The relationship between a GP surgery and their patients is based on trust, mutual respect, and open communication.
This partnership between GP surgeries and their patients is crucial for ensuring high-quality medical care and promoting overall health and well-being.
Below are listed some of the key elements that help to support and sustain the important relationship.
In accordance with our contract with NHS England, every patient is allocated a named GP
All patients should be given a named GP within 20 days of registration and told so at the next appropriate time.
Accordingly every patient has a named GP.
If a patient requests to see a particular GP, reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate their preference.
The named GP is largely a role of oversight. It reassures patients they have one GP who is responsible for their care.
It is really important that you attend your scheduled appointments at the surgery.
If it is no longer convenient or you decide you no longer need your appointment then please let us know as early as you possibly can. Demand for appointments is very high and, with enough notice, we can usually reallocate your appointment to another patient.
You can cancel any appointment via the NHS app even it was not booked online in the first place.
When a patient misses an appointment it is known as a 'Did Not Attend' (DNA).
If a patient persistently misses appointments without letting us know in advance in can harm the relationship of mutual trust with the practice. We may contact you by phone or letter to discuss this and what we can do together to improve things in the future.
Our full policy for dealing with persistent non-attendance is contained in our DNA policy
We expect to run the surgery so staff and patients are courteous and respectful to each other.
Violent or abusive behaviour undermines the mutually supportive relationship between a patient and everyone at the surgery. It will not be tolerated.
We reserve the right to issue warnings to patients who commit violent or abusive behaviour. This can include us taking steps to have the patient removed from our list, without notice if that is appropriate to protect our staff.
Types of behaviour that are not acceptable at the surgery include:-
If you have access to the internet and you are comfortable using digital services, then the NHS App is the easiest way to interact with the surgery.
We encourage everyone who is able to use digital services to try them out and use them whenever possible.
You can use the NHS App to carry out many of the basic interactions, such as ordering repeat medication or cancelling an appointment.
Doing these tasks via the NHS App can save you time and also reduces the amount of administration for the practice.
However we will make sure that technology is not a barrier that prevents our patients accessing our services. We will always try make it clear how patients can access services without using digital apps.
Equally we will work to make sure the digital apps and our website meets the required standards for accessibility.
We encourage all our patients to use the NHS app to interact with the surgery but will make sure thatthose who are unable to use digital apps are not prevented from accessing services.