Practice Charter

Practice Charter Introduction

All members of the surgery Primary Care Team are dedicated to a quality policy to achieve health services which meet the patient's requirements.

All new patients will receive a copy of our practice leaflet and copies
will be displayed at the reception desk.

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 affect patients, we will ensure that these are clearly explained, by means of:

• waiting room notice board
• individual leaflets or
• giving as much notice as practicable.

Referrals

You will be offered a choice of provider. Urgent referrals to other health and social care agencies will be made within one working day of the patient consultation.

We will normally process non-urgent referrals within five working days of the patient consultation or the doctor's decision to refer.

Test Results

When a doctor or nurse arranges for a test to be taken the patient
will be informed how to obtain the result.

The type of test done will dictate how long your result takes to come back to us. The person who takes the test can normally advise you how long your test result will take to come back.

Transfer of Medical Records

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

Privacy and Confidentiality

We will respect our patients' privacy, dignity and confidentiality at all
times.

Appointments - Our Commitment

With a Doctor: For medically urgent requests, we will offer an
appointment on the same day.

For routine appointments we try to offer the same day, but may be next day in exceptionably busy times.

With a Practice Nurse: For routine appointments we will try to
offer an appointment within five working days, however this is not
always possible; especially for blood test requests at busy times.

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.

Out of Hours Emergencies

We wanted our system for contacting the duty doctor to be easy to
follow, reliable and effective. For this reason our telephone system
‘puts you straight through to the Out of Hours Service’.

Just phone our normal number Out of Hours: 01733 568569.

Waiting Times

• Surgeries will normally start on time.
• We expect patients to be seen within thirty 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.