Practice Charter

We Aim:

To give you our best possible care at all times.
To involve you as a partner in your care and to inform you about all aspects of your management and not to follow a course of management without your consent.
To treat you with courtesy, respect and equality irrespective of the nature of your health problems.
To identify ourselves to you clearly and make it clear how to contact us if needed.
To give you an appointment with a Doctor within 2 working days and to see urgent problems within 1 working day, in line with the NHS plan.
To give you an appointment with a Nurse, or any other health professional within 1 day, excluding staff leave periods.
To try to run to time for appointments but if we are delayed for any reason our staff will inform you if your wait is likely to exceed 30 minutes.
To make home visits if appropriate for those patients who are too ill or infirm to attend the surgery.
We aim to allow you to see the Doctor of your choice but this may not always be possible. We ensure that appointments can be booked four weeks in advanced.
Patient information is shared with practice staff and allied healthcare professionals only when necessary. All these staff have signed and strictly adhered to the Data Protection.

We Ask:

That you treat all our staff with due courtesy and respect.
That you follow our advice and ask if any aspect of your management is unclear to you.
That you make every effort to attend surgery rather than ask for home visits. Home visiting is an inefficient use of Doctor time and the examination facilities in most people’s homes do not match those available at the surgery.
That you only use the emergency out of hours service if your problem is genuinely urgent and cannot wait until we are open. Dealing with non-urgent problems and trivia delays the emergency Doctors and may cause unnecessary suffering for more serious cases. It could also cost lives.
That you are punctual for appointments and cancel them well in advance if they are no longer needed. Missing booked appointments inconveniences us and your fellow patients whose need may be greater than yours.
That you are patient if we are delayed and running behind during surgery. We allow 10 minutes per patient but sometimes problems are more complicated and may take longer to deal with. Remember you too may have a complicated problem one day, which requires more time to sort out.
If you require an appointment that may take longer than 10 minutes, please inform the Receptionist, when booking the appointment.
If you are more than 15 minutes late for an appointment for either Doctor or Nurse, you will be asked to re-book the appointment.
If you are over 16, and have not seen a doctor in the last 3 years, or over 75, and have not seen a doctor in the past year, and would like to have a ‘well person’ appointment, please ask the receptionist to arrange one.