These are the local standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients. It is our job to give you treatment and advice. Following discussion with you, you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand all the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.
Our responsibilities to you
We are committed to giving you the best possible service.
Names
People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them.
Waiting Time
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 receiving an explanation for the delay.
Access
You will have access to a doctor or an appropriate member of the primary health care team within 24 hours.
Telephone
We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this. You are able to consult with a doctor by telephone.
Respect
Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their health care, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs. You may request a chaperone to be present during a medical examination.
Patient Confidentiality
The practice will ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times by all members of the practice team. However, we would expect that patients will understand that, for their own benefit, the effective functioning of a multidisciplinary team requires that medical information about them is shared between the members of the practice team when necessary.
The practice will ensure that it will continue to try to improve the quality and range of services it offers to the people it serves.
Information
We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive that information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.
Health Promotion
The practice will offer patients advice and information on:
- Steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness
- Self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments
Health Records
You have the right to see your health records, subject to limitations in the law. These will be kept confidential at all times.
Your responsilbilities to us
Help us to help you:
- Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number.
- Please do everything you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Otherwise, other patients may have to wait longer.
- We need help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit the surgery. It is important to bear in mind that most medical problems are dealt with more effectively in the clinical setting of a well-equipped surgery.
- Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.
- Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.
- We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy and respect.
- Many problems can be solved by advice alone, therefore patients should not always expect a prescription at every consultation.
- Remember, you are responsible for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.