Practice Charter

Patients can expect the following rights from our team:

1. Patients have a right to be greeted courteously.
2. Patients have a right to absolute confidentiality.
3. Patients with urgent medical conditions will be given priority and will be seen the same day.
4. Doctors and Nurses will begin surgery at the appropriate time. Any delay will be due to medical necessity. Where there is a delay in excess of thirty minutes, patients have the right to be informed and to make an alternative appointment.
5. All appointments are for 10 minutes routinely. In some circumstances, the appointment may booked for longer. You may be asked to make a further appointment if your problem cannot be dealt with adequately in a single appointment.
6. All practice staff are appropriately trained for the role they undertake and are fully registered with the GMC/NMC where applicable. We are a training practice for Doctors training to be GP's and you will be informed if you will be seeing one of our trainee GP's
7. All new patients have the option of an appointment with a practice Health Care Assistant for a new patient check.
8. All patients have the option of being accompanied during an appointment by a trained chaperone.
9. Patients shall be referred to a consultant acceptable to them when their GP thinks it necessary.
10. Any suggestions to improve the service will be considered by the appropriate team members and a response always given.
11. Repeat prescription requests will be processed within three working days.
12. We will endeavour to process Referral letters within five working days.
13. A full and prompt reply to a written complaint will be made by a member of the practice team within ten working days.
14. Access to health records is available subject to any limitation by law.
15. Patients will never be removed from our list unless there has been a serious breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship or you move to an address outside the Practice area. Costs of drugs or hospital services will never be criteria for removing any patient.

With these rights come responsibilities, and for the patient this means:

1. Courtesy to the staff at all times.
2. To attend appointments on time or to give the practice adequate notice that you wish to cancel. Lateness or non-attendance inconveniences other patients and wastes appointment time.
3. An appointment is for one person only - where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed another apppointment should be made.
4. Patients should make every effort to consult at the surgery to make the best use of nursing and medical time. Home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience.
5. Out-of-hours calls (evenings, nights and weekends) should only be requested if your problem cannot wait until the next working day. Please be prepared to attend an alternative centre if asked to do so.
6. Please leave the waiting room as tidy as you found it, and help keep the surgery safe and clean.
7. Please notify us of any change in address or telephone number promptly.
8. We have very limited parking space. Please do not use our car park unless you are visiting the surgery. Please do not use the surgery car park whilst you attend work, shop or deliver or pick up children from school. Ours is not a public car park!
9. We will not tolerate violent or abusive behaviour towards the Doctors or staff. Such incidents will be reported to the police and patients will be removed from our list.