Biggar Medical Practice

Biggar Medical Practice

Patient/Practice Agreement

Everyone who uses the NHS in Scotland has rights and responsibilities and these are set out in the NHS Scotland Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities. This agreement outlines key points from the above document and includes additional practice specific rights and responsibilities.

Respect and Politeness: You must treat your doctor, staff and other patients with respect and politeness as you would expect to be treated by them.

Registered Doctor: Patients are no longer registered with a named Doctor. You have the right to be seen by any of our health professionals without prejudice but subject to their availability. If you need to see a doctor at short notice you may not be able to see a doctor of your choice.

Disclosure: Patients are expected to disclose all relevant facts regarding their health to the health care professional they are consulting.

Confidentiality: Patients have a right to absolute confidentiality. Patient identifiable information will not be shared with third parties including family members withoutprior written consent.

Appointments: You have a responsibility to attend on time for all appointments and to cancel in advance any appointment that you are unable to attend. If you arrive late for an appointment you may be asked to wait to the end of the clinic or be asked to re-book for another date/time. If you miss 3 appointments or more in any 6 month period, you will not be able to automatically receive an appointment of your choice. Your next appointment will only be booked at the discretion of the Practice. We may also consider requesting that the Health Board remove you from the practice list.

Duty Doctor Urgent Appointments: Duty Doctor urgent appointmentsshould only be requestedif your condition is urgent and cannot wait for the next available routine appointment. Duty Doctor urgent appointments are not suitable for consultation of ongoing chronic illnesses, requesting repeat prescriptions or for consultation about a range of issues.

Home Visits: You should only request a Home Visit under circumstances where you cannot physically attend at the Practice. You should make every effort to attend the surgery to make the best use of the clinician’stime. You will normally be contacted prior to any visit to ensure it is medically appropriate. Home visits are not to be requested for social convenience.

Out of Hours Service: You should only use the Out of Hours Service where it is medically necessary, otherwise wait until the following morning and contact the Practice to request an urgent appointment.

Repeat Prescriptions: You must request repeat prescriptions at least two working daysin advance by one of the methods set out in the practice leaflet. For patient safety reasons requests cannot be accepted by telephone.

New Patient Medicals: All new patients will be offered a new patient medical; to ensure you receive the best level of service it is recommended that you accept the invitation.

Change in practice services: The practice will inform patients of changes to services available by means of our practice leaflet, notice board in the waiting room, newsletters and on our website.

Change of personal details: If we need to contact you it is important that we have your correct details it is therefore your responsibility to inform the practice of any change of personal details especially your contact details.

Mobile Devices: The practice has a BT wi-fi hotspot for the convenience of our patients. You must respect others by keeping your devices on silent whilst in the practice, including during consultations.

Food/Drink: In the interest of other patients, you are not to consume food/drink within the Practice building.

Smoking/e-cigarettes: Smoking and the use of e-cigarettes are prohibited on the premises and grounds.

Zero Tolerance: The practice considers aggressive behaviour to be any personal, abusive and/or aggressive comments, cursing and/or swearing, physical contact and/or aggressive gestures. The practice will request the removal of any patient from the practice list who damages property or is aggressive or abusive to a doctor, member of staff or any other patient. All instances of damage of property or actual physical abuse on any doctor, or member of staff, by a patient or anyone accompanying them will be reported to the Police.

Complaints: If you are not satisfied with any aspect of our services you have a right to complain. The practice complaints procedure conforms to the NHS Scotland Complaints Handling Procedure. Our complaints policy is available from reception orfrom our website.

Updates to agreement: This document will be updated from time to time when necessary and the current version will be available from reception and displayed on the practice website. All patients will be obligated to the current agreement published and the practice reserves the right to ask patients to sign the updated version at anytime. Depending on the circumstances failure to adhere to the agreement may result in the practice considering a request to the Health Board for removal from the practice list.

Patient Statement

I understand the rights and responsibilities listed in this agreement and agree to my obligations. By undertaking the responsibilities in this agreement I am making a commitment to working in partnership with Biggar Medical Practice by upholding my responsibilities as a patient.

Patient Name ______Date ______

Signature ______

Document updated: 22/09/2017