Your doctor’s responsibilities
- to treat you with respect and courtesy at all times
- to treat you as an individual, and to discuss with you the care and treatment we can provide
- to give you full information on the services we offer
- to give you the most appropriate care by suitably qualified staff
- to provide you with emergency care when you need it
- to refer you to a consultant acceptable to you when necessary
- to give you access to your health records, subject to any limitations in the law
Your responsibilities as a patient
- to treat all staff with respect and courtesy at all times
- to tell us if you are unsure about the treatment we are offering you
- to ask for a home visit only when the patient is unable to attend the medical centre through illness or infirmity
- to request such a visit if at all possible before 10.00am
- to ask for an out of hours visit only when necessary
- to keep your appointments and contact the medical centre in advance if you cannot
- to be punctual for appointments and to make a separate appointment for each member of the family wishing to see the doctor
- not to expect a prescription from every consultation with a doctor. There may be other options for treatment
- to take medicines according to the instructions and to only ask for a repeat prescription if you need one
- to let us know when you change your address or telephone number
Consent
Everyone aged 16 or over is presumed to be competent to give consent for themselves, unless the opposite is demonstrated. If a child under the age of 16 has “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him/her to understand fully what is proposed” (known as Gillick Competence), then he/she will be competent to give consent for him/herself.
Young people aged 16 and 17, and legally ‘competent’ younger children, may therefore sign consent forms for themselves, but may like a parent to countersign as well.
If the child is not able to give consent for him/herself, someone with parental responsibility may do so on his/her behalf by signing accordingly on the consent form.
Access To medical records
Under the Data Protection Act patients have the right to see or have a copy of their medical records. In order to access the records, a consent form should be requested from the surgery and the request made in writing on the form, accompanied by the relevant fee. The fees are explained on the information sheet that accompanies the consent form and the fee varies between £10 and £50 dependent on the nature of the request and the way the records are kept.