Practice Charter

Patients' Rights And Responsibilities

As a practice we are committed to upholding patients' rights in line with the Patient's Charter.

Responsibilities

1. You are responsible for your own health and that of your family.
2. The consequences of ignoring health advice or failing to take prescribed medication will be your own responsibility.
3. You are expected to treat doctors, staff and other patients with courtesy and respect.
4. Unreasonable demands stretch limited resources and cause other people to suffer. Requesting urgent same-day appointments for non-urgent problems would be considered unreasonable.
5. If you cannot keep an appointment you must cancel it giving as much notice as possible. Failure to do this prevents us offering the appointment to another patient and wastes valuable time. If you fail to attend a booked appointment on three occasions during the space of one year, you may be removed from the practice list.
6. It is your responsibility to get to the surgery to see a doctor. Doctors decide whether a visit is needed based on medical need.
7. Please allow sufficient time for requests for medicals, travel vaccinations, certificates and completion of forms.
8. You are responsible for the payment of fees for non NHS services details of which are displayed in the waiting room.

Confidentiality: Disclosure of Patient Information

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 everyone working in the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information. Your medical history is recorded on our computer system and in paper records which are accessed by authorised users only. for more information please see Confidentiality.

Disclosure of identifiable patient information to any outside agencies will only be done after receiving written permission from the patient.

Medical Records

You are entitled to access your medical records. The practice charges a standard fee of £10. Please speak to the practice administrator on 01279 638528 for further information. Requests for medical reports from insurance companies are charged at a different rate.

Compliments & Complaints

Our aim is to provide the best possible service to our patients. However, we realise that occasionally misunderstandings or mistakes occur; if this is the case we will do our best to resolve the problem.

More information on the compliments & complaints processes here.

Violence And Abuse

We operate a zero tolerance policy. Violence and abuse against any member of the practice team, whether verbal or physical, will not be tolerated. Staff are entitled to work in a safe environment. Any incidents of violence will be reported to the police and will result in he patient being removed from the practice list immediately.

For other incidents, patients will be given a written warning that any repeat incident may result in them being removed.