The Charing Surgery

Practice Charter

Surgery Charter

Our Responsibilities To You

We are committed to giving you the best possible service.

Information - apart from the services listed in this website and in our practice booklet, every effort will be made to update you on information which directly affects your health and care being offered.

Access - there is a duty doctor on daily, patients who have an urgent problem will be seen on the same day whenever possible. Home visits will be arranged for those too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.

Respect - patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their healthcare, irrespective of their ethnic orgin or religious and cultural beliefs.

Treatment - there will be no treatment given to you without your informed consent. Please ask questions if you are unsure or do not understand the information given to you.

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.

Your Responsibilities To Us

Help us to help you.

Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number.

If you cannot keep an appointment let us know as soon as possible. We can then offer the time to another patient.

Please only ask for home visits when the patient is too ill to visit the surgery.

Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling between 8.00 and 11.00am if the matter is not urgent.

Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Please direct all enquiries to the hospitals about test results ordered by them.

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

We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy and respect. There will be zero tolerance to cases of aggressive behaviour and verbal or physical abuse.

Comments/Suggestions/Complaints

Suggestions to improve our service are always welcome and should be made in writing to our practice manager, Mr Tony Gooden. Similarly, any problems not resolved at the time should be brought to his attention. The practice has an established in-house practice based complaints procedure and all grievances will be dealt with considerately and in confidence. We trust that these incidents are rare but we do assure our patients, relatives, or carers that there will be no discrimination against anyone who finds the need to complain by any of the staff or doctors at the surgery.

Data Protection And Computer Information

We ask you for confidential medical information to enable us to deliver proper care and relevant treatment.

We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may need to use some of this information for other reasons: for example, to help us protect the health of the public generally and to ensure that the NHS runs efficiently, plans for the future, trains its staff, and accounts for its actions. Information may also be needed to help educate tomorrow's clinical staff and to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of all.

Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information: for example, to notify a birth, death or infectious disease.

The NHS Central Register for England and Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a general practitioner. The Register does not contain clinical information. You have a right of access to your health records

EVERYONE WORKING FOR THE NHS HAS A LEGAL DUTY TO KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT YOU CONFIDENTIAL.

You may need to be referred to other healthcare professionals within the NHS. To enable us to all work together for your benefit, we may need to share some information about you. We only ever use or pass on this information if people have a genuine need for it in yours and everyone's interests. Whenever we can we shall remove details which identify you. The sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Contact details for local PCT / PCA:

Zero Tolerance

This practice supports the government's NHS Zero Tolerance Zone Campaign.

Violence and abuse is a growing concern. GPs and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being abused or attacked, verbally or physically.

Violent patients will be reported to the police and struck off the practice list.
We ask that you treat your GP and practice staff properly - without violence or abuse, verbal or physical.

Freedom Of Information - 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.