Register with us as a New Patient

Introduction and Background

The NHS Act places an obligation on commissioners to secure primary care services for residents in
their area. NHS England (London Region) wishes to establish operating principles for GP practices for patient registrations that promote human rights and public health.

“Open List’s and Full List’s”

Where a practice has an “open list” it is required to accept the registration of a new patient unless it
has fair and reasonable grounds for not doing so. Where a list is open, the practice is also obliged to
accept allocations by the Primary Care Organisation (PCO) to its list.
Practices are assumed to have open lists unless they have complied with the procedures for list
closure as detailed in the General Medical Services Contracts Regulations 2004 (Schedule 6, Part 2,
paragraphs 29 – 31). There is the facility to have a “full” list which is not officially closed, for example where staffing difficulties result in suspension of registrations being necessary. Practices should discuss these situations with the PCO prior to taking action

Bishopsford Road Medical Centre is committed to providing diversity and equality to all employees whether full time, part time or temporary. We therefore wholeheartedly accept our legal obligations under the legislation, identified below, which makes it generally unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment, employment or after employment on the grounds of:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage & Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins)
• Sexual orientation
• Sex
• Religion or belief

These are known as ‘protected characteristics’. We also undertake not to discriminate unfairly on the grounds of trade union membership and activity, political or religious belief and unrelated criminal convictions.

Race Equality Policy

Rationale

The employer acknowledges that the society within which we live is enriched by the ethnic diversity, culture and faith of its citizens.

We believe members of staff have a  professional commitment to ensure that we know how to make effective personalised provision for employees, including those for whom English is an additional language or who have special educational needs or disabilities, and how to take practical account of diversity and promote equality and inclusion in our training.

The practice strives to ensure that the culture and ethos of our practice is such that, whatever the heritage and origin of our employees, everyone is equally valued and treats one another with respect. All employees (including learners and apprentices) will be provided with the opportunity to experience,
understand and celebrate diversity.

The definition of institutional racism is “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to employees because of their  culture, colour or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance,
thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people.”

Definition of a racist incident:

“Any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”

Our Aims:

Our aims for promoting racial equality and challenging racial discrimination include:

• Ensuring that staffs from all racial groups are encouraged to achieve to their full potential.
• Maintaining an inclusive ethos.
• Acknowledging the existence of racism and being proactive in tackling and eliminating racial discrimination.
• Promoting at every opportunity the practice ethos of welcoming and valuing everyone, irrespective of their race, colour, religion, ethnic or national origin, age or sexual orientation.
• Ensuring that equality is an integral part of all our training.

Actions to ensure race equality

The practice will:

• Undertake a race equality audit on an annual basis.
• Where monitoring demonstrates disadvantages in employment or under-representation, the practice will undertake positive action measures allowed by law to rectify this, such as;
  – Provide facilities or services to meet the particular needs of people from under-represented groups.
  – Target job training at particular groups that are under-represented in a particular area of work.
  – Encourage applications from groups that are under-represented in such areas.
  – The Race Equality Policy will be reviewed annually by the practice manager.
• The practice will ensure that our quality assurance processes identify good practice.
• The practice will endeavour to ensure that our staff team reflects the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society in which we live.
•  All racist incidents will be recorded and reported to the Manager. All incidents will be resolved sensitively, in a manner, which supports the victim and both sanctions and educates the perpetrator.

All staff, learners and apprentices will:

• Be made to feel valued members of the practice.
• Be encouraged to reach their full potential.
• Be supported in their development.
• Have their views, backgrounds and beliefs respected by colleagues and peers.
• Act as role models through the positive relationships they foster with colleagues and peers.

Monitoring by Ethnicity

The practice recognises ethnic monitoring as essential to ensure that no ethnic group is being disadvantaged, and that monitoring leads to action planning. We will build on that approach to tackle other key areas identified.

Grievance

If an individual feels this policy does not support them or that it is being implemented inadequately, they should report thier grievance to the Practice Manager.

If an individual regards any matter as requiring formal resolution under this policy then such matters should be referred to the surgery Grievance Policy & procedures.

The surgery through its partner/s is responsible for ensuring the implementation of this policy.