Practice Charter

OUR QUALITY OF SERVICE STANDARDS

The doctors and staff of the Strathpeffer Medical Practice are committed to giving you the best possible service. This website explains what you can expect from us and how appropriate use of the service will achieve high standards for your care.

a) You will be treated as an individual and we will treat the whole person, rather than simply just what is wrong with you. You will be treated with respect and we will seek to understand your views and circumstances, taking these into account when treating you. We will work to ensure equity in the distribution of care to patients based on need.

b) We will respect your privacy and any information you give will be in confidence. It will be released to others involved in your care if they need to know - but only relevant information will be released.

c) It is our job to give treatment and advice and it is important for you to understand all the information given to you; please ask if you are unsure or require further details. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent. If you need to be referred we will do our best to help you get the treatment you require from consultants or other specialist agencies and will act as your representative and interpreter in dealing with them.

d) We are aware that our skills and knowledge have to be kept up to date, and the practice team are committed to further training, revision and re-assessment of the skills needed to practise effectively in a rural and semi-rural area.
e) We aim to offer an appointment with the doctor of your choice within three working days. Please realise that not all doctors work full-time and therefore this is not always possible.

f) We aim to offer non-urgent appointments with any doctor within 36 hours. Requests for home visits and urgent, same-day appointments will be dealt with by our trained staff and, when necessary, they will consult with the doctor.

g) In the surgery you should not have to wait more than 15 minutes beyond your appointment time. Should the delay be longer than this then we will give you an explanation. Please be patient if the doctor has to attend an emergency.

h) We will endeavour to answer the telephone promptly, but at the busiest times (9.00 - 10.30am) the lines may be engaged, and if your call is non-urgent it may be more satisfactory to call later in the day.

i) We want you to look after your health and if you are unsure about any aspect of your care or medication, please ask questions and feel free to speak to any member of the Health Care Team.

Please be considerate towards other people using the surgery and towards staff running our services.

For you to make the best use of, and for us to improve the service we offer, we need your help. We welcome any comments.

Your Rights & Responsibilities

All surgeries are by appointment and these can be made by telephoning the practice. Every attempt will be made to fit urgent cases into the next available surgery on the same day. The practice also has the authority to remove from its list any patients who constantly abuse the appointments system.

Please telephone to cancel your appointment if it is no longer needed so that the appointment slot may be offered to someone else.

Confidentiality

Practices undergo regular visits by external assessors, whose purpose is to verify the process of the practice's quality of care to the patient, therefore they may need to view records of a random number of individual patients.

The visiting team adheres to a strict code of confidentiality.

If you do not wish your records to be inspected, then please inform the practice manager.

Data Protection Act 1998

You are entitled to access your clinical records held by the practice. This should be done in writing stating exactly what information you require. A charge may apply for this request of between £10 - £50 maximum.

Comments & Complaints

We operate a user-friendly practice complaints procedure which meets nationally approved criteria.

If you wish to make a complaint, you may do this either verbally or in writing and you should contact Mrs B Graham, the practice manager, or one of the GP partners. You will receive an acknowledgement within two working days and a written response within 10 working days.

In investigating your complaint we aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Enable you, if you would like, to discuss the problem with those concerned
• Ensure you receive an apology, if appropriate
• Try to prevent the same thing happening in the future.

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, in order to maintain patient confidentiality, we will require to know that you have their permission to do so.

If you would prefer to talk to someone else who is not involved, you can telephone or write to the complaints officer, NHS Highland, at John Dewar Building, Inverness (01463 706800). You will be given a reply within four weeks of them receiving your complaint, and where there are good reasons why this cannot be achieved, you will be kept informed of progress.
If you would like to make a suggestion that you feel could improve the service offered by our practice, please let us know either a) by discussing with a member of staff, b) giving us details in writing or c) contacting the patient participation group.

Zero Tolerance

This practice operates a zero tolerance policy of verbal or physical aggression towards all practice staff. The practice has the right to remove patients from the list because of persisting unacceptable behaviour.

Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

This Act came into force on 1st January 2005 and enables any person requesting information from a public body to receive that information, subject to certain examples. This is to encourage public authorities (GP Practices) to be more open and accountable and organise their information in an efficient and accessible way. This excludes personal data.
The practice publication scheme document is available to view; please contact the practice manager for more information.