Your rights and responsibilities

Our responsibility to you

Our practice will endeavour to offer you the best service that we can. No member of our practice may discriminate against or treat unfairly any other member of the practice, a patient or member of the public attending the surgery on grounds of gender, race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour or creed, age, marital status, disability, medical condition, social background or sexual orientation.

All information about our patients is treated as strictly confidential.  Personal data kept by the practice complies with the Data Protection Act 2018.  We will only release information containing your personal data with your explicit consent.

We believe that respect and dignity are the right of everyone, staff, patients and members of the public.

Patients’ responsibilities

In return we expect that you as patients will respect our rules, our premises and our staff.  We strongly support the NHS policy on zero tolerance and will not allow rudeness or aggression towards any of our staff, doctors or other patients.  Any such incidents will be recorded and may result in your being removed from our practice list. In extreme cases we may summon the police to remove offenders from the practice premises.

Smoking is not allowed in the surgery. We also request that you do not eat or drink in the surgery building, and request that mobile phones are used only in an emergency.  Mobile phones are distracting for our staff and sometimes distressing to other patients.

As a patient you have the right to:

  • Be registered with a named doctor
  • Change doctor if desired (but please remember that you may have to see any of the doctors if your need is urgent)
  • Receive emergency care
  • Receive appropriate drugs and medicines
  • Be referred for specialist or second opinion if they and GP agrees
  • See your medical records or a copy, subject to certain laws
  • Know that by law, everyone working for the NHS must keep the contents of your medical records private

With these rights come responsibilities for the public. That means being:

  • Courteous to staff at all times
  • As prompt as possible for all appointments
  • Responsible for cancelling appointments in adequate time