Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have a right to know who holds personal information about you. This person or organisation is called the data controller. In the NHS, the data controller is usually your local NHS Trust and your GP surgery. The NHS must keep your personal health information confidential; it is your right.

Please be aware that our staff are bound to the NHS code of confidentiality. Our staff are therefore not permitted to discuss any of our patient’s medical history, including their registration status, without their written consent to do so.

Once we have received their written consent and verified this with the patient, we can then we can provide you with this information. This includes complaining on behalf of a patient, but excludes patients who are unable to act on their own behalf and already have a designated person or carer responsible for their medical care.

We therefore respectfully ask parents and guardians not to request information regarding their relatives, or to complain on their behalf, unless we have their written consent to do so.

The practice is committed to putting patients at ease wherever possible.

If you wish for a chaperone to be present during an examination, please do not hesitate to ask a clinician or one of our receptionists.

It may not be possible for such a person to be provided immediately and you may have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

Trust is important in the relationship between clinician and patient and we would at all times, wish you to feel able to ask for a chaperone. It is the policy of the practice to respect the privacy, dignity, cultural and religious beliefs of our patients.

If you would like to register as a new patient, please use our online new patient registration form.

Anybody in England, whether a resident or overseas visitor, may access primary care services at a GP practice without charge.

Homeless patients are entitled to register with a GP using a temporary address, which may be a friends address or a day centre. The practice address may also be used to register but we will need up to date contact details.

No documents are required to register with a GP, however sometimes we will contact you for further information to confirm your registration.

We request that all new patients should present two forms of identification if you have these. This helps to reduce and prevent fraudulent attempts to obtain or misuse NHS care. Overseas visitors may be asked for additional information to prove NHS entitlement.

If presenting identification, one form should ideally be photographic such as:

• Passport
• Drivers licence
• Official ID card from public services body
• Student matriculation card (current year)

Other documents for prove of residency that are acceptable are:

• Recent utility bill (within last 3 months)
• Council tax document
• Television licence
• Payslips (last two months)
• Rent book/agreement (Public Body or Private Landlord)
• Bank statement (Name and address section only required)
• Solicitors letter- (Clearly showing name and address)

If unable to provide photographic evidence then you can present one of the above and one of the following:

• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Divorce/annulment papers