Clinical Governance Policies & Procedures
Clinical governance issues are discussed on a weekly basis by the clinical and administration management team. All staff are advised to highlight any issues with respective members of staff so that any potential problems are identified and resolved at an early stage and policies put into practice to improve on the way that we deliver clinical care and highlight potential risks.
We have three dedicated training sessions per annum for all staff to discuss any issues of a wider nature and to ensure statutory training regulations are met. Additional education programmes are implemented as required for new technologies and as part of continuing professional education.
We have a dedicated team which takes the role in clinical governance responsibility with respect to fire checks, electrical appliance testing and keeping patient information updated. We regularly update internal policies that underpin the clinical and administrative service provided.
Key Service Information
- CQC Documents / Statement of Purpose
- Complaints Policy and Procedures
- GDPR Policies, Privacy Policy & Subject Access Requests
- Incident Management / Data Breach Reporting Resources
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and Children / Prevent
- Friends and Family Test Information
- Service Quality Policies & Reports
- Medicines Management Resources
- Equality & Diversity Policy
- Raising Workers Concerns & GMC Staff Re-validation Policies
General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Confidentiality & Patient Privacy
All information held by the service is kept in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Data Protection Act, the NHS Constitution and the NHS Care Records Guarantee.
All patient data is stored securely and used only for the purposes of direct-care. We do not pass on any patient information to research companies or third parties. If you are a patient and you have any concerns regarding the use of data within the service then please contact us on 01903 703 281 (for NHS patients) or 01903 820 010 for private patients.
Our Privacy Policy also provides advice for patients on how to make a complaint, how to request a copy of your data and how we share you data. Further information about how we use our data, please see our privacy policies below:
- Privacy Policy – NHS Services
- Subject Access Policy
- Subject Access Request Form
- Data Security Protection Toolkit Assesment
- Cyber Essentials Plus certification
Medicines Management Resources
The service operates robust controls on Medicines Management and the links below may be informative for prescribers and medicines management teams.
Drug Safety Update Notices – MHRA / Gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update
Our current prescribing formulary is now available online:
Sussex Community Dermatology Service Drug Formulary
Additional Medicines Management Guidelines
- GMC Good Practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices
- NHS Management and Control of Prescription Forms (NHS Counter Fraud Authority)
- Aide-mémoire for prescribers
- British Pharmacological Society Prescribing and Patient Safety Portal
- FAQ Topical Steroids and Empollients
- Coastal West Sussex Antiobiotic Guidelines for management of infection in primary care
- ESCA Azathioprine for rheumatology and dermatology
- ESCA Ciclosporin for rheumotology and dermatology
- ESCA Methotrexate for rheumatology and dermatology
- ESCA Hydroxychloroquine
Care Quality Commission (CQC) Documents
An electronic copy of our statement of purpose can be found below:
Statement of Purpose
Complaints Policy and Procedures
If you have any queries or concerns about your care then please contact us below and we will respond in accordance to our Complaints Policy.
As a healthcare provider we are also regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). You can make a complaint by email, letter or in person to the relevant service manager using the contact details below. All complaints will be acknowledged and investigated in accordance with our complaints policy.
The Care Quality Commission also provide additional guidance about how to make a complaint in their How to complain about a health or social care service booklet.
NHS Patients:
NHS Patients Tel: 01903 703 281
Service Manager: Anna Baldwin
Write to:
Anna Baldwin
Service Manager Sussex Community Dermatology Service
Administration Centre,
51 Chesswood Road
Worthing, West Sussex
BN11 2AA
Friends & Family Test
The service also collections feedback from our NHS Patients using the NHS Friends and Family Test. When you attend your NHS appointment you should see some Friends and Family forms on reception available for providing general feedback to the service.
The Friends and Family Test is a national questionnaire that asks NHS patients to rate their experiences with NHS services. On the Friends and Family Test form, you will be asked one simple question, “How likely are you to recommend our practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?”. To answer the question, simply put a tick in one of the boxes to rate your experience with the services. You will also be asked some follow-up questions about your age, ethnicity and sex to help us ensure that we are receiving feedback from a wide-range of service users, and you will also have the opportunity to write a comment on the feedback form if you have any suggestions on how we can improve services.
NHS Choices Friends and Family Test Information
Patients are also welcome to print off a feedback form using the link below and bring this to your appointment
Friends and Family Test Form (A4 PDF)
Patient Satisfaction Surveys
The service conducts annual patient and GP satisfaction surveys across all locations to ensure that we are delivering the very best care to patients.
- Patient Satisfaction Survey Results 2017
- GP Satisfaction Survey Results 2018 (West Kent)
- GP Satisfaction Survey Results 2018 (Coastal, Horsham, Crawley)
Vulnerable Adult and Child Safeguarding Policies & Resources
Reporting adult abuse and help and advice:
If you are at risk of abuse, or suspect someone else is please report it.
In an emergency dial 999 or adult social care on: 0300 200 1005, or if you need to speak to someone urgently, out of normal office hours our emergency duty team on: 01483 517898.
- Safeguarding Services Policy
- Safeguarding Services Organisation Guide
- Safeguarding Services Organisation Structure
- Community and Paediatric Dermatology Services Policy
- Safeguarding Children Contact Information Poster
- Sussex Child Safeguarding Contact Details
- Sussex Adult Safeguarding Contact Details
- Surrey Adult Social Care Contact Details
- Child Safeguarding Incident Reporting Form
- West Sussex LSCB CSE Risk Assessment
- CSE Questionnaire V2 July
- CSE Pathway Final November 16
- Domestic Abuse Support Age
Safeguarding Resources & Online Training
Safeguarding adults at risk: Sussex Safeguarding Adult Boards; Sussex Safeguarding Adults multi-agency policies and procedures:
West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board
Safeguarding children: Sussex Safeguarding Children Boards; Pan Sussex multi-agency policies and procedures:
West Sussex Safeguarding Children Board
ADASS Safeguarding Adults: A National Framework of Standards for good practice and outcomes in adult protection work:
https://www.adass.org.uk/adassmedia/stories/publications/guidance/safeguarding.pdf
Working Together to Safeguarding Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (2013):
http://www.workingtogetheronline.co.uk/index.html – See Chapter 2 in particular
Pan Sussex Multi-agency Procedures to Support People who Self-neglect:
West Sussex Adult Safeguarding Board – Online Learning Resources
Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards – Mental Capacity Act, DoLS
Mental Capacity Act (MCA) – Information for providers from social care institute for excellence
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) at a glance – Great learning resource for DoLS
https://www.scie.org.uk/mca/dols/at-a-glance
Department of Health – Safeguarding Adults: The role of Health Services
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-adults-the-role-of-health-services
NHS England Prevent / CONTEST Guidance for Counter Terrorism
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/safeguarding/our-work/prevent/
- Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales
- Information Governance guidance for Prevent Information Sharing
NHS Counter Fraud Resources
- Invoice fraud: Guidance for prevention and detection
- Management and control of prescription forms: A guide for prescribers and health organisations (March 2018)
- Pre-contract procurement fraud and corruption: Guidance for prevention and detection (July 18)
Incident Reporting
If you need to report a data breach or clinical incident, please reference our policies below and use the appropriate form. For more information about completing these forms, please speak to a member of Senior Management. All incidents must be reported promptly to enable us to comply with our standard policies and legal obligations.
- Incident and Serious Incident Reporting Policy
- Incident Reporting Form
- Data Breach Policy
- Data Breach Report Form
Service Quality Policies & Reports
The service regularly publishes service quality and governance reports. Our publicly available reports can be found below:
- Quality in Service Delivery Policy
- Clinical Governance Report 2018
- Shared Decision Making Audit 2015/16
Equality & Diversity Policies
We take care to ensure that our services, functions, policies and practices do not directly, indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against our users or employees.
All NHS organisations have a legal duty to analyse the impact of their policies, practices and services and to publish the results. Details of the Sussex Community Dermatology Service’s Equality Impact Assessment are available as a downloadable PDF, along with our Equality and Diversity Policies below:
- Equality and Diversity Policy
- SCDS – Equality Impact Assessment
- GMC Ethical Hub Guidance for Learning Disabilities, Older adults, Trans healthcare, Adult Safeguarding and Mental Capacity
- GMC Good Medical Practice Guidance on Children Booklet
Raising Workers Concerns / Re-validation Policies & Procedures
The service has a number of policies and procedures for SCDS staff to use internally. For convenience, the following policies are made available on this website to provide guidance on how to raise a concern regarding any staff members. Members of the public should instead contact us on 01903 820 010 if they have any concerns regarding their care within the service.
- GMC Policy on Whistleblowing (For SCDS Staff Use)
- Staff Whistle-blowing Policy (For SCDS Staff Use)
- Raising Workers Concerns (For SCDS Staff Use)
- Medical Practice Information Transfer (MPIT) Form
- Remediation and Revalidation policy (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges)
- Disclosure and Barring / Safer Recruitment
Our staff training handbook can also be found below:
To request a hard copy of any of these documents please contact:
Anna Baldwin
Service Manager – SCDS
51 Chesswood Road
Worthing
West Sussex
BN11 2AA