Practice Charter

Our Responsibilities To You

We are committed to giving you the best possible service.

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’ or nurses’ 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 hopes to be able 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 three 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 should be able to speak to a doctor by telephone.

Test Results: If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, we will advise you when and how to obtain the results.

Respect: Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their healthcare, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs.

Information: We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive that information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.

Health Promotion: The practice will offer patients advice and information on: steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness; self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.

Health Records: You have the right to see your health records, subject to limitations in the law. These will be kept confidential at all times.

Referrals: If your doctor believes that you need a second opinion, then they will arrange this. Routine referral letters for hospital appointments will normally be dispatched within three working days of the referral being agreed with the doctor. Urgent referrals for hospital appointments may be faxed, telephoned or provided as a handwritten note for the patient to take to the hospital.

Choose and Book: This service enables patients to choose a convenient place, date and time for their initial hospital appointment. All patients in England can choose from one of four or five hospitals commissioned by their PCT. The GP and patient discuss any clinical restrictions that apply to the patient's choice of service(s) and any personal preferences they may have. The appointment can be booked immediately with the GP or with other practice staff while the patient is at the surgery, or, if the patient wishes to book later, after consulting with work, family or friends, they are provided with a printout of their appointment reference number and information on how to book over the phone via a booking management service or on the internet. If the patient does not make a booking, their GP and the booking management service are alerted so they can initiate any follow-up action. This is a big step in giving patients greater involvement in the choices and decisions about their treatment.

Over 75s: If you are 75 years or older, annual health checks are available if required.

Your Responsibilities 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. Contact the surgery between 8.30 and 10.00am to arrange a home visit.

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. This will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that you understand the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.

Remember, you are responsible for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.

Please ask if you wish to see your doctor. You can discuss any medical matter with the doctor, including asking for a second opinion.

Please speak to the practice manager if you wish to see your medical records. This can be arranged by appointment. There may be a fee payable.

Confidentiality

We ask you for personal information so that you can receive appropriate care and treatment. This information is recorded on computer and we are registered under the Data Protection Act.

The practice will ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times by all members of the practice team. However, for the effective functioning of a multi-disciplinary team it is sometimes necessary that medical information about you is shared between members of the team.

Prescriptions and some of the consultation records are run purely on computer. This enables us to analyse various aspects of health care and to produce an annual practice report.

Complaints

We endeavour to give you the best service possible at all times but there may be occasions when you feel you wish to express dissatisfaction.

Our Practice Complaints Procedure is part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints, and it conforms to national criteria.

How To Complain

We hope that most problems can be sorted out easily and quickly, at the time they arise and with the person concerned. If your problem cannot be sorted out in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like to know as soon as possible - ideally, within a matter of days or at most a few weeks - because this will enable us to establish exactly what happened more easily:

Within 6 months of the incident that caused the problem

Or within 6 months of discovering that you have a problem, provided this is within 12 months of the incident

Complaints should be addressed to Mrs Carol Bantick, the Practice Manager, or any of the doctors.

Alternatively, you may ask for an appointment with Mrs Bantick in order to discuss your concerns. She will explain the complaints procedure to you and will make sure that your concerns are dealt with promptly.

What We Shall Do

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and aim to have looked into your complaint within 10 working days of the date when you raised it with us, provided the appropriate personnel are not away from the surgery. We shall then be in a position to offer you an explanation, or a meeting with the people involved. When we look into your complaint we shall aim to:

Find out what happened and what went wrong
Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again
Arrange for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this. It may be helpful to use the services of an independent, trained conciliator appointed by the local Health Authority.

Complaining On Behalf Of Someone Else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) to provide this.

Further Steps

We hope that if you have a problem, you will use our practice complaints procedure, and we will reach a resolution of it locally.

We believe this will give us the best chance of putting right whatever has gone wrong and an opportunity to improve our Practice. However, this does not affect your right to approach the Strategic Health Authority if you feel you cannot raise your complaint with us OR if you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation.

You should contact:

Catherine Duff, Complaints Officer
Norfolk PCT
Lakeside 400
Old chapel Way
Broadland Business Park
Thorpe St Andrew
Norwich
NR7 0WG

Comments/Suggestions

We are very happy to receive constructive comments and suggestions for improving our service to patients. Please write or speak to the practice manager.

Staff Protection

A “Zero Tolerance” policy towards violent, threatening and abusive behaviour is now in place throughout the National Health Service. The staff in this practice have the right to do their work in an environment free from violent, threatening and abusive behaviour and everything will be done to protect that right.

At no time will any violent, threatening or abusive behaviour be tolerated in this practice. If you do not respect the rights of our staff we may choose to inform the police and make arrangements for you to be removed from out medical list.

Friends Of Manor Farm (Patient Participation Group)

A group has been formed consisting of patients, doctors and surgery staff to share information and ideas to improve health care. It’s your surgery - have your say! New members are always welcome. Contact the practice manager for further details.

A Guide To Information Held About You Or The Person You Are Caring For

Why Do We Need Information About You?

The main reason we collect information about you is:

To help you in the provision of your health care and treatment.
To assist staff in reviewing the care they provide for you to ensure that it is of the highest standard (this type of information is only used by staff directly involved in your care).

Your Information Is Also Used:

To try to improve the health of the general public.
To help in the management of the NHS and in planning for future services.
To ensure that staff receive suitable training and education.
To prepare statistics on NHS performance and activity.
To investigate complaints or legal claims.
To support clinical audit.
In research approved by the local Research Ethics Committee.

If anything to do with the research would involve you personally, you will be asked if you wish to take part and any identifiable results would not be published without your agreement (this type of information will, in most instances, have identifiable details removed).

How Is Your Information Collected?

From what you or carers tell us.
From examinations, observations and tests carried out by staff.

How Is Your Information Stored?

As paper records.
On computerised systems.

Why Do We Need To Keep Information About You?

To ensure continuity of care when you return for treatment or see a different health professional.

Will Your Information Be Confidential?

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. The West Norfolk Primary Care Trust is a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998. We hold information for the purposes specified in our notification made to the Data Protection Commissioner, who ensures that information is kept legally and fairly.

Where other people as well as NHS staff are involved in your care, information about you may need to be shared with them. In some instances the law requires us to pass on information, eg to notify a birth. All persons receiving information from us will also have a legal responsibility to keep your information confidential.

Information is only passed on where people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone’s interests.

Your Rights As A Patient

You have a right to see information recorded about you in manual records and computerised data. These rights are shown in the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you consider that patient confidentiality has been breached, you may complain by writing to the Chief Executive of the Trust, using the NHS complaints procedure. You may also complain to the relevant professional body.

If you require further help or information regarding these issues, please speak to the person responsible for your care, or contact:

Norfolk PCT
Lakeside 400
Old chapel Way
Broadland Business Park
Thorpe St Andrew
Norwich
NR7 0WG

Telephone: (01603) 257000

Freedom Of Information Act - Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a publication scheme. A publication scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available. This scheme is available from reception.