Newton Way Medical Practice

PRACTICE CHARTER

The Practice Aims

You will be treated with courtesy by all team members, who will be skilled in dealing with your enquiries and problems.

All team members will respect your confidentiality. Your records, both written and computerised, will be kept secure and confidential.

If you are considered to have an urgent medical problem, you will be seen the same day.

With an urgent problem, you should normally be able to see a doctor within 24 hours.

With a non-urgent problem, you should normally be able to see the doctor of your choice within three working days.

Waiting times at the surgery will be kept to a minimum. You will be advised of any delay to your booked time.

All children will be offered immunisation.

All referrals will be dealt with promptly, and you will be advised on how you will be told of any test results.

Complaints will be investigated thoroughly and promptly. You will be informed of the findings.

The Practice Expectations

• By leading a healthy lifestyle and therefore minimising health risks, you will be helping not only yourself but also your doctor.
• Please try to attend appointments on time. If you have to change or cancel an appointment, tell the practice as soon as possible.
• Please be patient if your appointment is delayed. Delays are often caused by patients needing emergency attention.
• Please treat the practice team members with courtesy.
• Requests for repeat prescriptions should be made to reception in plenty of time to avoid unnecessary delay in treatment.
• Whilst privacy is at all times respected, reception staff may need further details about a visit or appointment to help doctors assess the degree of urgency.
• Be sure to notify your doctor promptly of any change of address or family details such as marriage.
• Home visits should be regarded as a service for the genuinely housebound or seriously ill. Requests for home visits should be made before 10.30am wherever possible.
• If you are in any doubt about the seriousness of an illness, or whether you or a member of your family need a home visit, telephone your doctor for advice.
• The practice respects the right of a patient to leave our practice at any time if they feel unhappy with the service. The practice retains the right to remove from the practice list any patient who consistently abuses the system or any patient who is abusive or violent towards any doctor or member of the practice team. Your comments are welcome and any complaint will be dealt with promptly and confidentially.

Comments, Compliments Or Concerns

We are always trying to improve patient experience and your comments about the service you have received are valuable to us.

We operate a practice procedure as part of the NHS System for dealing with patient concerns or complaints.
We have a leaflet which gives details of the procedure, this is available from reception.

Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that may occur.

Removal Of Patients From The Practice List

We adhere to the NHS zero tolerance policy to protect our staff and other patients. If you are violent or abusive, and this leads us to fear for a person's safety then you will be removed from the practice list with immediate effect. Please note that the police may be involved.

Repeated misuse of medical services, for example repeated failure to attend appointments without sufficient prior notice, may also result in the removal from the list. It is our policy that you will first receive two warning letters prior to removal. If you move outside of the practice area, then you will no longer be able to remain on the practice list. We cannot make any exceptions.