All Polices

Practice Charter & Patient Charter

Practice Charter & Patient Charter

These are local standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients.

Our Responsibilities to You:

  • You can expect to be greeted in a friendly and welcoming manner and be treated with courtesy by everyone working in the practice.
  • You can expect clean, comfortable and accessible premises with facilities for children.
  • You can expect confidentiality to be maintained at all times by all staff employed by the practice.
  • Patients with urgent problems will be seen the same day and there will always be a Duty Doctor available quickly in the case of an emergency.
  • Routine appointments will usually be available within two days with any doctor. If you wish to be seen by a particular doctor, it may be necessary to wait a little longer.
  • We aim for you to be seen as close to your appointment time as possible. Where a delay is likely we will do our best to keep you informed.
  • Repeat prescriptions received will normally be available for collection within three working days.
  • Urgent referral letters will be sent within 24 hours of a referral decision. Routine referrals are generally sent within five working days.
  • You can expect to be offered advice about how to stay healthy and avoid illness, and advice about self help for minor illness.
  • Complaints will be dealt with using our in-house complaints procedure, details of which are available on request.

Your Responsibilities to Us:

With rights come responsibilities and for the patient this means:

  • You should extend the same courtesy and politeness to practice staff as you can expect to receive.
  • You are responsible for keeping an appointment or giving adequate notice that you wish to cancel so the appointment can be made available for someone else.
  • You should remember that an appointment is for one person only.
  • You should attend the surgery when possible as home visits are for the housebound or seriously ill.
  • The out of hours service is for emergencies only. Requests for help or advice for non-urgent matters should be made during normal working hours.
  • Ultimately, you are responsible for your own health and you should seek to maintain, with our help and advice, a healthy lifestyle.

The Patient Charter – June 2025

This guide tells you what to expect from your general practice (GP) and how you can help them, so you get the best from the National Health Service. More details can be found through the links below.

https://practice365.co.uk/uploads/sites/1819/2025/06/NHS-England-You-and-your-general-practice-Patients-Charter.pdf

Named GP

Every patient that is registered at the practice is allocated a named GP at the point of registration. This GP is responsible for a patient’s overall care at the practice.

If you wish to know who your allocated GP is, or have any questions regarding your GP, please do ask reception.

Zero Tolerance

The practice fully supports the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of violence against staff working in the NHS and ensures that doctors and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused.

We understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. We ask you to treat your doctors and their staff courteously and act reasonably.

All incidents will be followed up and you will be sent a formal warning after a second incident or removed from the practice list after a third incident if your behaviour has been unreasonable.

However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or verbal abusive, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is taking place and the patient is posing a threat to staff or other patients.

Removal from the Practice List

A good patient-doctor relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is the cornerstone of good patient care. The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship. When trust has irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of the surgery, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.

Removing other members of the household

In rare cases, however, because of the possible need to visit patients at home it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household. The prospect of visiting patients where a relative who is no longer a patient of the practice by virtue of their unacceptable behaviour resides, or being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it too difficult for the practice to continue to look after the whole family. This is particularly likely where the patient has been removed because of violence or threatening behaviour and keeping the other family members could put doctors or their staff at risk.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

I must make a request for repeat prescriptions either online, in person at reception, writing or by fax please allow two working days before collecting them.

I accept that help and advice for non-urgent conditions should be dealt with in normal surgery hours.

I understand that I can see the doctor at normal surgery times with an appointment.
I will not smoke in any part of the building.

I understand that receptionists treat patients with courtesy and friendliness and I as a patient should treat the receptionists in the same way.

I understand that it is not the receptionist’s fault if the doctor is delayed.

Rights and Responsibilities 

With these rights come responsibilities and for patients we would respectfully request that you:

  • Treat practice staff and doctors with the same consideration and courtesy that you would like yourself. Remember that they are trying to help you
  • Please ensure that you order your repeat medication in plenty of time allowing 48 working hours.
  • Please ensure that you have a basic first aid kit at home and initiate minor illness and self-care for you and your family.
  • Please attend any specialist appointments that have been arranged for you or cancel them if your condition has resolved or you no longer wish to attend
  • Please follow up any test or investigations done for you with the person who has requested the investigation
  • Attend appointments on time and check in with Reception
  • Patients who are more than 10 minutes late for their appointment may not be seen.
  • If you are unable to make your appointment or no longer need it, please give the practice adequate notice that you wish to cancel. Appointments are heavily in demand and missed appointments waste time and delay more urgent patients receiving the treatment they need
  • An appointment is for one person only. Where another family member needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made
  • Patients should make every effort to present at the surgery to ensure the best use of nursing and medical time. Home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience
  • Please inform us when you move home, change your name or telephone number, so that we can keep our records correct and up to date
  • Read the practice leaflets and other information that we give you. They are there to help you use our services. If you do not understand their content please tell us
  • Let us have your views. Your ideas and suggestions whether complimentary or critical are important in helping us to provide a first class, safe, friendly service in pleasant surroundings.

Training Practice

Doctors Training in General Practice

The practice usually has the benefit of one or more doctors training in general practice. After a substantial time spent working in hospital, they spend a year with us before entering independent practice. They are available for consultation in the same way as any GP at the practice.

Medical Students

Medical students, who are not yet qualified, occasionally sit in during consultations with your GP or nurse or they may see you separately prior to your consultation. You will be informed by the receptionist when a medical student is with your GP. Please inform the receptionist if you would prefer a student not to be present during your consultation.

Video Recordings

We sometimes use video recordings of consultations for teaching purposes. You will be asked to sign a consent form before the consultation if you have no objections to your consultation being recorded. Please let us know if you prefer not to be recorded.