Practice Charter Standards
| The Practice's Responsibilities |
The Patient's Responsibilities |
| You will be treated as a partner in the treatment you receive. |
Being a partner means you have responsibilities to the practice team and to the other patients who need our time.
Please use the system properly - it is to the benefit of everyone. |
| You will be dealt with as an individual. All dealings with the practice are confidential. |
You will be expected to treat the doctors and staff with courtesy and respect. |
For routine matters you will be able to see the doctor of your choice, or nurse wherever possible.
You will be offered help on the basis of your clinical need.
Priority will be given depending on the demands at any given time.
Urgent matters will be dealt with by the first available doctor. |
Familiarise yourself with the way the practice works.
You may not always need to see the doctor. We have other staff available to help. Remember that time has to be given where it is needed most. Don’t abuse the system by taking up appointments for trivial matters or imply that something is urgent if it is not. Please consider other patients’ needs. |
Appointments system:
We will try to keep your appointment time. If there is a significant delay you will be entitled to an explanation |
Please keep your appointment. If you cannot, inform us as quickly as possible so that the appointment is not wasted. All patients would wait less if this principle was followed.
Appointments are for one person only. If your problem is complex or you have more than one problem, please make a longer appointment. |
| You will be given priority in an emergency day or night. |
You should not use the emergency provisions for non-urgent matters - this diverts the doctor. One day it may be you or a close relative who needs the doctor urgently. We can’t be in two places at once! |
Home visits:
You will be seen at home when the doctor thinks you are too ill or infirm to travel to the surgery. |
Please request home visits before 10.00am unless it is an emergency. Only request a home visit if there is a real need. Do not be offended if you are offered a surgery appointment as an alternative. You can generally be seen more quickly at the surgery and more patients can be seen if the doctor does not have to travel.
We are not obliged to make visits because you have no transport. |
Out of hours 6.00pm - 8.00am and weekends:
A doctor is on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for urgent problems |
Each doctor regularly covers duties of 100 hours per week. The doctor does not get time off after being on duty throughout the night. Do not call out of hours for trivial matters. |
We will try to answer the telephone promptly.
We will provide a telephone line exclusively for repeat prescription requests.
We will provide a computerised repeat prescription service. |
Please do not spend too long on the telephone as others may be waiting. Avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters. The telephone line for repeat prescriptions will only be answered between 1.45 and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Please allow two working days for your request to be processed. |
| If you have undergone a test you will be informed of how and when to obtain the result. |
Results take time to reach the practice; please don’t ring before you have been asked. Enquiries about tests ordered by a hospital should be directed to the hospital. |
| Information on services is available on this website or by asking a member of our reception team. |
Please read the information on this website and keep the site bookmarked for reference in the future. |
Data Protection Act
The practice is fully computerised. All information held on the computer is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act. This information is also stored on magnetic tapes, which, for security reasons, are kept off site. The practice is occasionally requested to become involved in important NHS and ethically approved research. All data used is confidential and protected under the Data Protection Act.
Zero Tolerance
Please read more here
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.
Publication of GP's Earnings
Please read more here