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. We have an established Carer’s policy and a Carer’s information pack available from Reception.

The practice is committed to providing a safe and comfortable environment where patients and staff are confident that best practice is being followed.

Patients are entitled to ask for a chaperone for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel they prefer to have a chaperone.

The practice will endeavour to provide a formally trained chaperone upon request, but patients would help us by requesting a chaperone when booking an appointment where a chaperone is required. This may mean rescheduling appointments in order to meet this need.

A doctor, nurse or other health care professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations.

Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service and to deal quickly with problems that arise.

In support of this we operate a complaints procedure. Our system meets the nationally agreed criteria for dealing with NHS complaints. A leaflet giving details of our procedure is available.

Complaints Leaflet

You can obtain a copy of the NHS complaints procedure by visiting nhsinform.scot.

Sedatives for procedures being carried out elsewhere

We are unable to provide prescriptions for sedatives, like diazepam, for dental and medical procedures and scans taking place in other healthcare settings.

Benzodiazpams, like diazepam, work by making you feel more relaxed and sleepier which can feel like a good thing when facing an anxiety cause procedure. However, they do come with associated risks, especially if the person performing the procedure does not know what you have taken. In some cases, they can actually have the opposite effect causing increased agitation. They can also impair your judgement and lead to drowsiness and light headedness and increase your risk of accidents. Longer term they can lead to issues with dependence (addiction) and tolerance.

When procedures are taking place in other settings it is important for the team performing these to know if you are taking sedative medication and to be able to monitor their effects. It is generally therefore best that the person who is undertaking the procedure is the one prescribing the medication. Dentists are prescribers and can prescribe sedatives if they decide it is necessary. Likewise for scans and procedures organised by the hospital if you think you may need a sedative you should speak to the requesting or performing team who can decide if this is appropriate or not.

Diazepam and flying

Anchor Mill Medical Practice has taken the decision to no longer prescribe benzodiazepines, like diazepam, for fear of flying. We understand this may be difficult, particularly for those who have in the past received prescriptions from us, but we have set out some of the reasons behind this decision below.

1. Benzodiazepines are sedative drugs; part of the way they work is by making you feel sleepier and more relaxed. Whilst flying there are concerns this could affect behaviour and response times in an emergency, potentially putting yourself, fellow passengers, and crew members at increased risk if they needed to help you instead of dealing with the situation.

2. Benzodiazepines may increase your risk of deep vein thrombosis, blood clots in the legs and lungs. They affect sleep quality, leading to more non-REM sleep, meaning your body moves less than during natural sleep. This risk is more likely on flights longer than four hours. Clots like this can make people extremely ill and can at times be fatal.

3. Although for most people benzodiazepines cause sedation, they can occasionally cause people to become more agitated and behave in unusual ways. This may lead to problems whilst in airports and on flights.

4. Respiratory changes. Oxygen levels even for normal healthy people reduce when up in the air. Benzodiazepines can affect your breathing causing you to breathe less well which might be particularly problematic if you have underlying heart or breathing difficulties already.

5. These effects can all be enhanced when taking alcohol which is common on flights and could add to the concerns already discussed above.

6. Benzodiazepines are not licensed medications for phobias. This means that GPs could be liable for any adverse effects taken when these are prescribed for this reason. They are not recommended for mild and self-limiting anxiety. They can be used for moderate to severe general anxiety, along with other measures, but in these cases, patients would be unwell and would not be going on flights. Fear of flying is not a generalised anxiety disorder.

7. Benzodiazepines are illegal in some countries and so you could find yourselves in trouble with the authorities in these places.

8. Driving. Benzodiazepines s can take a variable amount of time to get out of your system. Sedative effects can potentially impair driving and increase risk of accidents particularly in people who are new to taking the medication. It may be hard to know when you are safe to drive again particularly as above if combined with alcohol. Different countries have different laws regarding driving with drugs, but you can be tested for this at the roadside.

We appreciate that fear of flying is a genuine and distressing condition which can cause considerable distress. Many airlines offer fit to fly courses which can help with managing this and we would encourage you to look at some of the links below Fear of flying course | Fearless Flyer (easyjet.com) Primary course | British Airways™ Fear of flying courses | Flying With Confidence Flying without fear

Under Section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (The Act), a “public authority” which is defined as including General Practitioners, must prepare a publication scheme setting out the information it routinely makes publicly available.

The British Medical Association Model Publication Scheme for General Practitioners in Scotland has been approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner who is responsible for promoting and enforcing the Act. In addition, we have to review the scheme from time to time.

The Publication Scheme is a complete guide to the information routinely made available to the public by Anchor Mill Medical Practice. It is a description of the information about our General Practitioners and Practice, which we make publicly available. It will be reviewed at regular intervals and we will monitor its effectiveness.

In adopting (or reviewing) our publication scheme, we are required to have regard to the public interest in:

• Allowing public access to information we hold: and
• The publication of reasons for the decisions we make.

Freedom of Information Contact Details

The point of contact for further information or comments relating to the Model Publication Scheme is: Ms Carrie Young, Secretary, Scottish General Practitioners Committee, British Medical Association, 14 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1LL, Tel. 0131 247 3000, Fax. 0131 247 3001.

If you require further clarification regarding the Freedom of Information Act 2002, please contact the Practice Manager on 0141 889 8809.

These are local standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients. It is our responsibility to give you treatment and advice. Following discussion with you, you will receive the most appropriate care. No care or treatment will be given to you without your informed consent or the consent of your guardian/advocate. In the interest of your health, it is important for you to understand all the information given to you.

Please ask questions if you are unsure of anything.

Read/Download our Practice Privacy Notice

Trainees

We are fortunate and pleased to be a Training Practice. This means that at any time there will be a GP Trainee/ Trainees working alongside the established Partners. These doctors are attached to the Practice for 18 months of their Specialist GP Training Program, the remainder of which is undertaken in hospital.

They will be supervised when in practice by their Educational Supervisor who is one of the regular GP Partners. As part of their training they are expected to video a number of consultations and we are grateful to those patients who permit this.

The recorded consultations are:

• • used for analysis and assessment alongside their Trainer

• • in order to improve and develop GP consulting skills

• • only done so with the express permission of the patient, and can be declined by the patient

• • reviewed in confidence between the Trainee and Trainer for the purposes of training

• • stored safely or encrypted when awaiting review

• • erased once viewed

• comply with all GDPR regulations

We may also ask our patients for feedback (Questionnaire) on the Trainees at specified times in their training.

Many thanks for your cooperation in this. Together we aim to ensure excellent GPs for the future.

The practice considers aggressive behaviour to be: any personal abusive or aggressive comments, cursing and swearing, physical contact and aggressive gestures.

The practice will request the removal of any patient from the practice list who is aggressive or abusive towards a doctor, member of staff, other patient, or who damages property.

All instances of actual physical abuse on any doctor or member of staff, by a patient or their relatives, will be reported to the police as an assault. The patient would then be removed from our practice list immediately.