Non Attendance for Appointments
Patients not attending appointments is a real problem for the surgery. If you are unable to attend for an appointment with either the Doctor or Nurse then it is vital to cancel that appointment as soon as possible. This can be done by telephoning the surgery or via our MJOG text messaging service. Approximately seven full surgeries worth of appointments are lost each month due to patients not attending. This is unfair to other patients.
To monitor this problem Crown Street Surgery use the following policy:
- If two appointments are missed without prior cancellation in a six month period the patient will be sent a formal warning letter.
- Should a third appointment be missed the patient’s registration will be discussed with the Clinical Team which could lead to removal from the practice list and they will have to find another GP.
Violent or Abusive Patients
The practice does not tolerate violent or abusive patients. If a patient commits an act of violence against any of the Doctors or Staff then they may be removed from the practice list with immediate effect and the incident reported to the Police.
Verbal Abuse
Over the last few months we have received an increase in verbal abuse from patients this is both face to face and over the telephone, please be aware that this is not acceptable and continued abuse could result in you being removed from our patient list.
Complaints Procedures
We always try to provide the best services possible but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. Our in-house complaints procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, correct any problems that you have identified or mistakes that have been made. If you use this procedure it does not affect your right to complain to NHS England. If you wish to make a complaint please make an appointment with our Practice Manager. Full details will be taken and a decision made on how best to deal with the complaint. You will not be discriminated against by making a complaint.
Click here to download our complaints leaflet
The Rights and Responsibilities of Patients
Please help us to help you
- Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number.
- Please arrive promptly for your appointment.
- Please inform the surgery as soon as possible if you are unable to keep, or no longer need your appointment. Your slot can always be filled, even at short notice. Non- attendance wastes a valuable appointment.
- Please keep your phone calls brief and try to avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.
- Use the tear-off request slip to request your repeat prescription whenever possible.
- Please attend your medication review if you have repeat prescriptions.
- Please attend when invited for a Cervical Smear.
- Please ensure your children are immunised.
Obtain A Sickness Certificate?
Under current legislation a patient ‘self certificate’ is used for the first six working days (ie one week including Sunday) of any illness. The self certificate (form SC1) is available from the health centre, your employer or the Post Office.
After the first week, certificates are obtained as part of a consultation with your doctor. If you are under the care of a hospital doctor either as an inpatient or outpatient, you should ask the doctor in the hospital for your certificate.
Some employers insist on sickness certificates for illness lasting less than seven days. As this is not a statutory requirement, it is considered a private arrangement and a charge will be made for issuing a certificate.