Cheam Family Practice > About Us > Practice Policies > Patient Rights > Your Rights and Responsibilities

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Attending a busy GP Practice as a patient can be an anxious and worrying time for you. We aim to make your time here as short and as simple as possible and the following should help to explain what you, as a patient, can expect from our staff and what we, the staff, can expect from you.

Your Doctor’s Responsibilities

To treat you with respect and courtesy at all times
To treat you as an individual, and to discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide
To give you full information on the services we offer
To give you the most appropriate care by suitably qualified staff
To provide you with emergency care when you need it
To refer you to a suitable Consultant when necessary
To give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law

Your Responsibilities as a Patient

To treat all staff with respect and courtesy at all times
To tell us if you are unsure about the treatment we are offering you
To ask for a home visit only when you are unable to attend the Practice through illness or infirmity
To request such a visit before 10.00 am, if possible
To ask for an out-of- hours visit only when necessary
Please ensure that you order your repeat medication in plenty of time allowing 48 working hours for your request to be processed
To keep to your appointment time (note: if you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment you may not be seen)
To notify us at least 24 hours prior to an appointment if you cannot attend
To notify us of any changes to your personal details (e.g. name, address, telephone number, mobile numbers etc).

ZERO TOLERANCE

It is our policy to be helpful and polite to all our patients regardless of age, ethnic origin, disability, gender or sexual orientation. We expect the same courtesy from our patients. Discriminatory, unsocial, threatening, violent or abusive behaviour towards staff, other patients or the premises will not be tolerated. The Practice will take action in these circumstances, which may involve the Police and result in the removal of the patient from our Practice list.

In England, please refer to NHS Constitution your rights and responsibilities for further information.

Patient Charter

Out Of Hours Emergencies

We will do everything possible to ensure that our system for contacting the duty doctor is easy to follow, reliable and effective.

Waiting Times

We aim to start surgeries on time.
We expect patients to be seen within twenty minutes of their appointment time, and in the event of a delay we will offer an explanation.
To limit unplanned extended waiting times for patients we request patient’s presenting complex or multiple conditions request a double appointment.
When a doctor is called away on an emergency we will inform the patients and give them an opportunity to book an alternative appointment, or if preferred, to be seen by another doctor if available.

With these rights come responsibilities and for the patients this means:

In return we expect you to:

Be courteous to the staff at all times – remember they are working to doctors’ orders.
Respond in a positive way to questions asked by the reception staff.
Attend appointments on time; in consideration of our other patients we reserve the right to cancel your appointment if you are more 15 minutes late.
Give the practice adequate notice that they wish to cancel. Someone else could use your appointment!
Understand that an appointment is for one person only – where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made and the Medical Record be made available.
Make every effort when consulting the surgery to make best use of clinician and nursing time – discussing the most urgent matter with the clinician first.
Understand that patients wishing to discuss more than one problem should make a double appointment.
Accept that home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience.
Give 48 hours’ notice for repeat prescriptions to allow for accurate prescribing.
Accept that Out-of-hours calls (e.g. evenings; nights & weekends) should only be requested if they are felt to be truly necessary and an emergency.
Accept that children should be accompanied by an adult at all times whilst visiting the Surgery; and supervised to ensure their behaviour does not cause harm or distress to other patients or themselves.

Our surgery team is dedicated to the achievement of patient centred, quality health services that meet our patient’s requirements.

Surgery Premises

We aim to take all reasonable measures to meet the access needs of our patients, including patients with restricted mobility and sensory impairment.

Patients’ Rights To General Medical Services

Patients have a right to:

be registered with a GP Practice.
be assigned a named GP.
change to another GP Practice
be offered a health check on joining the Practice
receive emergency care at any time from the Practice
receive appropriate drugs and medicines
be referred for a specialist or a second opinion if they and the GP agree.
be allowed to choose where the referral takes place, if a choice exists.
view and receive copies of their medical records, subject to the relevant legislative Acts;
know that staff who are employed at the Surgery have a legal obligation to keep the contents of medical records and personal information confidential.

Changes To Our Services

When changes are introduced to Practice services that affect patients, we will ensure that these are clearly explained, by means of our Practice Leaflet; website, waiting room notice-board, newsletter or individual leaflets. We endeavour to give as much notice as is practicable.

Repeat Prescriptions

Prescription requests are subject to the approval of a GP. Prescriptions will be processed within 56 (working hours) for collection by the patient or local pharmacy as appropriate.

Referrals

Urgent referrals to other health and social care agencies will be made within one working day of the patient consultation.
We will normally process non-urgent referrals within five working days of the patient consultation or the doctor’s decision to refer.
Patients may request copies of referrals.

Test Results

When a doctor or nurse arranges for a test to be taken the patient will be informed how to obtain the result. Our reception staff will only provide information regarding routine results after 11am daily when they have been signed off by the Practitioner.

Transfer or Medical Records

Privacy and Confidentiality

We will respect our patients’ privacy, dignity and confidentiality at all times.

We do not share your information with any other party unless you have given expressed consent to do so: a leaflet explaining how your information is handled is available from reception.

Appointments

With a doctor: For medically urgent requests, we will always try to offer an appointment on the same day. To ensure we are able to meet all our patient needs in terms of appointments we are unable to guarantee a consultation with a Dr of choice. We reserve a number of appointments for advance booking up to 2-4 weeks in advance. Routine appointments are allocated at ten minute intervals. Double appointments for complex/multiple issues should be requested.
With a practice nurse: There are nurse lead clinics and telephone triage services on a daily basis.

If there is a delay in the appointment wait (when you arrive) of more than 30 minutes we will let you know. We are happy to update you on any delay situation if you feel that you have been waiting too long.

Home Visits

We are unable to guarantee a specific doctor will visit you as this depends on GP availability and other factors. The decision to undertake a home visit will be at the doctors’ discretion.

*restricted criteria applies, please ask at the Reception office.