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PRACTICE
CHARTER
OUR RESPONSIBILITY 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
you know how to contact them.
- Waiting Time: We run an appointment system in the practice. 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.
- Access: You will have access to a doctor rapidly in the case of emergency.
The doctor on call carries a mobile phone, and will be contacted in the case of an emergency.
- Telephone: We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff
available to do this. You may not be able to speak to a doctor by telephone immediately, but your request
will be directed to the appropriate doctor at the earliest opportunity.
- 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, where appropriate. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, we will
advise you when and how to obtain the results.
- Respect: Patients will be treated 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 the 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.
- Patients With Special Needs: The practice will make every effort to provide its service in a form appropriate
to all its patients. The practice staff are aware of the type of difficulties that can be experienced and will
endeavour to assist such patients. A large print version of our practice booklet and translations can be arranged on request.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY 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.
- Please make every effort to arrive on time for your appointment. Patients who
arrive late for a booked appointment will be seen at the doctor’s discretion,
and may have to wait until the end of the surgery.
- Please ask for home visits 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 (ie test results etc)
- We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy and respect.
The practice will not tolerate any verbal or physical abuse towards the staff
or doctors. Please remember that the reception staff follow guidelines drawn up
by the practice, and may ask you a number of questions in order to determine how
best to help you.
- 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.
COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
The practice is included in the new governing arrangements for the NHS and is part of the Greater Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership. This is a group of GP practices that work together to develop services in the locality.
PRACTICE STANDARDS
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.
COMPLAINTS, COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
We are happy to accept and consider comments and suggestions from our patients.
Please present your views in writing, for the attention of the practice manager.
We always try to provide the best services possible, but there may be times when
you feel this has not happened. We operate an in-house complaints procedure, as
part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. We hope you will use it to
allow us to look into and, where necessary, correct any problems that you have
identified, or mistakes that have been made. Our procedure is not able to deal
with questions of legal liability or compensation.
Please note that we have to
respect our duty of confidentiality to our patients, and a patient’s consent
will be necessary if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. Complaints
should be addressed to the practice manager or any of the doctors. Alternatively,
you may ask for an appointment with the practice manager to discuss your concerns.
Details of our in-house procedure will be provided to you and we will ensure that
your concerns are dealt with promptly.
RECORDS/DATA
PROTECTION ACT
Patient records may be disclosed
to persons outside the primary care team for the purposes of continual verification
of our standards of care and good practice. These include routine record keeping,
processing of records in the event of a medical emergency, clinical audit, payment
for treatment provided and post-payment verification, research and teaching. These
persons adhere to a strict duty of confidentiality but any patient may object
to the whole or any part of their records being inspected.
The law sets out how we can use your personal health information. The Data Protection Act gives you rights about how your personal information is used, including a right to see the information we hold about you.
Further information about this can be found at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/confidentiality.
STAFF PROTECTION
A zero tolerance policy towards violent, threatening and abusive behaviour is now in place throughout the National Health Service. The staff in this practice have the right to do their work in an environment free from violent, threatening and abusive behaviour and everything will be done to protect that right. If you do not respect the rights of our staff we may choose to inform the police and make arrangements for you to be removed from our medical list.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - PUBLICATION SCHEME
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 came into force on 1st January 2005 and enables any person requesting information from a public body to receive that information, subject to certain exemptions. The Practice Publication Scheme Document is available to view. Please contact the practice manager for more information.
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