Practice Charter

Practice Charter Standards

These are the local standards set within this Practice for the benefit of our patients. It is our job to give you treatment and advice. Following discussion with you, you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand all the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.

Our Responsibilities To You

We are committed to giving you the best possible service.

Names: People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them. The surgery should be well signposted and the doctors’ names are indicated on their surgery rooms.

Waiting Time: We run both appointment and open access surgeries in this Practice. For the appointment surgeries you will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you. You should not wait more than 30 minutes in the waiting room without receiving an explanation for the delay. Open access clinic is from 8.30 to 10.00am each weekday morning. For the open access clinic patients are seen on a first-come first-served basis for urgent conditions only. It is not possible to guarantee the waiting time in these surgeries since waiting time will depend on the demand and the length of time the doctor or nurse needs to spend with each patient.

Access: You will have access to a doctor rapidly when urgently needed ie within half a working day in cases of emergency. A routine appointment with a specific named doctor will need to be booked in advance and will be dependent upon availability.

Telephone: We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there is sufficient staff available to do this. You should be able to speak to a doctor by telephone.

Test Results: If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the Practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, we will advise you when and how to obtain the results.

Courtesy and Respect: Patients will be treated with courtesy and respect, as individuals and partners in their healthcare, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs.

Information: We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive that information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.

Health Promotion: The Practice will offer patients advice and information on:
Steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness. Self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.

Health Records: You have the right to see your health records, subject to limitations in the law. These will be kept confidential at all times.

Your Responsibilities To Us

Help us to help you.

Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number.
Please do everything you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Otherwise, other patients may have to wait longer.
We need help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit the surgery.

Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.

Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the Practice.

We ask that you treat the doctors and Practice staff with courtesy and respect.
Where a patient is violent or abusive to any member of the Practice team, security and/or the Police may be called. This may result in the patient being removed from the list of the Practice.

Please read our Practice booklet. This will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that you understand the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.

Remember, you are responsible for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.
Please ask if you wish to see your doctor.

Comments and Suggestions

We welcome suggestions for improving our services and we have a Practice complaints procedure (see below). Our Practice Manager will be pleased to give you any further information as our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service, dealing swiftly with any problems as they occur.

Complaints Procedure

Our Practice procedure does not cover questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, put right any problems you have identified or mistakes that have been made.

If you use this procedure it will not affect your right to complain to the Primary Care Trust if you so wish. Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient’s consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by that patient in person.

If you wish to make a complaint please phone or write to our practice manager who will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation.

We think it is important to deal with complaints swiftly so we will contact you within two working days. Occasionally, if we have to make a lot of enquiries, it might take a little longer, but we will keep you informed. You may bring a friend or relative with you if we arrange a meeting.

We will try to address your concerns fully, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be needed. We hope that afterwards you will feel satisfied that we have dealt with the matter thoroughly. However, if this is not possible and you wish to continue with your complaint, we will direct you to the appropriate authorities who will be able to help you.

Patient Information

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. Please ask at reception for a copy of a leaflet produced by the Fareham & Gosport Primary Care Trust which explains why information is collected about you and the ways in which this information may be used.