To make your visits to Breakspear Medical as stress-free as possible, this section has all the important information new patients require prior to their first appointment.
We have a dedicated Patient Liaison Team who will help patients through all our processes and find the answer to all questions.
Please note: while we run a childhood immunisation clinic, at this time, we are not treating new patients under the age of 18 in our main clinic.
Breakspear Medical is proud to be scent-free.
Booking an appointment
Simply call +44 (0) 1442 261 333 to speak with a member of our Patient Liaison Team to book an appointment. (No referral needed.) They will provide you with all the information you need to arrange your consultation and answer any questions you may have.
Opening hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Here are our Consultation fees*
If, for any reason, you are unable to keep an appointment, Breakspear Medical requests notification at least 24 hours in advance, in order that another patient (on the waiting list) can be offered the appointment and that staff time is used efficiently. In common with other practices, we reserve the right to charge a fee for a missed appointment, unless adequate notice is given.
Questionnaires & forms
After you have booked your appointment, you will receive an email and/or letter with all the necessary forms and questionnaires to complete prior to your appointment.
Costs & payment methods
As treatment programmes vary patient to patient, there is a general basic consultation fees list available online. Your initial consultation must be paid for on the day of your visit. After your initial consultation, a treatment programme will be drawn up on the patient management sheet.
Our Patient Liaison staff will carefully explain all of the clinic’s charges to you and you will be given estimates before any further fees are incurred. If you have any specific questions regarding prices, estimates and treatment programmes, please contact one of our Patient Liaison Officers, by phone 01442 261 333 or email: liaison@breakspearmedical.com
Patients attending Breakspear Medical are responsible for the settlement of their own accounts. For those patients with private health insurance, it is important to note that we do not have direct settlement agreements with the insurance companies. Our contract is with you, the patient, and we expect you to settle our accounts on receipt of invoice. The simplest way to settle your bill is to pay with your credit/debit card before you leave (please note: we do not accept cheques or American Express). Fee consent forms have to be completed and signed by every patient, or the party taking responsibility for covering the costs of the patient’s treatment before the costs are incurred. You will receive a detailed invoice soon after your visit.
Queries regarding any charges will be resolved with you forthwith. For patients attending for longer periods, we will raise invoices at regular intervals and charge accordingly. If you do not provide us with your credit/debit card details you will be expected to pay your entire bill before you leave, and if you are attending for longer courses of treatment, 50% of the estimated cost must be paid in advance, the balance to be settled before you leave.
To adhere to national healthcare regulations, Breakspear Medical has a policy which requires patients receiving prescriptions to attend an in-person follow-up consultation at least every 12 months. This visit ensures that the patient’s progress is monitored and reviewed, providing the opportunity to make adjustments, and/or address additional symptoms or new conditions, if required.
If more than 12 months have passed since the last consultation, the next consultation will be booked and charged as a “new patient consultation”, which necessitates additional time and further expense for the patient. In order to renew prescriptions and/or order nutritional products, patients must meet the annual consultation requirement. Prescriptions cannot be processed if more than 12 months pass without a patient attending a consultation.
Language services
All staff at Breakspear Medical speak English fluently. Patients who require a translator while at the clinic must arrange and pay for their own interpreter.
Note: it is inappropriate for an underage child to translate on behalf of a parent or for fellow, unrelated patients to translate.
What to bring
For your initial consultation, please don’t use perfume, aftershave or any scented toiletries, including standard makeup, and remember to wash and dry your clothes with unscented laundry products. For more information on our scent-free guidelines, visit our page describing how to become scent-free. Please bring any test results or other information you wish to share with your doctor.
If you are returning to Breakspear Medical for allergy/sensitivity testing (low-dose immunotherapy, also known as LDI) please wear tops with short sleeves and preferably wear cotton clothes which have been washed in unscented washing materials such as bicarbonate of soda. If you are taking any drugs or medicines, please bring them with you and, upon your arrival, show them to the nurse in charge.
Directions
To find out where exactly Breakspear Medical is located and the address, go to our Contact us page.
Arriving at the clinic
When you arrive at Breakspear Medical, please report to the front desk and a member of the Patient Liaison Team will assist you with the formalities of admission.
If you are coming to see a member of our Clinical Team, a member of staff will direct you to the appropriate consultation room when available. If you have not been shown to a consulting room within 15 minutes of your scheduled appointment time, please inform Patient Liaison.
Carers, partners, children & visitors
We do request that anyone coming to Breakspear Medical adhere to our no scent policy.
We will try our best to make partners and carers feel welcome and involve them in your care as much as you wish. If you wish to bring your carer, partner or relative, children or any other visitors, please inform Patient Liaison when you are booking the appointments.
For visitors to be permitted in the Testing Ward without prior arrangement, you will have to speak with the nurse in charge.
All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times. This is for the benefit of all patients and to avoid disturbance in the Testing Ward.
Refreshments
Tea, coffee, herbal tea and filtered water are available in the patients’ dining room.
Personal property
Breakspear Medical cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to property of any description brought onto the site. We recommend that you do not bring articles of value with you. If this is unavoidable, such articles may be deposited with the Accounts Department, where you will be issued with a receipt.
Building Access
Wheelchair access is by the front door of the building. Primary treatment areas are all on the ground floor of the building.
For disabled patients staying at the apartments, special arrangements will need to be made by the patient if extra nursing is needed. Alternatively, a carer may accompany the patient.
Scent-free policy
The clinic at Breakspear Medical is a scent-free environment. We ask all patients and visitors not to wear anything perfumed/scented when attending the clinic. Anyone wearing scented products may be asked to wash or shower and change into a hospital gown during their visit to reduce the impact. More information on becoming scent-free.
Smoking
Smoking is not permitted anywhere within the facilities or the apartments.
Fire procedures
Once per week, the fire alarm is tested. Staff will be aware that it is a test.
In the event that the alarm sounds continuously while you are at Breakspear Medical or if a member of staff advises you that it is not a drill, you should evacuate the building. Please leave all your belongings in the building, and walk calmly to the exit to which you will be shown. All patients/guests should assemble in the car park near the entrance to the car park and should remain there until advised that it is safe to re-enter the building.
Quality of care
We are eager to learn about your experience at Breakspear Medical and welcome you to take just 10 minutes of your time for the Patient Satisfaction Survey. Your feedback will remain anonymous and confidential, allowing us to effectively gauge how we can best shape our patient care services going forward. Surveys are available in the Dining Room or by request from any staff member. Together we can make sure that everyone receives quality medical treatment.
We work towards providing the best service we can and appreciate hearing from our satisfied patients. However, we understand that there may be occasions when the service does not reach the desired standard. In such a situation, we have a complaints procedure.
Patient complaints can normally be divided into two categories:
- Nursing and/or medical
- Administration and/or laboratory, including the vaccine department
Nursing/Medical
All complaints should be directed to the Clinical Care Manager, Anne Derham or her deputy in the first instance. Problems of a more serious nature should be referred to our Managing Director, Mr Alister Monro.
Administrative/Laboratory complaints
Complaints of a minor nature should be directed to the Department Head or, if unavailable, or a satisfactory conclusion cannot be reached, the matter should be referred to the Quality Manager.
Complaints of a more serious nature should be taken up directly with the Registered Manager:
Mr Alister Monro
Breakspear Medical Group Limited
Hertfordshire House
Wood Lane
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire
HP2 4FD
Tel: 01442 261 333
There is a complaint form available upon request from any member of staff.
All complainants must receive a written acknowledgement to their complaint within two working days of receipt of their complaint (unless a full reply can be sent within five working days).
A full response must be made within 20 working days of receipt of the complaint, or where the investigation is still in progress, a letter explaining the reason for the delay is sent to the complainant and a full response made within five days of a conclusion being reached.
The complaints procedure ensures that the complainant receives written confirmation of the stages of investigation and action taken.
Those staff involved in the provision and procedural elements of the complaints procedure are trained in its operation.
A register of complaints, including information on whether or not the complaint was upheld, the results of investigation, the action taken and the resolution of complaints is maintained.
Procedures are in place that enable issues raised in complaints to be learnt from in order to improve practise.
The complaints procedure or information based upon it is accessible to patients and their family members/carers.
Where requested the patient and/or family members or carers are given support in using the complaints procedure.
Where care and treatment are provided to children, staff are aware of the difficulties a child faces in expressing concerns or complaints and how the child should be helped to overcome these.
If for any reason the patient is unable to complain directly to Breakspear Medical or feels worried about contacting the organisation directly, there are other avenues available:
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The CQC is the independent regulator of health care and adult social care services in England.
They are responsible for checking that every care provider registered with them meets important standards of quality and safety. However, the duties assigned by Parliament do not include dealing with individual complaints about a provider’s services. The only exception to this are complaints from people who rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act, or their representatives, about the way staff have used their power under the Act.
Even though the CQC can not look into complaints about health care or social care services, they do accept contact from patients who are dissatisfied with the service they have received.
This is because they can use information when carrying out inspections to make sure the service is meeting important standards of quality and safety. If the provider is found to be falling short of these standards, the CQC have legal powers to force changes to improve the service.
The Care Quality Commission can be contacted as follows:
Care Quality Commission
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA.
–
Tel: 03000 61 61 61
Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
Website: www.cqc.org.uk
General Medical Council (GMC)
If you are not happy with the response to your complaint and you suspect that serious or repeated mistakes have occurred during your treatment, fraud or dishonesty, serious breaches of confidentiality or a criminal offence has occurred, and, after filing a complaint with Breakspear Medical, you feel that your concern has not been resolved, you may wish to take your complaint to the GMC.
The GMC regulates registered doctors and deals with the most serious complaints about doctors. They may not look into all complaints, but in cases of serious misconduct, the GMC may investigate your issue.
You can get advice by telephoning their helpline on 0161 923 6602 or you can email your query to practise@gmc-uk.org or finding out more on their website: www.gmc-uk.org. You will have to provide your details, the doctor’s details, details of the incident, including the date the incident took place and details of who you complained to previously and what the outcome was.
* Breakspear Medical reserves the right to alter prices without notice. These prices were correct at the time publishing; however, prices may vary for various doctors. Please confirm with Patient Liaison when booking your appointment – 2023.
