The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available.
This scheme is available at Freedom of Information Publication Scheme or upon request to the Practice Manager.
The Practice aims to be fair and equitable and to recognise diversity in all its contacts with patients and staff.
Patients of the Practice comprise of people from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. The Practice is committed to eliminating discrimination on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, religion, sexuality and cultural and linguistic background.
We aim to provide services in a way that respects the needs of each individual and does not exclude anyone.
Equality is about ensuring that access to opportunities are available to all by taking account of people’s differing needs and capabilities. Equality is not about treating everyone the same.
Diversity is about recognising and valuing differences through inclusion, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial origin, religion, belief, sexual orientation, values and opinions etc.
The point of contact for the Practice for any enquiries relating to Equality and Diversity is Tracey Pike, Practice Manager.
The national Summary Care Record holds information specific and personal to you e.g. name, address, allergies, medication.
With your permission at the point of contact, other healthcare professionals can view the record which can be very useful, for example if you are taken ill in another part of the country.
The Practice is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998.
We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure.
It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that we can give you the best possible advice and care. This information is only made available to those involved in your care and when needed. You should never be asked for personal medical information by anyone not involved in your care.
All employee contracts of employment contain a confidentiality clause and the practice has developed its own confidentiality policy.
Access to information is treated on a ‘need to know’ basis and is controlled by the use of NHS Smartcards and passwords.
A confidentiality notice is displayed in our waiting rooms. Notice – How we use your health records
We also have a patient leaflet available. Leaflet – How we use your health records
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, patients can have access to their medical records.Prior written notice to your doctor is required.
Our complaints procedure complies with NHS requirements.
If you wish to make a formal complaint please download the form here or obtain a copy of our complaint procedure leaflet and form from reception.
We welcome constructive feedback, comments and suggestions about our services
Minor issues and grumbles can usually be dealt with verbally by our team and can be passed to a senior member of our team if required.
We have a comments and suggestions box located in the waiting rooms at St James Medical Centre and Orchard Medical Centre.
You can write to us at St James Medical Centre, Coal Orchard, Taunton, TA1 1JP or email to somicb.contact.stjames@nhs.net.
Some of the services we provide are not funded by the NHS.
We charge patients and businesses for a range of private work which includes: medicals, insurance claims and proposals, signing of various certificates e.g. fitness to travel.
Please allow at least three working days for any simple forms to be processed.
We require payment at the point of request for private services please. You can pay by cheque, cash or by online banking; we do not take debit or credit cards.
View our charges here
The Practice aims to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss receive information they can access and understand.
View our notice here.
To notify us of any disability, impairment or sensory loss please inform a member of our team.
This privacy policy is for this website StJamesMedicalCentre.co.uk and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it.
The policy sets out the different areas where user privacy is concerned and outlines the obligations & requirements of the users, the website and website owners. Furthermore the way this website processes, stores and protects user data and information will also be detailed within this policy.
This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website complies to all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy.
This website uses cookies to better the users experience while visiting the website. Where applicable this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer / device.
This complies with recent legislation requirements for website’s to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s computer / device.
Cookies are small files saved to the users computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website.
This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website.
Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors.
This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website but will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read Google’s privacy policy here for further information [ http://www.google.com/privacy.html ].
Other cookies may be stored to your computer’s hard drive by external vendors when this website uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may take longer. No personal information is stored, saved or collected.
Users contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form to email submission process but advise users using such form to email processes that they do so at their own risk.
This website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with further information about the products / services they offer or to assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted. This includes using your details to subscribe you to any email newsletter program the website operates but only if this was made clear to you and your express permission was granted when submitting any form to email process. Or whereby you the consumer have previously purchased from or enquired about purchasing from the company a product or service that the email newsletter relates to. This is by no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email marketing material. Your details are not passed on to any third parties.
This website operates an email newsletter program, used to inform subscribers about products and services supplied by this website. Users can subscribe through an online automated process should they wish to do so but do so at their own discretion. Some subscriptions may be manually processed through prior written agreement with the user.
Subscriptions are taken in compliance with UK Spam Laws detailed in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. All personal details relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. No personal details are passed on to third parties nor shared with companies / people outside of the company that operates this website. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you may request a copy of personal information held about you by this website’s email newsletter program. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to the business address at the bottom of this policy.
Email marketing campaigns published by this website or its owners may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include; the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of links within the email content, times, dates and frequency of activity [this is by no far a comprehensive list].
This information is used to refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant content based around their activity.
In compliance with UK Spam Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 subscribers are given the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time through an automated system. This process is detailed at the footer of each email campaign. If an automated un-subscription system is unavailable clear instructions on how to un-subscribe will by detailed instead.
Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links users should always adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website.
The owners of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
This website may contain sponsored links and adverts. These will typically be served through our advertising partners, to whom may have detailed privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve.
Clicking on any such adverts will send you to the advertiser’s website through a referral program which may use cookies and will tracks the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies which may in turn be saved on your computer’s hard drive. Users should therefore note they click on sponsored external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owners participate on are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.
Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate / engage upon them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. This website nor its owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact them through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.
This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.
