Mission Statement

What we will do for you Treat you with courtesy and respect at all times Treat you as a partner and discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide Give you full information on the services we offer Provide you with emergency care when you need it Refer you for a further opinion when you and your doctor agree it is necessary Give you access to your health records subject to any limitations in the law Keep your records confidential Give you a full and prompt reply to any complaints you make about the service What you can do for us Tell us if you are uncertain about the treatment we are offering you Use emergency services only in a genuine emergency Ask for a home visit only when the patient is unable to attend the Health Centre through illness Keep your appointments Keep us informed of your latest address and telephone number Tell us about complaints or misunderstandings as soon as possible to allow us to deal with them Let us know when we do well Aims and objectives of our website To enhance communication between staff and patients To be innovative, attractive, interactive, intelligent and informative To encourage communication between the Practice and patients and to keep you informed about developments at the practice Entry point for patients/health professionals to link to other sites of health interest We welcome suggestions and comments about our service and this website

Did Not Attend (DNA) policy

DNA’s place a great pressure on appointment availability. As a practice we would like to reduce the rate of DNAs, by the use of education, and considering the removal of those who persistently waste practice time and resources. If a patient does not turn up for an appointment and did not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change appointment, this is classed as a DNA’d appointment. Patients can cancel appointments via the telephone lines, face to face and also online. The effects of DNA’s are:  An increase in the waiting time for appointments  Frustration for both staff and patients  A waste of resources  A potential risk to the health of the patient A list of frequent non-attenders is produced regularly by the practice (and on behalf of hospitals, by the Health Board) to be reviewed by the partners. If a patient has missed 3 appointments in a year, they will receive an informal warning letter from the practice.

Chaperone policy

This organisation is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance. All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. This chaperone may be a family member or friend. On occasions you may prefer a formal chaperone to be present, i.e. a trained member of staff. Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our chaperone policy.

Non-NHS Work policy

Due to increasing and unprecedented demands on NHS Primary Care we have felt it necessary to review some of the non NHS work we are involved in. The Governments contract with GPs covers medical services to NHS patients, including the provision of ongoing medical treatment. In recent years, however, more and more organisations have been involving doctors in a whole range of non-medical work. There is no obligation for the NHS GP's to do any non NHS work. Whilst in the past we have tried to accommodate this, we have to ensure NHS Primary Care remains sustainable. • We shall continue to provide insurance medicals (life and mortgage cover) when time allows, however these will not be processed urgently. • We shall no longer be involved in providing certificates for Lasting Power of Attorney. These can be done by many other professionals including solicitors. Solicitors may need to contact us to gain medical information to make an assessment of capacity. In those instances if the solicitor writes to us with the patients consent we will provide information as necessary. This is a private service and as such a fee will be chargeable. Sometimes capacity assessments can be complex and if a solicitor does not feel able to make that assessment they will usually arrange a further assessment with a private specialist with expertise in this area. • With regard to other non-NHS forms such as gym and health club forms. holiday cancellation forms, reports, fitness to fly, travel and occupational related forms. Whilst GPs will always attempt to assist, at times when we are experiencing a high demand for NHS services we may have to refuse this extra private work. Please allow 28 days for us to respond to any requests.

Countersigning Passports policy

We have a policy of not counter signing passport applications. Please refer to www.gov.uk for guidance. Please note that Doctors are not authorised to sign any passport applications unless they are able to state that that they know you well e.g. as a good friend and that they recognise you easily from your photo.