Dear Patient,
GPs and their practice teams provide the vast majority of NHS care outside of hospitals, supporting you and your family throughout your lives. In a perfect world, we want to be able to offer every patient:
- Safety – prompt access to a GP or practice nurse you trust, with well-staffed surgeries and enough resource so that no patient feels left behind.
- Stability – a family doctor who knows you, your medical history, and your community – without the stress and difficulty of finding it difficult to get an appointment.
- Hope for the future – care that focuses on keeping you well, not just treating illness.
We want more time for meaningful consultations, joined-up support closer to your home, from modern GP surgery premises with safe and effective technology to make this possible.
The government talks of “bringing back the family doctor” but what politicians promise is often not planned properly or funded fairly to be able to be delivered in reality.
We aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need.
Sometimes we may need to offer you an appointment on another day or direct you to another suitable service.
For safety reasons, urgent medical requests cannot be accepted via our online system. For something urgent, pick up the phone or walk into our reception.
The need to prioritise urgent cases to keep patients safe can result in longer waiting times for routine/non-urgent appointments.
The new requirement to allow patients unlimited online access for non- urgent medical requests, throughout core hours, makes it more likely that we will have no choice but to create hospital-style waiting lists to meet patient need.
We want to guide you through the NHS, co-ordinate your care, and support you to stay healthy. We want every patient to feel safe and confident in their GP practice – now and in the future.
Read the full patient charter here or collect a paper copy from reception.