The relationship between a GP surgery and their patients is based on trust, mutual respect, and open communication.
This partnership between GP surgeries and their patients is crucial for ensuring high-quality medical care and promoting overall health and well-being.
Below are listed some of the key elements that help to support and sustain the important relationship.
In accordance with our contract with NHS England, every patient is allocated a named GP
All patients should be given a named GP within 20 days of registration and told so at the next appropriate time.
The practice must confirm on their website that every patient has a named GP.
If a patient requests a particular GP, reasonable efforts should be made to accommodate their preference.
Practices are required to use the code 'patient allocated named accountable general practitioner' in the clinical system.
The named GP is largely a role of oversight. It reassures patients they have one GP who is responsible for their care.
It is really important that you attend your scheduled appointments at the surgery.
If it is no longer convenient or you decide you no longer need it then please let us know as early as you possibly can. Demand for appointments is very high and, with enough notice, we can usually reallocate your appointment to another patient.
You can cancel any appointment via the NHS app even it was not booked online in the first place.
When a patient misses an appointment it is known as a 'Did Not Attend' (DNA).
If a patient persistently misses appointments with letting us know in advance in can harm the relationship of mutual trust with the practice. We may contact you by phone or letter to discuss this and what we can do together to improve things in the future.
Our full policy for dealing with persistent non-attendance is contained in our DNA policy
We expect to run the surgery so staff and patients are courteous and respectful to each other.
Violent or abusive behaviour undermines the mutually supportive relationship between a patient and everyone at the surgery. It will not be tolerated.
We reserve the right to issue warnings to patients who commit these types of behaviour. This can include us taking steps to have the patient removed from our list, without notice if that is appropriate to protect our staff.
Types of behaviour that are not acceptable at the surgery include:-
If you have access to the internet and you are comfortable using digital services then the NHS App is the easiest way to interact with the surgery.
We encourage everyone who is able to use digital services to try them out and use them whenever possible.
You can use the app to carry out many of the basic interactions liking ordering medication or cancelling an appointment.
Doing these tasks via the NHS App can save you time and also reduces the amount of adminstration for the practice.
However we will make sure that technology is not a barrier that prevents patients accessing our services. We will always try make it clear how patients can access services without using digital apps.
Equally we will work to make sure the digital apps and our website meets the required standards for accessibility.
We encourage all our patients to use the NHS app to interact with the surgery but will make sure thatthose who are unable to use digital apps are not prevented from accessing services.
If you do not want your identifiable patient data to be shared outside of your GP practice for purposes except for your own care, you can register an opt-out with your GP practice. This is known as a Type 1 Opt-out.
Type 1 Opt-outs were introduced in 2013 for data sharing from GP practices, but may be discontinued in the future as a new opt-out has since been introduced to cover the broader health and care system, called the National Data Opt-out. If this happens people who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out will be informed. More about National Data Opt-outs is in the section Who we share patient data with.
NHS Digital will not collect any patient data for patients who have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out in line with current policy. If this changes patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out will be informed.
If you do not want your patient data shared with NHS Digital, you can register a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice. You can register a Type 1 Opt-out at any time. You can also change your mind at any time and withdraw a Type 1 Opt-out.
A start date for the Data sharing with NHS Digital will be announced.
If you have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice your data will not be shared with NHS Digital.
If you wish to register a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice before data sharing starts with NHS Digital, this should be done by returning this form to your GP practice as soon as possible to allow time for processing it. If you have previously registered a Type 1 Opt-out and you would like to withdraw this, you can also use the form to do this. You can send the form by post or email to your GP practice or call 0300 3035678 for a form to be sent out to you.
If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after your patient data has already been shared with NHS Digital, no more of your data will be shared with NHS Digital. NHS Digital will however still hold the patient data which was shared with us before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.
If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data (personally identifiable data in the diagram above) with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out. There is more about National Data Opt-outs and when they apply in the National Data Opt-out section below.
National Data Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital sharing your data)
This applies to identifiable patient data about your health (personally identifiable data in the diagram above), which is called confidential patient information. If you don’t want your confidential patient information to be shared by NHS Digital for purposes except your own care – GP data, you can register a National Data Opt-out.
If you have registered a National Data Opt-out, NHS Digital won’t share any confidential patient information about you with other organisations unless there is an exemption to this, such as where there is a legal requirement or where it is in the public interest to do so, such as helping to manage contagious diseases like coronavirus. You can find out more about exemptions on the NHS website