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PRACTICE CHARTER
All members of the Byfield Medical Centre are committed to achieve high
quality services for you, our patients. We do everything we can to keep
you healthy and will treat you as an individual, making every effort
to respect your personal beliefs. We will also try to ensure that you
have easy access to the services you use and that you understand the
care and treatment we offer. In return for these standards, we ask that
you take responsibility for your side of the bargain.
Our Responsibility To You
- You will be treated as a partner in the care you receive.
- You will be treated as an individual and will be given courtesy and respect at all times.
- You have the right to be treated in a confidential manner.
- We will try to answer the phone promptly and courteously.
- We will give you leave to see the doctor of your choice though we do ask that you use the same doctor for any particular treatment in the interests of continuity.
- We will ensure that, in cases of urgency, you will be seen that day, if necessary by the duty doctor.
- We will try to see you within 30 minutes of your appointment time. If we cannot do this we will offer an explanation. Wherever possible, we will give you 24 hours' notice of any cancelled
surgery or clinic. Your allotted appointment time will be 10 minutes for which one problem only will be discussed. An additional appointment will be necessary for any other medical problems
you may be experiencing.
- We will explain the likely effects of any drugs and review your long-term medical needs at an agreed time.
- We will advise you about how and when to obtain the results of any tests or X-rays you have undergone.
- We will offer you the opportunity to seek a second opinion if you feel this is necessary.
- We will visit you at home if, in our opinion, you are really too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.
- We will offer advice and information about how you can promote good health and avoid illness.
- We reserve the right to remove patients from our list if they repeatedly and persistently ignore their responsibilities to us and other patients or threaten violence to any member of staff.
Your Responsibilities to Us
Being a partner means that we have responsibilities to each other...
- We ask that you treat the doctors and all practice staff with due courtesy and respect.
- Where possible, avoid telephoning the surgery during the peak time of 8.30-9.30am.
- Please keep your appointment or tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Please try to be punctual. Patients arriving five minutes late may not be seen and those arriving ten minutes late
will not be seen. In these cases, another appointment will have to be made.
- Please make allowances for our surgeries sometimes running late. This is usually because a patient needs that little extra time and attention. Please do bear with us - next time that patient
could be you!
- Please do not expect to be issued with a prescription at every consultation; sometimes advice is all that is necessary. Do not hoard medicines; check your cupboards before requesting a repeat
prescription.
- Please ensure that your request for a home visit reaches the surgery before 10.00am (except when a genuine emergency occurs later). The home visiting service is a precious resource; please use it
responsibly.
- Remember that you are responsible for your own health and that of your children and should take appropriate action and advice.
COMPLAINTS
We always try to provide the best services possible for our patients, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. The following information explains our “in-house” complaints
procedure which has been drawn up to respond to patient grievances. Our practice procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow us to look
into and, if necessary, correct any problems that you have identified, or mistakes that have been made. If you use this procedure it will not affect your statutory
right to complain to the Health Authority.
Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. If you wish to make a complaint,
please telephone or write to Martin Crawford, our practice manager. He will take full details and a decision will be made on how best to undertake the investigation. We believe it is important to deal with
complaints swiftly, so you will be offered an appointment for a meeting to discuss the details within three working days. Occasionally it may take longer, but we will keep you informed throughout. You
may bring a friend or relative to the meeting. We will do our best to address your concerns, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be needed.
If you are seriously unhappy with us or the service we provide, you have the right at any time to leave our list and register with another practice.
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