It is helpful to know if you have a Carer (someone who takes on an unpaid caring role) or if you are a Carer for someone else. For further details please see our ‘Carer’s Information Page’.

• Carer’s Organisations

The consultation that takes place between a patient and their Doctor/Nurse is private and confidential. Quite often an examination is required to help make a diagnosis. This may be straightforward or sometimes can be more personal or of a sensitive nature.

Under these circumstances your Doctor will normally seek your agreement to a Nurse or other trained staff member being present. You are welcome to bring a friend or relative to your appointment with you, however they will not be regarded as a chaperone.

If a chaperone is not offered but you would like someone to be present, do not be afraid to tell your doctor.

Procedures which are generally regarded as being of a sensitive nature are:

• Cervical cytology
• Gynaecological
• Testicular
• Breast Examination
• Rectal Examination

Our aim is to provide an excellent service to all our patients.

Should you have any concerns about any aspect of the service we provide please let us know. We hope you would speak to us first if you have a problem in order that we can address the issue and/or improve our processes and procedures.

Practice Complaints Procedure

You can either post your complaint, hand it in at Reception or email it to bnssg.greenvalleyscomplaints@nhs.net.

This Privacy Notice is to run alongside our standard Practice Privacy Notice:

COVID-19 Privacy Notice

The Freedom for Information Act 2000 gives the public the right to know how public services are run and how much they cost. From January 2005 General Practices must respond to requests about information it holds. However requests will have to satisfy a number of conditions. For further information please contact our Practice Manager.

Disclaimer: NHS England requires that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown below. However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, or to make any comparison with any other practice.

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. This is required in the interests of the greater public accountability, recognising GP pay is ultimately funded from tax paid by the public.

The average pay for GPs working in the Green Valleys Health Practice in the last financial year was £23,733 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 4 full time GP’s, 6 part time GP’s and 4 locum GP’s who worked in the practice for more than six months.

Changing Your Name

Simply complete a change of name request form and give it to reception. We will ask to see proof of a name change (such as a deed pole or marriage certificate) along with photographic evidence. If you can not provide this evidence, please call reception to discuss this further.

Changing Your Title

You can change your title from Mr to Mx, or Miss, Mrs, Ms to Mx without changing your gender

If you want to change your title from Miss, Mrs, Ms to Mr, or Mr to Miss, Mrs, Ms. You will have to change your gender on your NHS records too.

Changing Your Gender

You can do this at any time, by completing a gender change form and you do not have to have undergone any form of gender reassignment treatment. You must be aware that changing your gender will mean you will be allocated a new NHS number, and your pre-exisiting NHS number will no longer be accessible or be reversible. Your previous notes will be merged to your new notes, minus any previous identity information.

*unfortunately the NHS only accepts a male or female gender for registration and for gender change currently, if you wish to choose non binary or other, we can add an alert to your notes, so we as a practice know your preferred gender. Without a male or female gender we cannot register you or change your gender as Primary Care Services England (PCSE) will reject the application. Sadly, this is out of our hands, but we and others across the UK have raised this issue to get the system changed, when will this be, we do not know. We do understand your frustrations. 

We as a practice will ensure you get called in for your screening opportunities as long as you stay registered with us, but we do need to know your assigned gender at birth to ensure you get called in at the right time. NHS screening Guidance for Trans Patients further information can be found at Information for trans and non binary people and at I’m trans or non-binary, does this affect my cancer screening?

A new NHS number can take over 4 weeks to come through to us, once we notify PCSE. Once we receive your new NHS number, we will create a new registration for you at the practice within 5 days, and will aim to merge your old records to your new records in a timely manner.  You should be informed of your new NHS number by PCSE. If you do not receive, please contact us and we can give it to you. You may need to inform any hospitals you are under of your new NHS number so they can update your records.

Adoption and Gender Reassignment Processes 10/02/2021

Please help us to help you:

• Allow plenty of time to arrive for your appointment on time
• Report to Reception a few minutes before your appointment
• If you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment we may not be able to see you; you may be asked to rebook for another day
• Tell us straight away if you no longer require your booked appointment
• GP appointments are 10 minute consultations. This generally means the GP will only be able to deal with one problem. If you have more than one problem please let the receptionist know when booking your appointment and we can allow you more time
• If more than one member of your family needs to be seen please make a separate appointment for each of them
• We have both male and female Nurses and GPs. Please let us know if you have a preference when booking your appointment
• If you would like someone to accompany you during an examination please let us know in advance to ensure we have the personnel available
• Be patient … Medical emergencies sometimes arise and do cause schedules to fall behind

We aim to treat our patients with courtesy and respect at all times. We therefore also expect our patients to treat members of the practice team and other patients in a similarly appropriate manner. We take seriously any incident that causes hurt, alarm or distress to our staff or other patients. The practice will exercise its right to take action to have a patient removed from its practice list if they fail to behave in an acceptable manner.

Newsletters 2020 to 2021

Summary Care Records on the NHS Digital website.

• Summary Care Records Patient Leaflet
• Summary Care Records Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary Care Records Opt Out Form

Green Valleys Health is committed to giving the best possible service and welcomes feedback from patients and visitors.

All feedback is taken seriously and used to improve services for patients. The care of patients raising concerns will not be affected in any way and will continue to be our highest priority.

Please let us have your comments both positive and negative by completing a Friends and Family Test.

Your comments will help us to maintain our high standard of service.

Privacy Notice 2024

Community ME Service DPIA 2024 Community ME Service DPIA 2024

This notice explains who we are, why information is collected about you, the ways in which this information may be used, who it is shared with and how we keep it safe. It also explains how we use the information we hold about you, how you go about accessing this information if you wish to see it and to have any inaccuracies corrected or erased.

Your GP practice holds copies of your patient health record electronically and in paper format. Both contain the healthcare information about you that your GP needs including your medical history, medications, allergies, immunisations and vaccinations.

If you have previously registered with a different GP in England, upon registering at this practice your electronic health record will, where possible, be transferred automatically from your previous practice through the use of an NHS system called GP2GP.

Transferring Your Electronic Health Record information leaflet.

All practices, in line with government guidelines, have a ‘Zero Tolerance to Violence’ policy. This means that any violent or abusive behaviour or perceived threatening behaviour, whether verbal or otherwise to staff or members of the public on practice premises will not be tolerated. We can refuse to provide a service, report the incident to the Police and request that the patient and their family be removed from their Practice list.