The Red Practice

CHARTER RESPONSIBILITIES

Our Responsibilities To You

We are committed to giving you the best possible service. This will be achieved by working together.

You will be treated as a partner in the care and attention you receive.

You will be treated as an individual and will be given courtesy and respect at all times, irrespective of your ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of your health problems.

Following discussion you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent.

We run an appointment system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you.

We will try to ensure that you are seen on time but some consultations take longer than others and we have no way of knowing about this in advance. If there is a patient with an emergency or a serious problem we will give them priority. When there is a prolonged delay an explanation will be given by the receptionist.

We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care we offer. We want to improve services; we will therefore welcome any comments you have.

We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this.

If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment if they are available.

If no further appointment needs to be arranged we will advise you when and how to obtain the results.

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.

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.

People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them.

It is our job to give you treatment and advice. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand all the information given to you.

We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those patients who are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.

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.

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.

Your Responsibilities To Us

Help us to help you.

Being a partner means that we have responsibilities to each other.

We ask that you treat the doctors, all practice staff and their families with the same courtesy and respect.

In return we would ask you to try to follow the medical advice offered and to take any medication as advised.

Please do everything you can to keep appointments, tell us as soon as possible if you cannot and be ready to tell us details of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details.

Please try to be punctual; if you arrive later than your appointment time this may cause inconvenience and delays to other patients. Please ask for more than one appointment if you want more than one patient to be seen. If we are running late please be patient, as on another occasion it might be you that needs the extra time. Please do not blame the receptionist.

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

Please do not ring before the stated time. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.

Please do not ask for or arrange a specialist appointment without first discussing the matter fully with your own doctor. If you later decide that you no longer need an appointment made for you, please inform both the hospital and us.

Please read our practice booklet. This will help you get the best out of the services we offer.

Please let us know if you change your name and/or address.

Please ask us questions if you are unsure about anything.

Please do not ask for a home visit unless the patient cannot be brought to the surgery. In particular, most children can quite safely be brought to the surgery by car. Please ensure that your request for a home visit reaches the surgery before 10.00am unless a genuine emergency arises later.

Outside surgery hours NHS 24 provides cover for emergencies at all times, but please do not call out of hours unless it is about an emergency which cannot wait until the next surgery. Please remember that your doctors need rest and relaxation just like everyone else.

You are responsible for your own health and that of your children and should take appropriate action and advice.

We also have the right to have patients removed from our list. In general we will only exercise this right in the case of patients who repeatedly and persistently ignore their own responsibilities to us and to other patients.

We will remove from our list immediately patients who are violent or seriously abusive towards any of the practice staff.

Complaints And Suggestions

Unfortunately from time to time even the best-laid plans can go wrong which may result in frustration and possible upset to patients and staff alike. If you feel dissatisfied with any aspect of the service that you receive, then please let us know. If your complaint is of a clinical nature, then please address it to the doctor concerned with your care. For complaints of a non-clinincal nature please ask to speak to, or write to the practice manager or assistant practice manager. More formal complaints, ie those of a more serious nature, should be addressed to the senior partner. We will take all complaints seriously and discuss them fully with you. Should you not receive a satisfactory answer, help may be given by contacting the local Health Council or Primary Care Administrator at the Health Board.

We would equally welcome favourable comments when things go particularly well.

Suggestions for improvements are always welcome and should be addressed to the practice manager.

Computers

We are fully computerised and confidentiality remains of vital importance to us. The computer is used for storing medical information, repeat prescriptions and health check reminders such as immunisations and cervical smears, and allows us to provide a better service, especially in the field of preventative medicine.

Data Protection Act And Access To Health Care Records

The practice complies with the current legislation as laid down in the Data Protection Act 1984 and Access to Health Care Record Act 1990. The following people have right of access:

1. The patient.
   
2. A person authorised in writing to apply on behalf of patient.
   
3. Where the patient is a pupil, the parent or guardian.
   
4. Any person appointed by a court to manage the affairs of a patient deemed incapable.
   
5. Where a patient has died, the patient's representative.
   

Where the patient or their representative wish to apply for access to their records this must be arranged with a doctor. There will be a fee for access.

The doctors, nurses and all other members of staff operate a strict policy of patient confidentiality. You should therefore feel comfortable in disclosing any information you think is important in the knowledge that all such information is protected and will not be released to anyone without your consent.

Recording Of Consultations

From time to time the doctors may wish to make a video-recording of their consultations for training purposes. You will be asked for your written consent before any recording is made, and you will have the right to have the recording erased at the end of the consultation if you so wish. These recordings will ONLY be seen by other general practitioners.

Audits

We are continually looking at ways to improve our service to you, our patients, and in order for us to do this we monitor and audit different aspects of practice activity. From time to time we may ask you to complete a short questionnaire to help us. Your assistance at these times would be appreciated.

Freedom Of Information - Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available. This scheme is available from reception.

Zero Tolerance

We strongly support the NHS policy on zero tolerance. Anyone attending the surgery who abuses the GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any threatening manner whatsoever, will risk removal from the practice list. In extreme cases we may summon the police to remove offenders from the practice premises.