Our practice is committed to providing high-quality care in a safe and respectful environment. This charter outlines the partnership between our clinical team and you, our patient. It details your rights and the standards of service you can expect from us, as well as your responsibilities to the practice.
These principles are based on the NHS Constitution for England, which all patients and NHS staff should be aware of. By working together, we can ensure you receive the best possible care.
You can read the full NHS Constitution on the GOV.UK website:
In accordance with our contract with NHS England, every patient is allocated a named GP
All patients should be given a named GP within 20 days of registration and told so at the next appropriate time.
The practice must confirm on their website that every patient has a named GP.
If a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable efforts should be made to accommodate their preference.
Practices are required to use the code 'patient allocated named accountable general practitioner' in the clinical system.
The named GP is largely a role of oversight. It reassures patients they have one GP who is responsible for their care.
It is really important that you attend your scheduled appointments at the surgery.
If it is no longer convenient or you decide you no longer need it then please let us know as early as you possibly can. Demand for appointments is very high and, with enough notice, we can usually reallocate your appointment to another patient.
You can cancel any appointment via the NHS app even it was not booked online in the first place.
When a patient misses an appointment it is known as a 'Did Not Attend' (DNA).
If a patient persistently misses appointments with letting us know in advance in can harm the relationship of mutual trust with the practice. We may contact you by phone or letter to discuss this and what we can do together to improve things in the future.
Our full policy for dealing with persistent non-attendance is contained in our DNA policy
We expect to run the surgery so staff and patients are courteous and respectful to each other.
Violent or abusive behaviour undermines the mutually supportive relationship between a patient and everyone at the surgery. It will not be tolerated.
We reserve the right to issue warnings to patients who commit these types of behaviour. This can include us taking steps to have the patient removed from our list, without notice if that is appropriate to protect our staff.
Types of behaviour that are not acceptable at the surgery include:-
If you have access to the internet and you are comfortable using digital services then the NHS App is the easiest way to interact with the surgery.
We encourage everyone who is able to use digital services to try them out and use them whenever possible.
You can use the app to carry out many of the basic interactions liking ordering medication or cancelling an appointment.
Doing these tasks via the NHS App can save you time and also reduces the amount of adminstration for the practice.
However we will make sure that technology is not a barrier that prevents patients accessing our services. We will always try make it clear how patients can access services without using digital apps.
Equally we will work to make sure the digital apps and our website meets the required standards for accessibility.
We encourage all our patients to use the NHS app to interact with the surgery but will make sure that those who are unable to use digital apps are not prevented from accessing services.
As an NHS organisation, we believe in being open and transparent about how we work. You have legal rights to access two different types of information held by the practice:
This guide explains the difference and tells you how to make a request.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 gives you the right to request information held by public bodies, including your GP practice.
This right is for information about the business of the practice, for example:
The FOI Act does not cover personal patient data.
We must respond to your request within 20 working days. The information is usually provided free of charge.
Your right to access your personal health information is covered by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).
You can request access to your medical record, including:
We must respond to your request within one calendar month. This service is free of charge. In very rare cases, if a request is complex or repetitive, we may extend the deadline or charge a fee, but we will always inform you of this first, in line with Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) rules.
For an FOI request, there are some specific legal reasons (exemptions) why we may not be able to provide information. This could be because it contains confidential information, would be too expensive to produce, or includes the personal data of another person.
For a Subject Access Request, access may be denied in very limited circumstances, for example, if releasing the information would be likely to cause serious harm to you or another person.
In either case, if we cannot provide the information you have asked for, we will write to you to explain the reasons why.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your request, please let our Practice Manager know in the first instance.
If you are still not satisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and freedom of information.
Contact the ICO: