Patient Charter

King George Surgery
135 High Street
Stevenage
Herts. SG1 3HT

Patient Liaison Group

Suggestions

Patient Charter

Introduction

This practice exists to provide high quality family healthcare to patients in and around Stevenage, making the best use of available money and resources.

The care of your health is a partnership between yourself and the primary health care team. The success of that partnership depends on a number of factors:

Establishing a shared responsibility to prevent problems before they occur,
Having a clear understanding of each other's needs, and
Developing regular feedback on how you feel about our services, positive as well as negative.

The patients' charter will give you rights, but with rights also comes responsibility.

Our responsibilities	Your responsibilities
We are committed to give you the best possible medical service within the constraint of established expenditure levels (the money we can spend). This can be achieved by working together.	Help us to help you. Please do not consult us regarding non-medical problems (e.g. dental problems), as we are not trained to deal with them.
You will be treated as part of a partnership in the care and attention you receive.	Being in a partnership means that we have responsibilities to each other.
You will be treated as an individual and at all times will be given courtesy and respect.	We ask that you treat any member of staff with the same courtesy and respect.
You will be given appropriate treatment and will be referred to the appropriate consultant if and when your G.P. thinks necessary.	In turn we ask you not to ask for treatment we think is inappropriate, to follow medical advice offered and to take medication as advised.
If we consider that you need a second opinion or treatment not available in the practice we will try to inform you of the best way of achieving this. You have the rights to see your medical records, which will be kept confidential, subject to any legal reservations.	Please do not ask for or arrange a specialist appointment without first discussing the matter with your doctor. If you later decide that you no longer need an appointment made for you, please inform both the hospital and us.
You will be given full information about the services we offer and every effort will be made to keep you up to date with new information which directly effects your health and the care being offered.	We expect you to carefully read our practice leaflet and any information about your problem and to follow the guidance given in the leaflet or in any other information.
We run an appointment system in this surgery. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you.	Please do everything you can to keep an appointment, and tell us as soon as possible if you cannot keep it.
We will try to see you on time, but some consultations take longer than others and if there is a patient with an emergency or serious problem we will give them priority.	Please try to be punctual. If you arrive later than your appointment time we may not be able to see you as it may cause delays and inconvenience to other patients. Please limit your appointment to one person and one problem. If you think that your problem will take longer or if you have more than one problem, please inform the receptionist and ask for a longer appointment.
We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those patients who are too ill or infirm to come or be brought to the surgery. The doctor will decide whether a home visit is appropriate.	Please do not ask for a home visit unless the patient is too ill or too infirm to come or to be brought to the surgery. Please ensure that your request for a home visit reaches the practice before 10 am, unless a genuine emergency arises later.
We will arrange cover for medical emergencies at all times	Please read our practice leaflet on the out of hours' arrangements. Please do not call out of hours, unless it is for a medical emergency which can not wait until the next surgery. Please do not call for dental emergencies as we are not trained in dealing with them. Please remember that your doctor has already worked all day and will be working a full day the next day. You are not helped by a doctor who is too tired to do his or her job properly if you call about non-urgent medical problems.
We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care we offer.	Please read our practice leaflet, which will tell you about the arrangements made.
We will try to answer the phone promptly and ensure there are sufficient staff to do this.	Please keep your phone calls brief and avoid calling during peak hours for non-urgent matters. Please ask our receptionists when is the best time to call for certain questions you might like to ask.
The practice will offer advice and information on: Steps to take to promote good health and avoid illness, Self-help for minor ailments.	You are responsible for your own health and that of your children and should take appropriate action and advice.
You can expect to get a repeat prescription with notice of three working days.	Please understand the need for notice and do not leave your request for repeat prescriptions to the "last minute".
If you are totally dissatisfied with us or the services we provide, you have the right at any time to leave our list and to register with another practice.	We also have the right to have patients removed from our list. In general we will only exercise this right if a patient repeatedly and persistently ignores his or her responsibilities to us and/or to other patients and we think we can no longer work with him or her in partnership. We will remove from our list immediately patients who are violent, abusive or misbehave themselves in any way towards any member of staff or patient.