Your responsibilities and rights

Your responsibilities to us – please help us to help you

  • Do what you can to look after your own health and follow advice on a healthy lifestyle.
  • Treat NHS staff, fellow patients, carers and visitors politely and with respect. We will not allow violence, racial, sexual or verbal harassment.
  • Be courteous to practice staff at all times.
  • Attend on time for appointments and contact us well in advance if you need to cancel your appointment. This is particularly important because if you are unable to attend, we may be able to offer your appointment to someone else, thus helping to reduce waiting times.
  • Tell us as soon as possible about any changes of name or address.
  • Ensure that the appointment you have booked is of adequate length for the problem(s) you wish to discuss.
  • Request a home visit only when it is absolutely necessary and not just because transport to the surgery would be inconvenient.
  • Follow the advice you have been given – medication may not always be the most appropriate solution to your problem.
  • Order your repeat prescriptions well in advance and allow 48 hours from requesting your repeat to collecting it.

Accept any invitation for health screening issued by the practice or health authority, including “new patient health checks”, immunisations, cervical screening etc.

Inform us when you book an appointment briefly what you wish to see someone about, so that we can direct you to the most appropriate healthcare professional for you.

Let us know when things go wrong – so that we can change the way we do things if necessary.

Please also let us know when you think we have done something well as your comments may help other patients too.

Your rights – the NHS core principles:

Our commitment to you – we want the NHS to be a high quality health service.
These are our aims as set out in the NHS Plan.

  • The NHS will provide a universal service for all based on clinical need, not ability to pay.
  • The NHS will provide a comprehensive range of services.
  • The NHS will shape it’s services around the needs and preferences of individual patients, their families and their carers.
  • The NHS will respond to different needs of different populations.
  • The NHS will work continuously to improve quality services and to minimise errors.
  • The NHS will support and value its staff.
  • Public funds for healthcare will be devoted solely to NHS patients.
  • The NHS will work together with others to ensure a seamless service for patients.
  • The NHS will help keep people healthy and work to reduce health inequalities.
  • The NHS will respect and confidentiality of individual patients and provide open access to information about services, treatment and performance.
  • If patients are violent or abusive, verbally or physically, towards any of our staff, we have the right to report the incident to the police and the patient will be struck off the GP’s list.

All patients of the surgery, including children, are now allocated a named, accountable GP. If you are unsure of your named GP, you can ask at reception or a doctor or nurse to confirm who this is.