Sidney House and The Laurels Surgeries

Practice Charter

 This is our interpretation of the Patients Charter as it applies to Sidney House and The Laurels surgeries and the services we deliver to you as well as our expectations of our patients.

 You will be treated as an individual and given courtesy and respect regardless of your background, ethnicity, religious beliefs, personal situation or the nature of your health problem

 We ask that you treat all our staff with the same courtesy and respect.

 We will endeavour to answer the telephone efficiently and courteously as soon as possible.

 We will give you full information about the services we offer.

 Please take and keep a copy of our practice booklet or browse the practice website

 All staff involved in your care will have received appropriate training and will be indentified by name.  

You are encouraged to share responsibility for your health which includes making appointments in time for medication reviews and repeat medications and vaccinations.

 Please keep your personal information up to date and let us know of any changes to your address or contact numbers.

 You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the practice team will remain confidential and no information will be divulged without your explicit written consent

 This is an accordance with relevant professional regulations and the law

 You have a right to see your health records in accordance with the law.

 No-one else can see these records or obtain details from them without your written consent. You are not entitled to ask for information about others unless they have given their written consent to this.

 We abide by the laws pertaining to Data Protection, Freedom of information and others relevant to the safe keeping of your medical record.

 We will endeavour to see you at a convenient time and without delay.

 Please try to keep your appointment or let us know in good time if you cannot. We endeavour to offer access to a health care professional on the day of your request as required but cannot guarantee the doctor of your choice at short notice.

 We will endeavour to offer an appointment with the health care professional of your choice within 72 hours.

 This is our aim and obviously dependent on annual or sick leave. The majority of our medical staff have commitments outside of the practice and are not available every day so please understand if this is not always the case

 We will endeavour not to keep you waiting past your appointment time and will offer information should there be a delay of more than 30 minutes to your appointment

 Urgent or emergency cases will be given priority. Please be patient as on other occasions it may be that you that requires seeing urgently.

 We will involve you fully in planning and agreeing your treatment and will explain this to you.

 We will arrange specialist or hospital treatment as necessary.

 Please endeavour to keep your hospital appointments once made or make every effort to cancel or defer your appointment

 We will ensure that you are able to speak to a health care professional on the phone.

 The doctor or nurse will normally speak to you when they have finished their morning or evening surgeries.

We will provide home visits where necessary

 Home visits are provided for those elderly and infirm patients unable to travel to the surgery and in emergency situations where it is deemed necessary. The doctor may phone you prior to undertaking a visit.

 We will provide a comfortable and relaxed environment for you whilst you are waiting for your appointment. The premises will be well maintained and appropriate to the needs of all of our patients.

Please help us to try to maintain the premises by using them in an appropriate manner.

 The practice premises conform to current Fire and Safety regulations and to the Health and Safety at Work Act.

 Please use the recommended methods of requesting your repeat medications.

 

We will provide your repeat prescriptions 72 hours after you request them.

 We will dispense urgently needed medication to those patients whom we are able to, as quickly as possible after the prescription has been issued.

 The dispenser will endeavour to answer any questions you have pertaining to your medicine. If she or he is unable to answer your question they will refer to the doctor as necessary.

 We will ensure our dispensary products meet the requirements of the relevant prescribing authorities.

 The practice operates a policy for comments, suggestions and complaints. We welcome any of these. Please contact our complaints officer who will deal with your matter and we will contact you with an acknowledgement promptly and a response within 30 days.