About the surgery

Vauxhall Practice has committed to teaching and training undergraduate medical students and postgraduate doctors. We have close links with Cardiff University and teach students across the whole 5 years of Cardiff school of medicine. All clinicians here at Vauxhall are involved in their training and are proud to be part of their learning.

We could not do any of this without the fantastic support of the patients at Vauxhall. Although we know that teaching raises standards generally and is good for the Surgery, we are constantly amazed by how helpful patients are towards our students and junior doctors and appreciate this greatly. You are helping to create the doctors of the future and they learn so much from you.

There will be students and junior doctors at various levels of training present for much of the year at Vauxhall. We always do our best to notify patients of this and are very happy to ask a student to leave the consultation if patients would rather they are not present.

At our practice, we are committed to improving the quality of care we provide and making the best use of clinician time.

Some clinicians may use a secure digital tool called Heidi during your consultation to support clinical note‑taking.

What is Heidi

Heidi is a tool that helps clinicians create accurate clinical notes by listening to the consultation and producing a structured summary.

This may include:

• Your symptoms
• Relevant medical history
• Examination findings (if applicable)
• The agreed plan of care

This allows clinicians to focus more fully on your consultation.

How your information is used

We take your privacy and confidentiality seriously.

• Heidi is designed to meet UK data protection and NHS information governance standards
• It is used only to support clinical documentation
• It does not replace clinical judgement or decision‑making
• All notes are checked and approved by your clinician before being added to your medical record

Your choice

Your clinician will inform you if this tool is being used.

If you would prefer not to have this used during your consultation, please let your clinician know. Your care will not be affected in any way.

Why we use this technology

Using tools like Heidi can help to:

• Improve the accuracy and consistency of clinical notes
• Reduce the amount of time clinicians spend typing during appointments
• Allow clinicians to focus more on listening to you

Further information

If you have any questions about how your information is used, please speak to a member of the practice team.

In summary: this technology supports your clinician by improving note‑taking, so they can give you their full attention during your appointment.

A new set of standards was announced in March 2019 by the Minister for Health and Social Services to raise and improve the level of service for patients in Wales from their GP practices.