Practice Charter

We strive to:

• treat you as an individual with courtesy and respect at all times

• ensure the practice premises are clean, comfortable and accessible and that the surgery appointment times are available throughout the working day

• offer you a consultation for a non-urgent appointment with a clinician within two working days

• if medical circumstances require it, offer a same day consultation with an appropriate professional

• provide home visits to the genuinely housebound or seriously ill

• provide repeat prescriptions within two working days, subject to clinical need

• inform you of any expected delays when you arrive at the surgery

• give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law, and treat all information/personal details in the strictest confidence

We ask you to try to:

• share in the responsibility for your own health and co-operate with agreed treatment plans

• arrive in good time for your appointments and, if you have to cancel an appointment, to do so as soon as you can (preferably the previous day)

• make every effort to attend the surgery to make best use of nursing and medical time

• request your repeat prescriptions at least two working days in advance

• treat the practice team with courtesy and respect

• maintain a healthy lifestyle at all times

• inform us if you change your address or telephone number

Data Protection Act & Confidentiality

Your medical record is confidential. We do, however, share information among health professionals, where it is felt to be in your interest, as a patient, for this to happen.

With increasing 'shared care' between GPs, hospital doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, it is necessary to share information, such as lab results, or the medication you are taking, so that, where possible, relevant data can be available at any place where you receive care, to avoid duplication of investigations, and so that the health professional you are seeing is able to give you the best possible care.

General practices, secondary care, managed clinical networks, and the Health Board need to keep disease registers (lists of patients with the same condition), so that call and recall systems can operate, and that shared care can be effectively and efficiently coordinated.

Sometimes data will be used for research or statistical purposes relating to healthcare planning, but in these circumstances individual patients will not be identifiable without their consent.

If data about you is used for education or training, then, where possible, it will be anonymised, and if this is not possible, then your consent will be required before information is used for this purpose.

Finally, as part of quality assurance, it is sometimes necessary to check individual records to ensure that agreed standards of care are being met.

Under no circumstances is information about you shared with third parties who do not directly contribute to, or support the delivery and planning of, your health care unless your consent has been obtained.

In these circumstances, under the Data Protection Act 1998, we are not obliged to obtain your explicit consent for sharing relevant information, but if you do have specific requests for some aspects of your health record to remain confidential from some parts of the NHS, please let us know, and we shall take action to comply with your wishes.

Comments & Complaints

We are constantly trying to improve the service we offer and your ideas and comments are extremely helpful. Please get in touch with the practice manager if you have any ideas or comments you would like to pass on.

Any problems with or complaints about our services should be addressed to our practice manager in the first instance. Please be assured that these will be investigated in the strictest confidence and you will be informed of what action is being taken. Our aim is to give the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal promptly with any problems that may occur.

If you feel that you cannot raise the complaint with us, or you are dissatisfied with the result of our investigation you can approach:

Senior Manager Quality Improvement
Department of Nursing, NHS Dumfries and Galloway,
Bankend Road, Dumfries DG1 4AT
Telephone: (01387) 241761

Freedom Of Information

The practice has adopted the BMA Model publication scheme for GPs. Further information on this scheme is available from the practice manager.

Further Information

The practice is contracted to provide general medical services under the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004 by NHS Dumfries and Galloway. Further details about any GP practice in Dumfries and Galloway can be obtained by contacting:

NHS Dumfries and Galloway,
Crichton Hall,
Bankend Road,
Dumfries
DG1 4TG

Telephone: (01387) 244000
Fax: (01387) 244706

Zero Tolerance

This practice supports the Scottish Executive's policy on zero tolerance.

Violence and abuse is a growing concern. Doctors and their staff have the right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. We ask that you treat your GP and practice staff properly without violence or abuse. Should a patient be violent, abusive or aggressive to a doctor or any member of their staff, we will ask that their name be removed from our list of patients with immediate effect. They will then have to contact the Practitioner Services in Glasgow (0141 300 1350) (see IBC) to register with a new practice. Violent patients will also be reported to the police.