Patient Rights and Responsibilities

We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. It is your responsibility to keep your appointments, inform us of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details.

Patients’ charter

Patients’ rights to General Medical Services

Patients have the right to:

  • Be registered with a General Practitioner (GP)
  • Change their GP if desired
  • Be offered a health check on joining the Practice
  • Receive urgent care at any time from the Practice
  • Receive appropriate drugs and medicines
  • Be referred for specialist or second opinion if they and their GP agree
  • View their medical records, subject to the Acts and associated procedure, and to know all NHS employees are legally obliged to keep the contents confidential

With these rights come responsibilities. For patients this means:

  • Showing courtesy to the staff at all times – remember they are working under doctors’ orders.
  • Responding in a positive way to questions asked by reception staff.
  • Attending appointments on time or giving the practice adequate notice that they wish to cancel. Someone else could use your appointment!
  • An appointment is for 1 person only – where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed another appointment should be made and the medical records be made available.
  • Patients should make every effort when consulting the surgery to make best use of nursing and medical time – home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience.
  • When patients are asked to give 48-hours’ notice for repeat prescriptions, please give us this time as it is to allow for accurate prescribing.
  • Out-of-hours calls (e.g. evenings, nights and weekends) should only be requested if they are felt to be truly necessary.

All member of the surgery primary care team are dedicated to a quality policy to achieve health services that meet the patient’s requirements.

Practice leaflet

All new patients will receive a copy of our Practice leaflet and copies will be available at reception.

Surgery premises

Our surgery building will be welcoming, easy for patients to find their way around and appropriate to the needs of users, including the disabled.

Changes to procedures

When changes are introduced to Practice procedures that effect patients we will ensure that these are clearly explained by means of a brochure, waiting room noticeboard or individual leaflets, giving as much notice as practicable.

Appointments

With a doctor: For routine consultations we will endeavour to offer patients an appointment within 7 working days of the request. For medically urgent requests we will offer an appointment on the same day.

With a Practice nurse: For routine appointments we will offer an appointment within 5 working days. If there is a delay in the appointment wait (when you arrive) of more than 20 minutes we will let you know. We are happy to update you on any delay situation if you feel that you have been waiting too long.

Home visits

We are unable to guarantee a specific doctor will visit you as this depends on availability and other factors The decision to home visit will be at the doctors’ discretion.

Patients are able to request the GP or Nurse of their choice and in fact if a patient is attending for review of an ongoing condition then this is encouraged, in order to maintain continuity of care. However, stating a particular preference may mean waiting longer for your appointment. You are more likely to see a GP of your choice if you book a routine appointment.

Waiting times

  • Surgeries will normally start on time
  • We expect patients to be seen within 20 minutes of their appointment time and in the event of a delay we will offer an explanation.
  • When a doctor is called away on an emergency we will inform the patients and give them an opportunity to book an alternative appointment or, if preferred, to be seen by another doctor.

Repeat prescriptions

To ensure the best possible knowledge of your personal health these will be signed by your usual GP wherever possible.

Out of hours emergencies

We will do everything possible to ensure that our system for contacting the duty doctor is easy to follow, reliable and effective.

Referrals

  • Urgent referrals to other health and social care agencies will be made within 1 working day of the patient consultation. Where requested our GPS will refer you to a private health provider
  • We will normally process non-urgent referrals within 5 working days of the patient consultation or the doctor’s decision to refer.

Test results

When a doctor of nurse arranges for a test to be taken the patient will be informed how to obtain the result. (Results are normally available after 2pm the following day).

Transfer of medical records

The Practice will endeavour to dispatch any medical record required by the Health Authority within 7 working days or on the same day if the request is urgent.

*We will respect patients’ privacy, dignity and confidentiality at all times*