Practice Charter

Please be considerate and honest when asking for an Emergency Appointment, or Home Visit.

We continually strive to improve our service. We welcome your suggestions and comments. We always take complaints seriously and act on them as courteously and quickly as possible.

How we can help you:

1. All Doctors and staff are committed to giving you a good quality of medical care at all times
2. We will endeavour to treat you with courtesy and respect
3. In handling your medical records, we exercise the utmost professional care in order to respect privacy.
4. We comply with the Data Protection Act and Access to Medical Records Act.

How you can help us:

1. Please be punctual for your appointment, and cancel your appointment if you cannot attend in good time.
2. Make a separate appointment if more than one member of the family needs to be seen.
3. If surgery is running late, please be patient. (One day it may be you who needs extra time!).
4. If you think a home visit is needed, please think carefully whether you could come into the surgery. We can provide a far better service in the surgery. If a patient is acutely ill, we can easily arrange to see you in our emergency room as soon as you arrive. If in doubt, do not hesitate to ask the receptionist.
5. If you change your name, address or telephone number, please inform the receptionist.
6. If you move out of our practice area, please check with us that we can continue to look after you at your new address.
7. Our staff work hard to help. Please be courteous to them.
8. Despite our best endeavours, on rare occasions you may feel you have cause for complaint. We will make every effort to look into this and put it right. Please discuss your problems, suggestions and complaints with the Business Manager, Mrs Sandie Sealey.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

As one of the smaller practices in town, we have always prided ourselves on a friendly personal atmosphere as well as a flexible and comprehensive service. If you have any cause for complaint, please do not hesitate to approach either one of the doctors, or the Business Manager, Mrs Sandie Sealey, either in person or by letter. You can be assured that the problem will be examined promptly and with discretion.

In the unlikely event of a complaint which you feel is not dealt with satisfactorily, the administrative body responsible for General Practice is the Somerset Health Authority.