Patient Charter
All members of Billinghay Medical practice primary care team are dedicated to providing a quality of service which fully meets the patient’s requirements. In particular:
- All patients have the right to be greeted courteously and dealt with efficiently.
- All patients have the right to absolute confidentiality.
- Doctors and nurses will begin surgeries at the appointed time; any delays will be due to medical necessity. Where there is a delay in excess of 30 minutes patients have the right to be informed and to make an alternative appointment.
- All patients have the right to information about their own health.
- Patients may have access to their own medical records on written request and subject to any limitation in the law.
- The practice will offer advice and seek to inform patients of steps they can take to promote good health and to avoid illness, e.g. smoking, exercise, immunisation etc
- Patients with urgent medical conditions will be given priority, even when this may cause delay to booked appointments.
- All new patients will be offered an appointment for a health check with a health care support worker, practice nurse and/or doctor.
- Patients shall be referred to a consultant when their clinician thinks it necessary.
- The practice has an NHS approved in-house complaints procedure; details are available from reception.
- Patients making urgent same day appointments may not be able to see the doctor of their choice.
- We are always seeking to enhance our service and welcome suggestions for improvement which should be passed to the practice manager. After consideration a response will be made to all correspondents.
With these rights come responsibilities and we would ask our patients to respect the following points:
- Courtesy to the staff at all times – please remember they are working to doctors’ instructions.
- Please try to attend appointments on time or give adequate notice that you wish to cancel – being late or non attendance inconveniences other patients and wastes appointment time.
- An appointment is for one person only – where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made and that patient’s notes will be available.
- Patients should make every effort to consult at the surgery to make the best use of nursing and medical time. Home visits should be medically justifiable, not requested for social convenience.