Patients Rights and Responsibilities

Our practice team will:

• treat every patient as an individual with dignity, courtesy, respect and confidentiality at all times, irrespective of ethnic origin, religious belief, gender or sexual orientation, personal attributes or the nature of your health problem.
• provide medical treatment, that you are legally entitled to accept or refuse, on the basis of clinical need.
• maintain the confidentiality of your medical records and provide you with access to them in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
• inform you of the services we provide and how to access them and provide information to help you to stay healthy.
• value our very important relationship with each patient. If, in exceptional circumstances, this relationship breaks down, it may be necessary to consider removing a patient from the practice list.

In return the Patient must

• treat doctors, nurses and all practice staff with equal dignity, courtesy and respect at all times.
• be on time for your appointments and advise the surgery as soon as possible if you cannot keep an appointment.
• use emergency appointments only for emergencies and not for routine care.
• request home visits only when they are genuinely necessary for housebound or seriously ill patients.
• ensure that medicines are only used by the person for whom they were prescribed and that they are stored safely in their original containers out of reach of children.
• advise the surgery, and any clinic or hospital where you receive treatment, if you move home or change your name or contact details, especially your telephone number, or if your personal circumstances change in any way that might affect your health.
• let us know if you are unhappy with any aspect of the practice. You can either speak to any member of the practice staff or put a complaint in writing to the Practice Manager (See Comments and Complaints page in this section of this web site).