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Blacketts Medical Practice 63-65 Bondgate Darlington DL3 7JR   Tel. 01325 380640

A Joint Commitment This practice aims, always, to provide the best possible standard of healthcare for our patients. We provide a complete range of services through primary care and take the opportunity to expand the range so that you will always have the maximum care available. The Practice Patient Charter sets out a statement of what you can expect from us and what we ask of you in return, so that we can work in harmony together and maintain the aims we have indicated. The care of our patients is fundamental to the service we provide and, as a partner, it should be recognised that the patient has responsibility in part for his or her own wellbeing. We may prescribe treatments to aid a particular complaint or condition and may also make recommendations to changes in lifestyle to promote a patient's wellbeing. General We will treat you with respect and courtesy and help you to make the best use of our service. Any advice on treatment will be based on clinical need. We will always be willing to explain our findings and the advice we give, including choices of treatment. We will maintain strict confidentiality over your details and will not divulge information, even to a family member, without your consent. In Return We Ask You To.... Treat all of us with respect and courtesy. Accept that verbal or physical abuse will not be tolerated. Accept that your health is your own responsibility, which we can help you with but cannot take over for you. Learn from us how to deal with common ailments which do not need professional attention and how to lead a healthy life-style. Notify us of any change of name, address or telephone number. Telephone Access Calls will be answered and dealt with as quickly as possible during normal working hours. In emergencies when the surgery is closed the answering machine will give you the doctor's contact number or the number of our Out of Hours service. In Return We Ask You To.... Remain patient and keep calls as brief as possible. Avoid calling at peak times for non-urgent matters. Appointments We have an appointment system and spaces every day for those who need to be seen urgently. These may not be with your own doctor depending on availability. You may choose which doctor you prefer to see, which does not have to be the doctor you are registered with. If you have seen one doctor with a problem it is usually better to follow it up with them. In an emergency your details will be assessed by a doctor and you will be seen as soon as is necessary. Urgent cases will be seen within 24 hours (usually the same day) but may not necessarily be with the doctor of your choice. Non urgent cases will be seen as soon as possible. In Return We Ask You To.... Telephone as early as possible if you wish to be seen the same day. Cancel any appointments you cannot keep as early as possible so that the time can be made available to somebody else. Request emergency or urgent appointments only when absolutely necessary and restrict the consultation to that urgent problem only. Observe the 'one patient, one appointment rule' and not to compromise the doctor by asking him to treat other family members at the same time. Waiting Times We would normally expect that patients are seen within 20 minutes of their appointment time and we will always try to keep patients informed if we are running late so that you can re-book your appointment if necessary. In Return We Ask You To.... Appreciate that waiting times may be beyond our control, for example if the doctor is called out on an emergency, or at times of peak demand. Attend punctually for appointments. Appreciate that the exact time of consultation cannot be assured. Cancel if you are unable to attend and to re-book your appointment if desired. Out of Hours Services/Home Visits The surgery is the best place for us to see anyone, but sometimes we may need to see you at home. Every request for a home visit will be assessed by a doctor. We allocate some home visits each day but concentrate on providing surgery appointments so that more people can be seen throughout the day. Whilst the practice provides full medical care to all of its patients, we employ the service of a deputising agency to cover visits at night and weekends. In Return We Ask You To.... Not request a home visit unless the patient is too ill to be brought to surgery. Ensure that requests for home visits are made before 10.00am. Confine requests for night visits for complaints that really cannot wait until the next day's surgery. Prescriptions Medication will be prescribed when the doctor considers this to be necessary. Patients requiring repeat prescriptions may order them in person, by telephone, by e mail or by post and the prescriptions will then normally be available within two working days of the order. In Return We Ask You To.... Give reasonable notice when ordering repeat prescriptions. Not expect a prescription every time you visit the doctor. Investigations/Results Any test undertaken will be dealt with promptly and you will be advised of the usual length of time before we could expect the results. You may have to see a doctor to obtain the results unless the doctors have specifically given instructions to staff to divulge them to you. In Return We Ask You To.... Telephone the surgery after 3.00pm whenever possible to enquire about results. Referrals From time to time it may be necessary to refer patients to a consultant for further care. In such cases we will do our utmost to ensure referral letters are sent promptly from the practice. You may request a copy of correspondence between the surgery and the consultant; please ask your doctor at the time of referral. In Return We Ask You To.... Ensure that you keep the practice informed of any changes of address and/or name so that hospital mail will reach you at the correct address. Recognise that there may be some delay before you receive an appointment. Confidentiality We maintain a strict code of confidentiality and no information will be disclosed about you or your medical history without your written consent. This confidentiality undertaking also applies to information and records of patients under 16 years of age. Parents do not have any right to obtain information about their children without the written consent of the patient. Access to Records In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1984 and the Access to Health Records Act 1980 patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests are by appointment and may be subject to an administration charge. No information will ever be released without your consent unless we are legally obliged to do so. In Return We Ask You To.... Ensure that your written consent accompanies any request you have authorised for medical information. Sick Notes Your doctor's responsibility is to provide a sick note after the first week of absence if there is a medical need. In Return We Ask You To.... Not request sick notes for the first seven days of absence and to appreciate that the doctor has a responsibility to the DSS to justify sick certificates. Self certificates are available from your employer. Complaints We endeavour to give you the best service possible at all times but there may be occasions when you feel you wish to express dissatisfaction. In such circumstances we offer an in-house procedure to deal with your concerns which in no way affects your right to complain to the Health Authority. If you do wish to make a complaint, please contact the Practice Manager or your doctor, either by telephone, e mail or by letter. He/she will take full details of your complaint and decide how best to undertake the investigation. You will then be offered a meeting with a senior member of the Practice, normally within seven days, to discuss the matter. An information sheet on complaints is available from Reception. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be given to the Practice Manager or to the doctor. All comments are considered and where appropriate responded to on an individual basis. In Return We Ask You To.... Recognise that problems can usually be rectified within the Practice. Address complaints to either the practice manager or doctor. Try to understand that the practice staff are busy and not to make frivolous complaints about minor matters beyond our control. Changing Doctor Patients have the right to register with the doctor of their choice, subject to acceptance by that doctor. Doctors have the right to remove a patient when he/she considers that the relationship with the patient has broken down to the detriment of the patient's continued care. Review/Monitoring We undertake to review, monitor and continuously improve the service we provide. This will ensure that our commitment to high quality patient care remains constant. Your views are important to us, as is your co-operation in achieving these aims and will help us judge whether we are meeting these standards. Computers The practice is computerised and all information held on the computer is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act. As with other medical records, all the information handled by the computer is completely confidential.

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