Patient Charter

These are the local standards set within the practice for the benefit of our patients. It is our job to provide you with 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.

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.

Access: You will have access to a doctor rapidly in case of emergency. We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those who are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.

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.

Test Results: If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, we will advise you when and how to obtain the results.

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 Promotion: The practice will offer patients advice and information on:
Steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness.
Self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.

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.

Zero Tolerance

Our practice will not tolerate violent, abusive or threatening behaviour. If this should occur, the offending patient will be removed from our list and we will notify NHS England to make arrangements for that patient to be seen at another practice where the doctors are willing to offer treatment to violent patients.

The Protection And Use of Patient Information

We ask you for information about yourself so that you can receive proper care and treatment. We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may use some of the information for other reasons; for example, to help us protect the health of the public generally and to see that the NHS runs efficiently, plans for the future, trains its staff, pays its bills and can account for its actions.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information; for example, to notify a birth. The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a general practitioner. This register does not contain clinical information.

You have a right of access to your health records.

EVERYONE WORKING FOR THE NHS HAS A LEGAL DUTY TO KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT YOU CONFIDENTIAL.

You may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS. So that we can all work together for your benefit we may need to share some information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone's interest.

Whenever we can, we shall remove details that identify you. the law strictly controls the sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information.

Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

The Main Reasons For Which Your Information May Be Needed:

• To give you health care and treatment.
• To look after the health of the general public.
• Managing and planning the NHS, for example by:
• Making sure that our services can meet patients' needs in the future.
• Paying your doctor, nurse, dentist, or other staff, and the hospital which treats you, for the care they provide.
• Auditing accounts.
• Preparing statistics on NHS performance and activity (where steps will be taken to ensure you cannot be identified).
• Investigating complaints or legal claims.
• Helping staff to review the care they provide to make sure it is of the highest standard.
• Training and educating staff (though you can choose whether or not to be involved personally).
• Engaging in research approved by the Local Ethics Committee. (If anything to do with such research would involve you personally, you will be contacted to see if you are willing to take part. We may need to release your name and address to medical researchers to enable them to contact you for this purpose. You will not be identified in any published results without your agreement.)

Only if you agree, your relatives, friends and carers will be kept up to date with the progress of your treatment.

If, at any time, you would like to know more about how we use your information, you are welcome to speak to the practice manager.

Freedom Of Information - Publication Scheme

We are required by the NHS Freedom of Information Act 2000 to provide a Publication Scheme. This is a guide to the "classes" of information routinely made available to the public.

How Information About You Helps Us Provide Better Care

Confidential information from your medical records can be used by the NHS to improve services offered so we can provide the best possible care for everyone.
The information along with your postcode and NHS number but not your name, are sent to a secure system where it can be linked with other health information.
This allows those planning NHS services and those carrying out medical research to use information from different parts of the NHS in a way which does not identify you.
You have a choice. If you are happy for your information to be used in this way you do not have to do anything.  If you have any concerns or wish to prevent this from happening, please speak to the practice staff.  A leaflet is available below or at the practice.

Care Data Leaflet