Patient rights and responsibilities

Our Responsibilities to You	Your Responsibilities to Us
We are committed to giving you the best possible advice.	Help us to help you.
You will be treated as a partner in the care and attention you receive. You will be treated as an individual and will be given courtesy and respect at all times, irrespective of your ethnic origin, religious belief, personal attributes or the nature of your health problems.	Being a partner means that we have responsibilities to each other. We ask that you treat the doctors, all practice staff and their families with the same courtesy and respect.
Following discussion you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent.	In return, we would ask you to try and follow the medical advice offered and to take any medication as advised.
We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive the information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.	Please read our practice leaflet. This will help you to get the best out of the services we offer.
People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them.	Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number. Due to the high cost of mobile telephone connections, we would rather use a landline wherever possible.
It is our job to give you treatment and advice. In the interest of your health, it is important for you to understand all the information given to you.	Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.
We will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those patients who are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.	We need help too. Please ask for home visits by the doctor only when patients are too ill to visit the surgery.
	Please do not ask for a home visit unless the patient cannot be brought to the surgery. In particular, most children can quite safely be brought to the surgery by car.
	Please ensure that your request for a home visit reaches the surgery before 10.30am unless a genuine emergency arises later.
	Outside surgery hours, Perth Emergency Doctor Service provides cover for emergencies at all times, but please do not call out of hours unless about something which cannot wait until the next day.
We run an appointments system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you. Requests for home visits and same day appointments are triaged by our specially trained nurses, to ensure that you get the service that you need.	Please do everything you can to keep appointments, tell us as soon as possible if you cannot, and be ready to tell us details of your past illnesses, medication, hospital admissions and any other relevant details.
We will try to ensure that you are seen on time, but some consultations take longer than others and we have no way of knowing about this in advance. If there is a patient with an emergency or a serious problem we will give them a priority. When there is a prolonged delay, an explanation will be given by the receptionist.	Please try to be punctual. If you arrive later than your appointment time this may cause delays and inconvenience to other patients. Please ask for more than one appointment if you want more than one patient to be seen. If we are running late, please be patient, because on another occasion it might be you that needs the extra time. Please do not blame the receptionist.
We will provide you with information about how to make suggestions or complaints about the care we offer. We want to improve our services and we will, therefore, welcome any comments you have.	Please read our practice leaflet which will tell you about the arrangements we have made to receive your comments.
We will try to answer the phone promptly and to ensure that there is sufficient staff available to do this.	Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during peak morning time (8 – 10.30am) for non-urgent matters.
If you have undergone tests or x-rays ordered by the practice, we will inform you of the results at your next appointment. If no further appointment needs to be arranged, results are available by telephone after 2:00 pm daily.	Please call for results after 2:00 pm as they are more likely to be available and the telephone lines are less busy.
The practice will offer patients advice and information on:	You are responsible for your own health and that of your children and should take appropriate action and advice. There is advice for some common ailments in our practice leaflet.
Steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness
Self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor, in the case of minor ailments
If you are totally dissatisfied with us or the services we provide, you have the right at any time to leave our list and to register with another practice.	We also have the right to have patients removed from our list. In general, we will only exercise this right in the case of patients who repeatedly and persistently ignore their own responsibilities to us and to other patients.We will remove from our list immediately, patients who are violent or seriously abusive towards any of our health professionals or practice staff.

Patients have a legal right to:

Access to the NHS regardless of income
Information about GPs in your area and the services they offer
Be registered with a GP
Be referred by a GP for further treatment if necessary
Accept or refuse treatment including examination, tests and diagnostic procedures
Equal treatment regardless of race, gender, age or disability
Make a complaint about health services
Obtain a copy of your medical records
Patients have a right of access to an extended Primary Health Care Team who are appropriately trained and subject to on-going regular professional development. They can expect to be seen in a safe and friendly environment. They have a right to be treated courteously and with respect for their privacy and dignity.
Patients have a right to complete confidentiality both at a personal level and with regard to data protection at all stages of their contact with the practice.

Patients have a responsibility to:

Familiarise themselves with practice routine
Treat all staff with courtesy
Inform the surgery if they are likely to be late for an appointment and give as much notice as possible if they wish to cancel an appointment
The practice encourages people to become personally responsible for their own health.

Patients have a legal right to:

Patients have a responsibility to:

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Further Info