child 18 years or under, whatever the worry.

National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247 nationaldahelpline.org.uk/

SafeLives: Specific resources for domestic abuse and COVID. www.safelives.org.uk/domesticabuse-and-covid-19

MIND: Mental Health Support with specific advice on ‘Coronavirus and your wellbeing’. www.mind.org.uk

YoungMinds: Supporting children and young people and their parents/carers with their mental health and wellbeing. Specific advice on managing self-isolation and anxiety about coronavirus. www.youngminds.org.uk

ICON: Babies cry: You can cope. www.iconcope.org

Beccles Medical Centre operates a zero tolerance policy towards verbal or physical abuse towards any member of our staff.

We aim to provide high quality healthcare and we will treat all patients with respect and dignity. In return we expect all our staff to be treated with respect.

Patients are asked to be considerate and act reasonably. GPs, their staff and persons present on the premises have the right to care for others/visit the practice without fear of attack or being verbally abused. All incidents will be followed up and you may be sent a formal warning or removed from the practice list if your behaviour has been unreasonable.

At Beccles Medical Centre we welcome all feedback. We sincerely hope you find our services satisfactory.

We value and encourage new ideas and suggestions and we use these to review the services we provide. Any member of the Beccles Medical Centre team will do their upmost to help you and attempt to address any issues you may be experiencing. We do not want our patients to worry about sharing their experience or about asking for help.

Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service. We try to deal with any suggestions or comments swiftly and you can be assured your care or consultations will not be affected if you feel it necessary to make a complaint.

If you would like to contact us with a comment, suggestion or feedback you can do this in person, on the phone or via our website:

Contact Us

 

Complaints

Beccles Medical Centre is committed to providing a first class service for all our patients. However, we do understand that occasionally we are unable to meet your expectations and you may wish to have this formally recorded by registering a complaint. In this circumstance we would wish to do everything we can to learn from the incident and make sure the process does not make the matter more difficult for you.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from Beccles Medical Centre, please let us know.

We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. Our complaints system meets national criteria.

 

Making a complaint

Complaints should normally be made within 12 months of an incident or of it coming to your attention.

This time limit can be extended provided you have good reasons for not making the complaint sooner and it’s possible to complete a fair investigation.

This will be a decision taken by the complaints lead in discussion with you.

You can make a complaint verbally (by phone or in person), in writing or by email by contacting the complaints lead,  who is our Care Coordination Manager.

If you’re complaining on behalf of someone else, include their written consent with your letter (if you’re making your complaint in writing) as this will speed up the process.

If the person cannot give their consent, for example, if they have died or lack mental capacity, or are a child who cannot complain for themselves, you may be able to complain for them.

 

What to expect

• You should expect an acknowledgement and the offer of a discussion about the handling of your complaint within 3 working days of the practice receiving your complaint.
• If you accept, the discussion should cover the period within which a response to your complaint is likely to be sent (usually 30 days).
• There’s no set timeframe for responding, and this will depend on the nature of your complaint.
• If, in the end, the response is delayed for any reason, you should be kept informed.
• Once your complaint has been investigated, you’ll receive a response within the time frame specified.
• The response should set out the findings and, where appropriate, provide apologies and information about what’s being done as a result of your complaint.
• It should also include information about how the complaint has been handled and details of your right to take your complaint to the relevant ombudsman.

 

If you’re not happy with the outcome

If your problem persists or you’re not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with locally, you can complain to the relevant ombudsman.

 

Complaining to NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB)

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our services.

This does not affect your right to approach the Integrated Care Board (ICB) if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us.

The ICB complaints procedure can be found on their website:

Website: https://improvinglivesnw.org.uk

E-mail: nwicb.complaintsservice@nhs.net

In writing: Complaints Manager, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2DL

Telephone:  01603 595857 (This is an answer machine service. Please leave a message requesting a call back)

 

 

Beccles Medical Centre is a teaching practice.

The Practice is involved in teaching years 1, 2, 3 and 4 medical students from the University of East Anglia and the University of Cambridge.

You will be informed if a medical student is present at a clinic and if you do not wish the student to be present during your consultation, please inform reception staff.

Our medical student coordinator is Alison Sampson.

The Practice also hosts Physician Associate, Nursing, Paramedic and occasionally other allied health professional students and our own clinicians are part of continuous training and development, so may be supervised by a more senior clinician from time to time.

You will be informed if there is training during a clinic you attend and if you do not wish the student/trainee to be present during your consultation, please inform reception staff.