Telephone calls to and from Spilsby Surgery are recorded for learning and for complaint management.

If a doctor, nurse or student wishes to video or audio record your consultation for their own learning they will ask for your consent before doing so.

Similarly, in a digital age when patients increasing wish to record their consultations on smart devices, we insist that you inform the nurse, doctor or health care assistant at the beginning of your consultation that you intend to do so. They won’t object to the recording. However, covert recording is a major breach of trust, and will result in a patient being removed from the practice list if it comes to light.

Recording consultations invariably does change the behaviour of clinicians and patients. No one has yet proved whether it changes health outcomes for the better – or for worse.