Practice Charter

Names - People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them. The surgery should be well signposted and the doctor’s names on their surgery doors.

Waiting Times - We run an appointment system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you. You should not wait more than 30 minutes in the waiting room without an explanation.

Access - You will have access to a doctor rapidly in case of emergency and within half a working day in cases of urgency. Requests for appointments for routine matters are made for the first available appointment.

Telephone - We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this. You will be able to speak to a doctor or nurse by telephone, as soon as possible after surgery or clinic. Please specify if the matter is urgent.

Test Results - If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, we will advise you how to obtain the results.

Respect - Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their healthcare irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs.

Information - Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive the information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.

Health Promotion - The practice will offer patients advice and information on the steps that they can take to promote good health and avoid illness and self help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.

Complaints - We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care we offer. We are proud of our service and we are always looking for ways to improve, so, we welcome any comments you have. Please contact the practice manager.

Zero Tolerance - All staff are instructed not to tolerate any form of intimidation, threats, bad language, shouting, verbal abuse or acts of violence. Anyone displaying such behaviour will receive a formal warning. The incident will be reported to the partners and appropriate action taken to protect all staff. In extreme cases, the patient will be asked to leave and the police may be called. The patient would be subsequently removed from our practice.

PATIENTS AND DOCTORS CHARTER

As an NHS patient you are entitled:

• To receive general medical care from a GP on the basis of clinical need and regardless of ability to pay.

• To change your doctor if you want, quickly and easily.

• To receive emergency medical care.

• To be treated under the NHS by a GP if you are away from home.

• To be treated by another GP in the practice if your own is not available.

• To be offered a health check when first registering with a GP.

• To request a health check if you have not seen a GP in more than three years.

• To be offered a yearly health check if you are aged over 75, carried out at the surgery or at your home.

• To have appropriate medicines and appliances prescribed when necessary.

• To be referred to a consultant or specialist when your GP thinks necessary and to be referred for a second specialist opinion if you and your doctor agree it is desirable.

• To be assured of confidentiality in all contacts with your GP and practice staff.

• To receive, free of charge, certificates for statutory sick pay for illness lasting more than six days and other statutory certificates where appropriate.

• To have clearly explained diagnosis, proposed treatment, major risks and any alternatives.

• To receive an up-to-date information booklet.

• To choose whether or not to take part in medical research and medical student training.

• To choose to be registered with a doctor who provides contraceptive and maternity services. A patient may choose their own or any doctor that provides these services.

• Where appropriate, to receive invitations for cervical screening.

• To receive childhood vaccinations and immunisations.

• To receive an invitation for free breast screening if you are a woman aged between 50 and 64 years old.

• To receive advice about health, diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, drugs and solvent abuse.

• To have any complaint about any NHS services investigated and to receive a full and prompt written reply from the chief executive of the relevant health authority.

• To see any medical report written about you for the purposes of insurance or employment.

About Your Responsibilities

• By leading a healthy lifestyle and therefore limiting health risks, you will be helping not only yourself but also your doctor.

• Please try to attend appointments on time. If you have to change or cancel an appointment, tell the practice as soon as possible.

• Please be patient if your appointment is delayed. Delays are often caused by patients needing emergency attention.

• Requests for repeat prescriptions should be made well in advance of your medication running out.

• Prepare for your doctor, talk to him and give as much information as possible. It may help to make a note of your symptoms so that nothing is forgotten.

• Whilst privacy is at all times respected, reception staff may need further details about a visit or appointment to help the doctor assess the degree of urgency.

• Be sure to notify the practice promptly of any change of address or family details such as marriage.

• Home visits should be regarded as a service for the genuinely housebound or seriously ill. Requests for home visits should be made before 10.00am wherever possible.

• If you are in any doubt as to the seriousness of an illness, or whether you or a member of your family need a home visit please telephone the practice for advice.

• Night visits should be requested only when felt absolutely necessary. Usually the “on-call” doctor has to be on duty again the next day. Patients should respect the need for doctors to have enough rest to be fit and alert for the following day's work.

Help Us To Help You

Patients are no doubt aware that over the past few years doctors have been finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the added workload placed upon them. This has led to a crisis within the NHS to the extent that the profession have demanded that the government help to do something about it. The main reasons for the crisis are as follows:

1. Increased routine work forced upon the doctors by regularly imposed goverment legislation.

2. Advances in medical science and increased complexity of treatment for various diseases,leading (quite rightly) to patients having a greater expectation.

3. An increasing shortage of doctors, and especially general practitioners, which means the extra workload has to be shared by fewer doctors.

4. A proportion of patients who feel that GP services should be IMMEDIATELY available. Although these are a small percentage of the total number of patients they produce a disproportionate amount of work to the extent that the profession finds itself in crisis.

In this practice all the doctors work an equivalent of 50+ hours a week spread out during “normal” working hours Monday to Friday.

PLEASE HELP US TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE THE SAME HIGH STANDARD OF CARE WE HAVE ALWAYS ATTEMPTED.

Freedom Of Information – Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available.

This scheme is available from reception.

Confidentiality

All patient records are treated with the strictest of confidentiality and we comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.