Policies
Practice Charter Standards
These are the local standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients. We are committed to giving you the best possible service.
Following discussion with you, you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand all the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.
Our Responsibility To You
-
Names
People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them. The surgery should be well signposted and the doctors’ names are indicated on their surgery rooms.
-
Waiting Time
We run an appointment system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse intends to see you. You should not wait more than 30 minutes in the waiting room without receiving an explanation for the delay.
-
Access
You will have access to a doctor rapidly in case of emergency, within half a working day in cases of urgency, and otherwise within two working days. We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those who are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.
-
Telephone
We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this. You will be able to speak to a doctor by telephone.
-
Respect
Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their health care, irrespective of their age, sex, racial origin, sexual orientation, religious persuasion , cultural and linguistic background and any disability they may have.
-
Information
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.
-
Health Promotion
The practice will offer advice & information on steps that can be taken to promote good health & self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.
Your Responsibility To Us - Help us to help you
-
Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number.
-
Please do everything you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Otherwise other patients may have to wait longer.
-
We need help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit the surgery.
-
Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.
-
Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.
-
We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy and respect.
-
Please read our practice booklet. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.
-
Remember, you are responsible for you own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it. Do ask if you wish to see your doctor.
Confidentiality
Your medical records are confidential and will not be discussed with anyone, other than the health professionals within the practice, without your permission. The practice complies with the Data Protection and Access to Records Acts. Information will not normally be released to other family members or friends without written patient’s consent, so please bear this in mind if you would like us to give test results to or discuss your medical condition with a third party.
Leaving our Practice Boundary
We often get asked by patients who are leaving the area if they can stay on as patients at Shere. This is a source of great encouragement for us and shows we are doing a good job as a practice. Indeed, in the past, the practice was able to keep patients on despite them moving outside the practice boundary.
However in the current climate, particularly as a rural practice, this is not practical, and sometimes might even be unsafe as we only have enough resources to look after the patients in our designated practice boundary which already covers 45 sq. miles, [as set by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)].
Furthermore, there is no NHS funding available to extend the building and accommodate more patients and staff – we are already at capacity at present. In addition, in common with most other practices, we already have difficulty recruiting staff for our existing area.
Sometimes a move may not seem geographically very far out of our boundary but causes safety and logistical concerns due to being served by different community services to the ones commissioned by our CCG with whom we normally correspond, have regular meetings, and streamline referral pathways.
It would not be fair to patients who live in our area to experience difficulty receiving medical attention because we are overstretched by caring for patients who live outside our practice boundary.
Please do not be offended when we have to decline such requests but it really is the only fair, and safe, way of operating.
It is important to note that existing registered patients who are outside our boundary, based on a historical agreement, will not be affected.