Terms and conditions.

1Who you are dealing with

Hall Green Chiropody is the private practice of Mark O’Sullivan BSc (Hons), Podiatrist.

• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), registration number CH16641
• Hall Green Clinic: 1344 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B28 9EH
• Hollywood Clinic: Hollywood Medical Practice, Beaudesert Road, Hollywood, Birmingham B47 5DP
• Telephone: 07824 506 839
• Email: [email protected]

In these terms, “I”, “me” and “the practice” mean Hall Green Chiropody. “You” means the patient, or the person booking on a patient’s behalf.

2Booking an appointment

Appointments at the Hall Green and Hollywood clinics can be booked online or by telephone. Home visits are arranged by telephone or through the contact form, and are subject to availability and to your address falling within the area I cover.

An appointment is confirmed only once you receive a booking confirmation from me or from the online booking system. If you book on behalf of someone else, you confirm you have their permission to share their details with me.

Standard appointments are 20 minutes. Nail surgery appointments are 90 minutes, including the pre-operative consultation and aftercare instructions.

3Cancellations, changes and missed appointments

Please give at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or rearrange, so the slot can be offered to another patient.

• Cancellations with 24 hours’ notice or more: no charge
• Cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice: 50% of the appointment fee
• Appointments missed without notice: 50% of the appointment fee

Any charge reflects the cost of a clinic slot that could not be filled at short notice. A first occurrence is normally waived, and no charge is made where the reason was genuinely unavoidable, such as sudden illness, a bereavement or a family emergency. Please just let me know.

Where appointments are repeatedly missed or cancelled at short notice, I reserve the right to ask for the full fee to be paid in advance before any further appointment is booked.

If you arrive late, I will treat you for whatever remains of your appointment time where it is safe and practical to do so. If too little time remains, the appointment may need to be rebooked and a late cancellation fee may apply.

Occasionally I may need to cancel or move an appointment, for example due to illness or an emergency. You will be contacted as soon as possible and offered the earliest alternative. No fee is charged in these circumstances.

4Fees and payment

Current fees are published on the Prices page. You will always be told the cost of treatment before it begins, and no treatment is carried out without your agreement to the fee.

• Payment is due at the end of the appointment, by card or cash
• Prices may change from time to time; the price that applies is the one quoted to you at the time of booking or before treatment starts
• Where a course of treatment is recommended, each appointment is charged separately unless agreed otherwise in writing

Fees for nail surgery cover the procedure, the local anaesthetic and the routine aftercare appointments described at your consultation. The initial consultation is charged at the standard clinic visit rate.

5Private medical insurance

Bupa and WPA insured patients are welcome. Please check that your policy covers podiatry before booking, and bring your authorisation reference to your first appointment.

Where treatment is authorised, it can be invoiced directly to your insurer. You remain responsible for any amount your insurer does not pay, including excesses, shortfalls, and any treatment falling outside your policy.

6Your treatment

Every patient receives an assessment, a clinical diagnosis where one can be made, and an explanation of the options available. Treatment is carried out only with your informed consent, and you may withdraw that consent at any time.

Podiatry is a clinical service, not a guaranteed outcome. I will always use reasonable skill and care and work to accepted professional standards, but I cannot guarantee that a condition will resolve, or that it will not return. Some conditions, such as corns and calluses, recur if the underlying pressure is not addressed.

I may decline to treat, or may refer you elsewhere, where treatment would not be clinically appropriate, where a condition falls outside my scope of practice, or where a GP or hospital referral is the right next step. Where this happens, you will be told why, and the reason will be recorded in your notes.

Following aftercare advice is an important part of your treatment, particularly after nail surgery. Please contact me if something does not feel right afterwards rather than waiting for your next appointment.

7What I need from you

To treat you safely, please tell me about:

• Any medical conditions, including diabetes, circulatory problems and immune conditions
• All medications you take, including blood thinners
• Any allergies, including to anaesthetics, dressings, latex and plasters
• Any changes to the above between appointments

Treatment decisions are based on the information you provide. Please also bring the footwear you spend most of your day in to your first appointment, as the wear pattern is often informative.

8Children and patients who need support

Patients under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, who will be asked to give consent for treatment. Please mention the child’s age and the concern when booking.

Any patient is welcome to bring a family member, carer or chaperone to their appointment.

9Home visits

Home visits are available in the immediate area around the Hall Green and Hollywood clinics, and are intended for patients who are housebound or for whom a clinic visit is impractical.

For a home visit to go ahead, I need:

• Safe and reasonable access to the property
• A suitable, well-lit space to work, with somewhere for you to sit comfortably
• Pets kept in another room during the appointment
• Another adult present where this has been agreed in advance

If a home visit cannot be carried out safely on arrival, the appointment may need to be rescheduled and the missed appointment terms in section 3 may apply.

10Your right to cancel a booking made online or by telephone

Where you book an appointment online or by telephone, you have a legal right under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to cancel within 14 days without giving a reason.

If you ask for treatment to be carried out within that 14 day period, and it is, you lose the right to cancel that appointment once it has been fully performed. This does not affect the cancellation notice periods in section 3, which apply to all bookings.

To cancel, contact me by telephone or email using the details in section 1.

11Website content

The information on this website is general and is provided to help you understand common foot conditions and what treatment involves. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for an assessment.

Every effort is made to keep the site accurate and up to date, but its content is provided without warranty, and it may change without notice.

12Your information

Your personal and health information is handled in line with UK data protection law and with the confidentiality standards expected of a registered healthcare professional. Full details of what is collected, why, how long it is kept and what rights you have are set out in the Privacy Policy.

Clinical records are kept for the periods required by professional and NHS records management guidance.

13If something goes wrong

If you are unhappy with any part of your care or your experience of the practice, please tell me directly, by telephone or email. Most concerns are resolved quickly by talking them through.

I will acknowledge a written complaint within 3 working days and give a full response within 14 days. If a complaint takes longer to look into, you will be kept updated.

If you remain dissatisfied, you can raise your concern with the Health and Care Professions Council, the regulator for podiatrists, at hcpc-uk.org (opens in new tab).

14Liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Medical malpractice, public and products liability insurance is held through the Royal College of Podiatry members’ scheme, arranged by James Hallam Limited, 10th Floor, 2 Minster Court, London EC3R 7BB. The insurer is Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Limited, St Mark’s Court, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1XL. This information is provided in accordance with the Provision of Services Regulations 2009.

Beyond that, liability is limited to loss that is a foreseeable result of a failure to use reasonable skill and care. I am not responsible for loss arising because you did not give accurate or complete information about your health, or did not follow the aftercare advice given.

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

15General

These terms may be updated from time to time, for example when fees, services or the law change. The version published on this page at the time you book is the version that applies to your appointment.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute.

Contact