Our Responsibilities | Your Responsibilities |
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 should be on their surgery rooms or name badges. | Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number. If you have an appointment with a hospital or waiting for an appointment please inform them of any changes. |
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 thirty minutes in the waiting room without receiving an explanation for the delay. | Please try to keep appointments, and tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Otherwise, other patients may have to wait longer. Try not to save up a lot of different complaints for a single appointment. Please do not call doctors out of surgery except for a real emergency. |
Access
You will have access to a doctor rapidly in case of emergency, and within one 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. | We need help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit 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. | Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters. |
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. | 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. (Please ring after 2pm Mon – Thurs and after 2.30pm on Fri for results of tests and general enquiries) |
Respect
Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their health care irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs. (Please see details of our Equality and Diversity Policy) | We ask that you treat the doctors, and practice staff with the same courtesy and respect. |
Information
We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive the information that directly affects your health and the care being offered. | Please read this practice leaflet. It will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important you understand the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything. |
Health Promotion
The practice will offer patients advice and information on: q Steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness; q Self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments. | 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. |
Health Records
You have the right to see your health records, subject to any limitations in the law. They will be kept confidential at all times. The Surgery is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998. | Please write to your usual doctor if you wish to see your health records. |
Complaints
We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care that we offer. We want to improve services, so we welcome any comments you have. | Please read our practice leaflet, which will tell you about the arrangements we have made to receive your suggestions, complaints or even compliments! |
Violence & Aggression
This practice supports the Government’s NHS zero tolerance zone campaign. Violent patients will be reported to the police and struck off the GP’s list. | Violence and abuse is a growing concern. GPs and their staff have the right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused either physically or verbally. We ask that you treat your GP and practice staff properly-without violence or abuse. www.nhs.uk/zerotolerance |