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Practice
Charter Standards
These are the local
standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients.
It is our job to give you treatment and advice. Following discussion
with you, you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably
qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed
consent. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand
all the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are
unsure of anything.
Our Responsibility
To You
We are committed to giving you the best
possible service.
Names: People involved in
your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to
contact them. The surgery should be well signposted and the doctors'
or nurses' names indicated on their surgery doors.
Waiting
Time: We run an appointment system in this practice. You will
be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see
you. You should not wait more than 20 minutes in the waiting room without
receiving an explanation for the delay.
Telephone:
We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are
sufficient staff available to do this. You should be able to speak to
a doctor by telephone.
Respect: Patients will
be treated as individuals and partners in their healthcare, irrespective
of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs.
Information:
We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every
effort will be made to ensure that you receive that information which
directly affects your health and the care being offered.
Health
Records: You have the right to see your health records, subject
to limitations in the law. These will be kept confidential at all times.
Referrals: Routine referral letters for hospitals
will normally be dispatched within three working days of the referral
being agreed with the doctor. Urgent referrals may be faxed, hand-written
or telephoned to the relevant hospital, normally the same day.
Your Responsibility To Us
Help us to help you.
Please let us know if you change
your name, address or telephone number.
Please do everything
you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot.
Otherwise, other patients may have to wait longer.
We need
help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person
is too ill to visit the surgery.
Please keep your phone call
brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent
matters.
Test results take time to reach us, so please do not
ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered
by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.
We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy
and respect.
Please read our practice booklet. Along with this website it will help
you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that
you understand the information given to you. Please ask us questions
if you are unsure of anything.
Remember, you are responsible
for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you
our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.
Please ask if you wish to see your doctor.
Comments
and Suggestions
All
members of the Primary Health Care Team at this practice are keen to
provide patients with the best possible care. Therefore, if any patient
has a suggestion or constructive criticism for improving our services,
they are asked to contact our practice manager.
Complaints
Procedure
We always try to provide the best services possible, but there may be
times when you feel this has not happened. The following information
explains our in-house complaints procedure, drawn up to respond to patient
grievances. Our practice procedure is not able to deal with questions
of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow
us to look into and, if necessary, correct any problems that you have
identified, or mistakes that have been made. If you use this procedure
it will not affect your right to complain to the Health Services Authority.
Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients
and a patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made
by the patient in person. If you wish to make a complaint, please telephone
or write to our practice manager. Full details will be taken and a decision
made on how best to undertake the investigation.
We believe
it is important to deal with complaints swiftly, so you will be offered
an appointment for a meeting to discuss the details within 10 days.
Occasionally it may take longer, but we will keep you informed throughout.
You may bring a friend or relative with you to the meeting. We will
try to address your concerns, provide you with an explanation and discuss
any action that may be needed.
Confidentiality
We
ask you for personal information so that you can receive appropriate care and
treatment. This information is recorded on computer and we are registered under
the Data Protection Act. The practice will ensure that patient confidentiality
is maintained at all times by all members of the practice team. However, for the
effective functioning of a multi-disciplinary team it is sometimes necessary that
medical information about you is shared between members of the team.
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