Privacy Policy

Please visit this page to view our Privacy Policy in full.

ZERO TOLERANCE Policy

At Swansea Channel doctors we have zero tolerance for verbal and physical abuse of our reception, nursing and GP staff.

if you behave in an abusive way you will be asked to leave and no longer offered appointments at our clinic.

Email Policy

Emails are monitored by our reception staff.

Please be advised that all emails will be responded to within 2 business days.

For anything requiring urgent attention please phone the surgery directly on 4971 6663

Results, reports and clinical correspondence

Practice policy

All tests and results (including pathology results, diagnostic imaging reports, investigation reports and clinical correspondence received) must be reviewed, indicated with an action statement and acted on in a timely manner by the GP and incorporated into the patient health record.

Our practice has a system in place to follow up tests and results, reports and clinical correspondence where there is concern about the significance of the test or result. This also includes tests or referrals ordered for the patient. This forms part of our Recall and Reminder system.

In our practice it is the GP’s responsibility to identify and flag patients of concern.

Practice procedure

Our practice manages incoming pathology results, diagnostic imaging reports, investigation reports and clinical correspondence by mail and downloading of results on our Computer System. Our patients are advised of the usual policy for notification of results and other correspondence. This is through:

  • The GP and clinical staff verbally informing patients at the time of request

  • The practice information sheet 

Recall and reminder systems

Swansea Channel Doctors coordinates a structured recall and reminder system. As part of our Mission Statement we aim to provide patients with the safety and comfort of knowing that their doctor is monitoring their health from a distance by issuing reminders for follow up or preventive care and recalling them to discuss results of test requests and referrals.

This helps to achieve:

  • Continuity of care

  • An increase in patient involvement in their health

  • Better management of chronic conditions therefore leading to reduced acute care and greater preventive care to help patients achieve a better quality of life. 

Recall system

Practice policy

Our recall system is a follow-up process whereby patients are contacted to return to our practice generally to receive the results of ordered tests or to receive follow-up treatment.  Our recall system is considered an essential component of quality care and also offers an active risk management approach.

Recalls occur when it is crucial for a patient to attend the practice, usually in the instance of an abnormal test result, correspondence from a Specialist or other Health Professional, or patient failing to attend a specialist appointment.

  • All test results or referral responses arrive at our practice and are checked by the GP

  • Investigations or correspondence marked for recall by the GP will appear in the “Follow up actions from inbox” log on Best Practice and will then appear on the Health Engine Recalls where all text messages are sent, recorded and logged into the patient file automatically, as well as calls and letters.

  • Recalls are flagged by the Doctor in order of priority, i.e. Urgent, non-urgent, reception to advise, doctor to advise, nurse to advise or send routine reminder.

  • If a recall is marked as “urgent” this generally means within the next 24 hours. Our Doctors will advise our reception staff of urgent recalls and of the time frame to be seen, i.e. come straight in, to be seen that day or within the next 24 hours.

  • The GP will usually write a comment next to the recall if they would like further action to be taken. For example, Reception to advise: Please fax a copy of this to Specialist.

  • The patient will be attempted to be contacted for 3 consecutive days, if there is no response. If the patient has not responded within 3 days, a letter will be sent to the patient.

After 14 days, if the patient has not contacted the surgery for an appointment, the recalling doctor is advised, and the patient can be marked on BP as “contacted”.