Prescription and management of ADHD medication for paediatric patients at our GP surgery

This policy aims to ensure the safe and effective use of ADHD medications in children.

Please review the following requirements:

1. Psychiatric Evaluation and Diagnosis: Prior to prescribing ADHD medication, paediatric patients must have received a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis from a qualified psychiatrist. This diagnosis must be based on a face-to-face assessment.
2. Stability on Medication: Paediatric patients must have been stable on their ADHD medication for a minimum of three months, at the appropriate dosage determined by the psychiatrist. Stability includes symptom control and absence of significant adverse effects.
3. Shared Care Agreement: A shared care agreement between our GP surgery, the prescribing psychiatrist, and the patient’s family will be established to ensure coordinated care and monitoring of the medication’s effectiveness and safety.
4. Regular Monitoring: Paediatric patients prescribed ADHD medication will require regular monitoring every three months by our healthcare team to assess treatment response, monitor side effects, and ensure ongoing stability.
5. Annual Review with Consultant: Patients will be required to undergo an annual review with their private or NHS consultant psychiatrist to assess the continued appropriateness of medication and to ensure comprehensive long-term management.

We believe that adhering to these guidelines will promote the well-being and safety of our paediatric patients receiving ADHD medication. Otherwise, we may have to stop prescribing the medication due to safety issues. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to contact our practice manager.

Your opinion counts. Please tell us when we get things wrong. You can talk to the Practice Manager or contact her in writing. A copy of the Practice Complaints Procedure is available from reception.

Practice Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working at the practice, please let us know. We have a procedure in place which meets the national criteria set by the NHS.

How to Complain:

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible, ideally, within a matter of three days or at most a few weeks – because this will enable us to establish what happened more easily. If it is not possible to do that, please let us have the details of your complaint.

• Within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem OR
• Within 12 months from when the complaint comes to you notice.

At the practice, the complaints should be addressed to your the Practice Manager. The Practice Manager will explain the complaints procedure to ensure your concerns are dealt with promptly.

What we shall do:

We shall acknowledge and look into your complaint within 3-5 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation in 21 working days, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint, we shall aim to:

1. Find out what happened and what went wrong;
2. Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned,
3. Make sure that you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
4. Identify strategy to make sure the problem does not occur again;
5. At the end of the investigation your complaint will be discussed with you in detail either in person or in writing.

Complaining on behalf of someone else:

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have the permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (due to illness) of providing this.

We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure. We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our practice.

This does not affect your right to approach the NHS ENGLAND, if you feel you cannot raise the complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation. You should contact.

What you can do next:

We hope that, if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaint procedure. We believe that this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and the opportunity to improve our practice.

However this does not affect you right to approach Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group or the Care Quality Commission (CQC – 03000 61 61 61) if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us or you are dissatisfied with the way we are dealing with your complaint.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PLAS) based at Barnet Hospital (0208 216 4924) will provide confidential advice and support, guiding you through the different services available from NHS.

You can also contact the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service. This is a national service that supports people who want to make a complaint about their NHS care or treatment. Your local service can be found via the POhWER website.

Policy Description

We are implementing a new policy regarding the prescribing and management of controlled drugs (CD) at our GP surgery. This policy is designed to ensure these medications’ safe and responsible use. Please review the following guidelines.

One-Month Supply:

Controlled drugs will only be issued for a one-month supply at a time. This approach allows for regular monitoring and ensures that prescriptions are reviewed frequently to maintain safety and efficacy.

Non-Repeating Prescriptions:

Controlled drugs are often not added to repeat prescriptions due to their potential for misuse, addiction, and other risks. Therefore, patients will typically not find these medications on their repeat prescription list.

Acute Supply for Short-Term Use:

Controlled drugs will be prescribed for acute use, especially for short-term conditions. Continuous or long-term use will be carefully assessed for appropriate management and monitoring.

Regular Monitoring and Review:

Patients receiving controlled drugs will be monitored regularly to assess treatment response, monitor for adverse effects, and evaluate the ongoing need for medication. This monitoring allows for adjustments to dosage or treatment plans as needed.

Monthly Review and Repeat Prescription:

If deemed appropriate and necessary by our healthcare team, controlled drugs may be added to a patient’s repeat prescription monthly. However, this decision will be made based on individual patient needs and safety considerations.

It’s important to note that many controlled drugs have the potential for addiction and tolerance, requiring regular review and oversight by healthcare professionals.

We believe that adherence to these guidelines will help ensure the safe and responsible use of controlled drugs for our patients. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, please don’t hesitate to contact our office.

The Health Centre has steps and a ramp. There is a parking bay for disabled drivers. Please park with consideration for our neighbours.

Loop System

We have a loop induction system at the reception desk to assist the hearing impaired.

• British Deaf Association
• The Deaf Health Charity – SignHealth
• Action Hearing Loss
• Royal Association for Deaf People
• National Deaf Children’s Society

Blind / Partially Sighted

If you or family members are blind or partially sighted we can give you a large print of our practice leaflet upon request. Please ask Reception for further information.

For more advice and support for blind people please see the following websites:

• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RIND)
• British Wireless for the Blind Fund
• British Blind Sport

Guide Dogs

Guide dogs are welcome at the surgery but we ask that you be aware of other patients and staff who may have an allergy or fear of dogs.

Further Information:

• Guide Dogs

Other Disability Websites

• BID Services
• Disability Go
• Disabled People, your Rights, Benefits, Carers and the Equality Act
• Disability Rights UK
• Living with a Disability NHS Choices
• Disability Action
• Mencap

GP practices and other health and care organisations are joining up the electronic records of all adults and children across Barnet, Camden, Islington, Enfield and Haringey (north central London) so that those delivering care can understand all your needs and make the best decisions about your care with you.

If you do not want to be part of this, you can opt out. You can read more about this programme here

We have updated our privacy notice, which can be seen on our website

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised and that 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 working in the practice and should not be used for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make comparisons with other practices.

Information to be published on website by 31st March 2021 All GP Practices are required to declare mean earnings (i.e. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The average pay for GPs working in the practice of Temple Fortune Medical Group in the last financial year was £46,241 before tax and National Insurance.

This is for 1 full time GP and 4 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six month

Private Script

New policy regarding the conversion of private prescriptions to NHS prescriptions at our clinic. Effective immediately, there may be a discretionary £10 charge for converting private prescriptions into NHS prescriptions, particularly for drugs that are non-formulary or unlicensed.

We are not obliged to switch private prescriptions for NHS prescriptions. We have local and nationally agreed guidelines on prescribing, and we may agree to do this if the medication is within our local formulary, but this is at the doctor’s discretion. The doctor who signs a prescription is taking clinical responsibility for the effects of the drug and its consequences.

Please note that certain medications, particularly those considered for cosmetic use, such as minoxidil for hair loss, will not be converted into NHS prescriptions.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this updated policy. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our Practice Manager.

Over the Counter Medications Policy

The NHS provides recommendations for items that are available over the counter (OTC) and should not be routinely prescribed in primary care because:

• There is limited evidence of clinical effectiveness for the item.
• The item would be prescribed for a condition that is self-limiting and will clear up on its own without the need for treatment.
• The item would be prescribed for a condition that is appropriate for self-care.

These items include medicines, devices, food supplements and other items that can be prescribed.

What is this?

We are required by law to provide you with information on how we use your data. This simplified notice is provided for clarity. If you would like to request the our full privacy notice please contact us.

Who are we?

We are the Temple Fortune Medical Group. We provide medical services to you as a patient as part of the NHS.

• Address: 23 Temple Fortune Lane, London, NW11 7TE
• Telephone: 0208 209 2401

Data Protection Officer

The Practice is required by law to have a Data Protection Officer.

The contact details are:

Steve Durbin

• Contact them via Email

Purposes of Processing, Legal Basis, Types of Data

We process data to carry out our role as your General Practitioner in providing you with healthcare.

The legal basis for this purpose is provided by the various NHS and social care acts. The Data Protection Act 2018 section 8 allows us to process data for these purposes. This provide a legal basis for processing under the UK GDPR Article 6 1(e) – task in the public interest.

For special category data, Data Protection Act section 10 applies (health and social care purpose) and hence GDPR Article 9 2(h) – provision of health and social care. There are additionally some situations where other provisions are used; these are given in more detail in the full notice.

The types of data we keep relate to your health and care. These include both personal identifiers (e.g. your name, NHS number) and special category personal data (e.g. your health conditions). Further details are provided in the full notice.

Recipients of Your Data

We share data with other health and social care providers in order to provide you with care. You can opt out of this sharing, but this may affect your care. See the full privacy notice for details.

We are additionally required to supply data to other parts of the NHS for commissioning and audit purposes.

We share data for research purposes and health planning. You again can opt out of these purposes; this will generally not affect you individually, but will mean that research and planning may not take into account needs of people such as yourself. See the full privacy notice for details.

Transfers to Other Countries

We do not store or transmit your data outside of the UK unless this is:

a) Required for your care and you have consented to this

b) We are required to under international law

How Long Will You Keep My Data?

This depends on a number of factors such as how long you stay with our practice and the type of data. Generally, when you leave our practice your data is transferred to the new practice or to central records and we do not retain after that point.

Full details of how long data is held is given in the full privacy notice.

Your Rights:

You have the right to:

• Receive a copy of your data (Subject Access Request)
• Have your data corrected, erased or restrict processing
• Complain to our Data Protection Officer or the supervisory authority (the Information Commissioner) about our use or handling of your data

If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact the practice in the first instance – details above. You can also contact the Data Protection Officer if you prefer – details are again given above. To contact the Information Commissioner (ICO), please visit their website.

Provision of Data:

It is not generally a legal requirement for you to provide us with data – however if you do not do so we may be unable to provide you with treatment. For more detail see the full privacy notice.

Automated Decision Making

We use various tools to simplify care and ensure that you get the best care possible.

Some of these have a degree of automation, for example, where a regular test is recommended for a health condition you have, or you are in a particular age and gender range and have not had a recommended screening test, we will have an automated list that flags you to be contacted. These recalls are automated, but it’s up to you to book an appointment; no action is taken beyond contacting you.

NO decisions on your care are taken without human intervention.

The Practice manages the confidentiality of your medical records in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR.

Please note that medical records are subject to inspection by NHS England, Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group, or its equivalent, for the purpose of financial audit, record validation and research.

Should you wish your records to be excluded from such inspection or use please speak with the reception staff.

The following people may access your records in the course of providing your care: Doctors, Practice Nurses, Receptionists, Secretaries, District Nurses, Health Visitors and other professionals involved in your care.

The practice is computerised.