Where possible, a clinician must be satisfied that a patient understands and consents to a proposed treatment, immunisation or investigation.

The clinician must also ensure that other possible treatment options, including the risks and benefits of each, have been explained to the patient before the patient makes their decision to consent.

We want all our patients to be able to make valid consent decisions about the care they will receive from us. There are two types of consent for treatment:

Implied Consent

Implied consent will be assumed for many routine physical contacts. Where implied consent is to be assumed by the clinician, the following will apply:

• An explanation will be given to you what doctor, nurse or healthcare assistant is about to do, and why.
• The explanation must be sufficient for you to understand the procedure.

In all cases where the patient is under 18 years of age, a verbal confirmation of consent will be obtained and entered into the medical record.

Where there is a significant risk to the patient an ‘Expressed Consent’ will be obtained in all cases.

Expressed Consent

Expressed consent (written or verbal) will be obtained for any procedure which carries a risk that you are likely to consider as being substantial.

A note will be made in your medical record detailing the discussion about the consent and the risks.

A consent form may be used for the patient to express consent.

You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, whether doctor, nurse or receptionist, will remain confidential. Even if you are under 16, nothing will be said to anyone, including parents, other family members, care workers or teachers, without your permission. The only reason why we might want to consider passing on confidential information without your permission would be to protect either you or someone else from serious harm. In this situation, we would always try to discuss this with you first.

If you have any worries or queries about confidentiality, please ask a member of staff.

If you would like to discuss matters of a confidential nature, either with our receptionists or a member of the dispensary team, we have a side room available in reception for this purpose.

We will always respect your privacy, dignity and your religious and cultural beliefs particularly when intimate examinations are advisable – these will only be carried out with your express agreement and you will be offered a chaperone to attend the examination if you so wish.

You may also request a chaperone when making the appointment or on arrival at the surgery (please let the receptionist know) or at any time during the consultation.

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice. The required disclosure is shown below.

The average pay for GPs working at The Dove Medical Practice in the last financial year was £60,201 before tax and national insurance.

This is for 8 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earning 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 judgment about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.