Commitments from the Practice
- You will be treated with courtesy & respect
- You will have the choice to be seen by a male or female doctor for routine appointments (if available)
- You will have appropriate treatment prescribed and clearly explained
- You will be seen the same day if you have a medically urgent complaint, though you may not be able to see your usual doctor
- You will be referred to a consultant when your GP feels it necessary and be referred for a second opinion if both you and the GP agree this is desirable; this may be to another doctor/nurse within the practice
- All referrals will usually be sent within 1 working day unless an internal second opinion is sought first.
- You will have access your Health Records, including online access (subject to this facility being available through our clinical supplier)
- You will be offered appropriate advice by the Practice Team regarding keeping healthy
- You will be able to make suggestions to improve the practice and services we provide through feedback to the management team and/or the Practice Forum
- Your complaints will be investigated thoroughly and promptly as per NHS complaints procedure. We endeavor to resolve complaints verbally but where a complaint requires investigation we will write to you with the outcome.
- All children will be offered immunisation.
- We recognise your need to discuss your concerns in private and will ensure privacy for consultations and confidentiality at all times.
- If you have any special needs or difficulties please discuss them with the doctor or other member of staff and we will do our best to appropriate arrangements
- In the same way as patients can choose their doctor, the doctors reserve the right to accept or remove a patient from their list. This may happen if a patient is unable to work cooperatively with the Practice
- Your records, both written and computerised, will be kept secure and confidential at all times, in line with data protection guidelines, and NHS confidentiality policy
- Waiting times at the surgery are usually kept to a minimum, but delays are sometime unavoidable and you will be advised if there is a delay of more than 20 minutes, and you will be offered the choice of waiting or making an alternative appointment.
- Non-NHS work e.g. insurance forms, will not be treated as a priority over NHS medical care
- We will offer multiple channels to allow patients to book, check and cancel their appointments (subject to third party supply). This can be through telephone, online and smartphone apps.
- To provide a high level of medical care in accordance with the guidelines set down by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the National Service Frameworks.
- We will not discriminate on race, gender, social class, religion, sexual orientation or appearance , disability or medical condition.
- To protect a patient’s own right to confidentiality. The patient will be treated with informed consent.
- To provide access to a patient’s own medical record or other information held about them in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988.
- To request identification or checkable information to confirm the identity of the patient requesting confidential information.
- To refuse to retain patients on the medical list who are abusive or exhibit rage towards the Practice staff, including Pharmacy employees or other patients on the Practice premise.
Rights and Responsibilities
- You will treat practice staff with a courtesy and respect
- You will be a ‘patient’ patient
- You will present one problem for each appointment booked. Multiple problems being discussed in an appointment leads to increased waiting times for other patients but also reduces the time for the clinician to explain each of your problems.
- You will be on-time for appointments or notify us as soon as possible if they are unable to keep an appointment as this allows other patients to be seen and keeps waiting times down.
- You will submit repeat prescriptions in good time and allow 2 full working days when requesting a repeat prescription; repeat prescriptions will not be taken over the telephone (requests can be made by letter, email, via online request service, by visiting the practice and via the pharmacy; this avoids the unnecessary blocking of telephone lines.)
- You will avoid ringing the practice for test results; most results are normal and, therefore, we will contact you if a doctor has identified an abnormality.
- You will only request a home visit if you are genuinely unable to come to the practice e.g. housebound, physically incapacitated. If a visit is required please ring before 10am
- You will not expect a prescription every time you visit your GP – good advice is often the best medicine
- You will inform us if you change address or telephone number – we may need to contact you urgently
- Although we aim to offer you a choice of clinicians, and aim to offer continuity of care, you will accept that this is not always possible (eg holidays) and you will therefore be willing to see any clinician at the practice
- You will make allowances when waiting in the surgery for the fact that emergency cases will have to be given priority.
- You will understand that there is a charge fro non-NHS work e.g. holiday cancellation forms, insurance forms, and they will take up to two weeks to process as NHS work will always take priority
- You will take care of your own health by appropriate action, for example by not smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol or weight gain, eating sensibly and keeping active.
- If you have a long term illness or on repeat medications you will co-operate by attending reviews and following advice given to manage your condition.
- To be treated equally irrespective of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation or appearance, disability or medical condition.
- To request details of their medical record or other personal details held by the Practice, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988.
- To inform the Practice of any changes to their personal details including address, telephone or name changes.
- To observe the Practice’s request that patients treat the staff and facilities with the respect they would expect to receive themselves.
- To inform the Practice as soon as possible if they are unable to attend a booked appointment.