Practice Charter Standards
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 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. The surgery should be well signposted and
the doctors' or nurses' names are indicated on their surgery rooms.
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 for routine
appointments. 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 rapidly in case of emergency wherever
possible within half a working day in cases of urgency. We will arrange
a home visit as appropriate for those who are too ill or infirm to be
brought to the surgery.
Telephone:
We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are
sufficient staff available to do this. You should be able to speak to
a doctor by telephone at certain times of the day.
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 when and 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:
We will give you full information about the services we offer. 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 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 Responsibilities 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.
Please do not use the out-of-hours emergency service for anything other than genuine emergencies
which cannot wait until the next surgery.
Please
ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person concerned is too ill to
visit the 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.
Please telephone for results after 2.30pm
each afternoon. 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.
Please read our practice booklet. Along with this website it will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that you understand the information given to you.
Please ask us questions if
you are unsure of anything.
Remember, you are responsible
for you own health and the health of your children. We will give you
our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.
Violent Or Abusive Patients
Incidences of physical violence and verbal
abuse are a growing concern. GPs, practice nurses and other practice
staff have the right to care for others without the fear of being attacked
or abused. We ask that you treat your GP and practice staff properly,
without violence or abuse. Violent or abusive patients will be reported
to the police and removed from the practice list with immediate effect.
Confidentiality
The surgery is responsible for the protection of information given
to them by patients or obtained in confidence about patients. We take
all steps necessary to ensure, as far as lies in our control, that the
manual and computerised records which we keep, to which we have access,
or which we transmit, are protected by effective security systems with
adequate procedures to prevent improper disclosure.Whilst we shall continue
to presume you are happy for us to share relevant details with those
to whom you agree to be referred, we can assure you that private medical
information will not be released to non-medical third parties (such
as insurance companies/employers) without your signed consent.
If
we are asked to provide information about patients we will: seek their
consent to disclosure of information wherever possible, whether or not
we judge that patient can be identified from the disclosure; ensure
that the person given access to records will be subject to a duty of
confidentiality; anonymise data where unidentified data will serve the
purpose; keep disclosures to the minimum necessary.
Patients do have
a right to object to such a process. Any objection will be respected,
except where the disclosure is essential to protect the patient, or
someone else, from risk of death or serious harm.
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 the surgery.
Complaints
If you are experiencing any problems with the surgery please ask to see, or write to, the practice manager. She will respond to any complaint within two working days.
We welcome any suggestions from patients and there is a suggestions
box in the waiting room for your comments. The practice Complaints
Policy is available from reception.
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