Lake Road Practice

BBC | Health News


THE LAKE ROAD PRACTICE CHARTER

ENTITLEMENTS

All members of the Practice Primary Care Team are dedicated to achieve quality health services which meet the patient's needs.

You the patient are entitled to:

1 Be treated with courtesy and respect.

2 Absolute confidentiality.

3 Expect doctors and nurses to begin surgeries at the appointment time; any delay will be due to medical necessity or unforeseen circumstances.

4 Have appropriate drugs and medicines prescribed and to have a clear explanation of any treatment proposed.

5 The opportunity to choose whether to be involved in research or medical training.

6 Be referred to a consultant acceptable to you when your GP feels it necessary, and to be referred for a second opinion if both you and your GP agree this is desirable.

7 See your health records, subject to any limitation in law. A fee may be charged to cover costs.

8 Be offered appropriate advice by the Primary Care Team regarding steps you may take to promote good health and avoid illness, eg smoking, exercise, diet and immunisation.

9 Expect that patients with urgent medical conditions will be given priority and will be seen as soon as possible, even when this will cause delay to booked appointments.

10 Be seen within one working day should you have a medically urgent complaint.

11 Have any suggestions you may make to improve the service considered by the appropriate team members and given a response.

12 A reply to a written complaint, from the practice manager within seven days.

13 Be treated as an equal. In the same way as patients can choose their doctor, the doctors reserve the right to accept or remove a patient from their list if the patient does not feel able to meet his or her responsibilities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Practice Primary Care Team has made certain undertakings to you. In return we expect you to share with us in a partnership for your care.

We expect you:

1 To be courteous to staff at all times - they are working under the doctors' orders in the best interests of all our patients.

(The practice takes a serious view of any incidents of physical and verbal abuse against its employees and will support them if assaulted, threatened or harassed.
In the event of serious physical and verbal abuse, patients will be removed from the practice list.)

2 To call between 8.30 and 10.30am where possible for house calls to ensure we can plan our day effectively to everyone's benefit.

3 To attend appointments on time or to give the practice adequate notice if you wish to cancel - lateness or non-attendance inconveniences other patients and wastes appointment time.

4 To make an appointment for one person only - where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made when the notes will be available.

5 To make every effort to consult at the surgery to ensure the best use of medical time and nursing facilities - home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience.

6 To bring all relevant information to surgery to make consultations as effective as possible.

7 When advised that repeat prescriptions are due for review, to make an appointment to be seen routinely, and to take good care of your Repeat Prescription Slip.

8 To inform us if you change your address or telephone number as we may need to contact you urgently. PROBLEMS AND COMPLAINTS

If any problems arise with any of our services, please tell our practice manager. We will always do our best to solve them.

COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

We always welcome suggestions. Please feel free to make any suggestions or comments upon the services you receive. If you would like us to reply personally to your suggestions please include your name and address.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - PUBLICATION SCHEME

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available.

This scheme is available from Helen Burch, Practice Manager.

Access To Patient Information

Legislation requires certain safeguards around the confidentiality and disclosure of patients' health information and as such it is protected by common law, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the ethical responsibilities of healthcare responsible staff. Patient consent would be sought if information was to be made available outside of these criteria.

Patients have the right of access to their records subject to certain safeguards on their behalf, and that the protection of information from a third party is maintained. You do not need to give a reason for requesting access to records.

Please contact the practice manager who will give you an explanatory leaflet.