Practice Charter

Practice Charter Standards

All members of the practice are committed to achieving and maintaining a quality health service and by continually reviewing our procedures -improving our standards.

It is our aim to offer you the best possible service and we believe this can be achieved by working together.

Your Rights - You Have The Right To:

• Be registered with a GP.

• Be promptly and courteously provided with information and assistance regarding the services provided.

• Receive appropriate health checks.

• Have emergency care when needed.

• Receive information about your health, treatments or illness, and be prescribed with appropriate drugs/medicine according to acceptable modern general practice.

• Referral to a consultant when agreed between you and your GP.

• Have access to your health records subject to limitations in the law and for the contents to be
complete, accurate and confidential.

• Choose whether or not to take part in medical research or training.

Your Responsibilities Are To:

Treat all staff with courtesy and respect at all times. We will remove from our list immediately patients who are violent or seriously abusive towards doctors or any of the practice staff.

Attend appointments promptly or to give as much notice as possible if you have to cancel; if you are late the practice has the right to ask you to make another appointment.

Ensure that the reception staff know if a problem is urgent.

Refrain from booking more than one person per appointment.

Ask for home visits only if justified and not for social convenience.

Volunteer all relevant information and follow medical advice given.

Comply with repeat prescription arrangements and ensure supplies do not run low especially over weekend and holiday periods.

Remember that the Green Road Surgery and Woodley Park Surgery both now operate an ‘appointments only’ system and if you require to be seen for an urgent medical problem you should telephone first for an appointment.

Our Commitment To You - We Aim To:

Give you individual courtesy and respect.

See you within 30 minutes of your booked appointment unless there is an emergency situation in which case you may be offered an alternative appointment.

Treat you as a partner in the care and attention you receive.

Advise you fully of the services provided.

Promote a healthy lifestyle for avoiding illness and recommend self-help for minor ailments.

Provide support and information to the housebound and their carers.

Continue to improve and develop services, welcoming comments and suggestions.

Remain approachable and accessible according to statutory terms of service.

Comply with relevant national standards and regulations.

Maintain confidentiality within the practice team. Identifiable patient information will only be shared within the practice team and, in the case of referral, to the clinician to whom the patient is referred.

Disclosure of identifiable patient information to any other outside agencies will only be done after receiving written permission from the patient.

Practice Standards

You Can Expect To:

Be offered an appointment with a GP normally within 2 working days (except during holidays, sickness and study leave), and a Practice Nurse within 24 hours.

Have priority given to urgent requests the same day even when this may cause delay to others.

Be offered a health check after registering with the Practice.

Collect repeat prescriptions within two working days from the time of request.

Receive a response to any suggestion for improvement after due consideration by the appropriate staff.

Have a prompt resolution of any difficulties experienced with the services provided in accordance with the Practice Complaints Procedure

COMPLIMENTS?

COMMENTS?

SUGGESTIONS?

COMPLAINTS?

To help us make sure that we provide the best possible service for our patients, this practice operates a practice based complaints procedure.

If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints to make about any aspect of our service, please speak or write to

Mrs Helen Edwards, Practice Manager

We will note your comments, investigate it and respond within 10 working days.

Suggestions and complaints

If you have any comment, suggestion or complaint regarding the service you receive from the surgery please let us know.

We operate an informal procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with such matters

We hope that most of these matters can be sorted out easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible.

Your complaint will be delta with in the first instance by the Practice Manager. Mrs Helen Edwards, who will ensure that your complaint is fully investigated and reported back to you.

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to have looked into the matter within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation or a meeting with the person(s) involved.

Please note

1.This procedure does not deal with matters of legal liability or compensation

2.This procedure does not affect your right to make a formal complaint to Berkshire West Primary Care Trust.

3.We are bound by strict rules of confidentiality and we cannot release or provide confidential information without the appropriate authority or provide confidential information without the appropriate authority if you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else.