North Road Suite

Appointment Cancellation

Lines open 8.00am – 6.30pm

Patient Charter

Patient Charter (Patient rights and responsibilities)

All members of the surgery primary care team are dedicated to a quality policy to achieve health services which meet the patient’s requirements.

You can download the patient charter (2019) or read this below:

Patient Charter

All new patients will receive a copy of our practice leaflet and copies will be displayed at the reception desk. We would ask that you study the leaflet carefully as it will provide you with valuable information on how to access our services along with other useful contact numbers.

Surgery Premises

our surgery building will be welcoming, easy for patients to find their way around and appropriate to the needs of users, including disabled.

Patients’ rights to General / Private Medical Services

Patients have the right to:

  • be registered with a General Practice
  • change doctor if desired
  • 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 specialist or second opinion if they and the GP agrees
  • have the right to view their medical records, subject to the Acts and to know that those working for the NHS are under legal obligation to keep the contents confidential.

Repeat Prescriptions

Our doctors periodically review your medication and may decide that they wish you to undergo routine tests for example blood test or BP checks. We require 48 hours notice for repeat medication request, please see the information for collection times in the patient reception area or check the practice leaflet. There are a number of chemists who offer an ordering and collection service, please ask one of our receptionists for details, alternatively you can ask at one of the local chemists in the area.

Referrals

We offer our patients referrals through the ‘Choose and Book’ wherever possible to provide both choice and speed. Urgent referrals to other health and social care agencies will be made within one working day of the patient consultation. For non ‘Choose and Book’ and non-urgent referrals we will normally process within five working days.

Test Results

When a doctor or nurse arrange for a test to be taken your test results will be with the doctor aprox 7 to 10 working days after your test. The doctor will view the results and take the appropriate action. You can telephone the surgery to see if your results are with us; please do so after 10.30am. Our recpetionist cannot give you the result unless instructed to do so by the doctor.

Transfer of Medical Records

The Practice will endeavour to dispatch any medical records required by the Health Authority within seven working days and the same day if the request is urgent.

Privacy and Confidentiality

We will respect our patients’ privacy, dignity and confidentiality at all times. All of our Practice staff have signed Confidentiality Agreements as part of their Contracts of Employment. You can obtain a separate leaflet from reception entitled ‘Your Information – What You Need to Know’ which details how information is collected, processed and stored.

Appointments

With a Doctor: For routine consultations we will endeavour to offer patients an appointment within TWO working days of the request. For medically urgent requests, we will offer an appointment on the same day.

With a Practice Nurse: For routine appointments we will endeavour to offer an appointment within five working days.

Home Visits

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

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

Surgeries will normally start 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. If a doctor is delayed arriving at surgery or 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 at all possible.

Changes to Procedures

When changes are introduced to practice procedures that affect patients, we will ensure that these are clearly explained, by means of the Practice Leaflet; waiting room notice board or individual leaflets, giving as much notice as practicable.

Patient responsibilities

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

  • Courtesy to the staff at all times – remember they are working under the doctors’ directions.
  • Violent and abusive patients will be reported to the Police and removed from the Doctors List.
  • Responding in a positive way to questions asked by the reception staff.
  • To attend appointments on time or give the practice adequate notice that they wish to cancel. We are a very busy Practice and could offer the appointment to another patient. Patients who continually do not attend appointments that they have booked we will write to remind them of our policy. If Patients continue this will result in removal from our Practice List
  • An appointment is for one person only – where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made as this would inconvenience other patients who are waiting for their booked appointment. In addition this would delay the Doctor who has other duties to perform following their surgery’s.
  • You should endeavour to arrive before the start time of your appointment in order that we can book you in at reception. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late for your appointment with the Doctor this may result in you having to book another appointment.
  • Patients should make every effort when consulting the surgery to make best use of nursing and medical time – home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for social convenience.

NHS constitution

Please download the NHS constitution

Equality and Diversity Service Provision

Please download the  Equality Service Provision

Date published: 10th October, 2014
Date last updated: 19th May, 2023