Our Practice Charter

The Charter Is An Agreement Between The Practice And Yourselves

We Are Committed To Provide You With The Best Possible Medical Care

We provide you with a clean, safe environment and suitable access if you have a disability. We treat you with courtesy, dignity and confidentiality. We provide the same treatment and services (including the ability to register with the Practice) to any visitor irrespective of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation or appearance, disability or medical condition. We comply with all relevant current legislative requirements. We offer care and treatment but always with your informed consent. If you need to see a doctor urgently, our first available doctor will see you on the same day of your request. We try to reduce the wait for routine appointments. We provide home visits when medically necessary. We advise you about treatment and medications. We refer to consultants for further investigations where medically indicated. We prepare your repeat prescriptions within two working days. We listen to your concerns and deal with your complaints promptly and follow our local Primary Care Trust complaint procedure.

Please Co-Operate With Us In Providing You With The Best Care

Inform us if you change your name, address or telephone number. Treat us with respect and courtesy. Please arrive in good time for your appointment. Ensure that you attend your appointment or cancel it in advance so the appointment can be offered to another patient. Please only request an urgent appointment if you truly need it. Wherever possible please attend the surgery rather than request a home visit. Try to maintain a healthy lifestyle and follow the advice from our clinicians. Please order your repeat prescription in good time using the tear off slip.

Confidentiality

The NHS is committed to the delivery of a first class confidential service. This means ensuring that all patients information is processed fairly, lawfully and as transparently as possible so that the public:

• understand the reasons for processing personal information;
  
• give their consent for the disclosure and use of their personal information;
  
• gain trust in the way the NHS handles information and;
  
• understand their rights to access information held about them.

Patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information relating to their health and other matters as part of their seeking treatment.

They do so in confidence and they have the legitimate expectation that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately. We keep all patients paper and electronic records confidential.

Information that can identify individual patients must not be used or disclosed for purposes other than healthcare without the individual's explicit consent, some other legal basis, or where there is a robust public interest or legal justification to do so. In contrast, anonymised information is not confidential and may be used with relatively few constraints.

All data is covered by the Data Protection Act 1998 of which this practice is registered.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/Acts1998/ukpga_19980029_en_1

Complaints Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the service we provide, please consult our practice manager who will discuss our complaints procedure with you. This meets national criteria and accords with NHS guidelines. Details of the procedure are given in our practice complaints leaflet, available from reception. Our aim is to give you a good/high standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that occur.

You have the right to leave our list and register with another practice.

We also have the right to have patients removed from our list. In general we will only exercise this right in the case of patients who repeatedly and persistently ignore their own responsibilities to us and other patients. Patients who are violent or seriously abusive towards any of the practice staff will be removed from our list immediately.

You can also contact the Patient Advice and Liaison service (PALS) that provides independent advice and support to patients, their families and carers.

Tel: 01702 224629. Leaflets are available from reception.
NHS Primary Care Trust Patient Liaison: 01702 224629
www.see.nhs.uk

Suggestions

We welcome any suggestions for improving our service. If you have any ideas, please feel free to talk or write to the practice manager (There is a letter box in the lobby). Alternatively, please email the surgery (Click Here)

Zero Tolerance

We strongly support the NHS policy on zero tolerance. Anyone attending the surgery who abuses the GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any threatening manner whatsoever, will risk removal from the practice list. In extreme cases we may summon the police to remove offenders from the practice premises.

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.

Access to Health Records

Patients have a right of access to their health records under the Data Protection act 1998. Any request for access to health records must be made in writing with the patient's signature to the practice, for GP records or the Records Manager at the hospital, for your hospital records.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (Fees and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2001, you may be charged to view your health records or to be provided with a copy of them.

Please ask our reception team for further information.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation/Informationpolicy/Patientconfidentialityandcaldicottguardians/DH_4084411