• For urgent conditions, you will be seen by a doctor on the same day that you request assistance.
• For non-urgent conditions, a doctor will see you as soon as possible, but not more than four days after your request.
• Every endeavour will be made to arrange for you to see the doctor of your choice, unless you agree to an earlier appointment with another doctor.
• Repeat Prescriptions will be available for collection from the surgery or a local chemist of your choice, within two working days of your request.
• When an emergency call is made out of normal hours, a doctor will call you back within 30 minutes (sooner if the situation warrants). During normal surgery time, if you have an urgent query the doctor will be interrupted - otherwise you will be advised of an appropriate time to phone back.
• Access to the building for the elderly, disabled and young children is easy and assistance will be given if requested.
• All aspects of your visit to the surgery will be dealt with in the strictest confidence and you may request complete privacy when speaking to the receptionist if this is required.
• All practice employed staff will be identified by a photo board in the waiting room and/or name badges will be worn.
• The doctor arranging routine tests will advise you of the appropriate procedure for obtaining the results.
• Every endeavour will be made to have patients seen within 30 minutes of their appointment time.
• If you are eligible, services for particular patient groups or minorities will be explained to you.
• All doctors within the general practice team are fully involved and committed to continuing post-graduate education.
• All members of the practice team are committed to maintaining excellent relationships with other agencies that may be of help to you.
• A second medical opinion would be arranged if required.
• If you change your doctor, we will ensure that your notes are transferred to your new doctor as promptly as possible.
• We have a Complaints Procedure to deal with comments, suggestions and complaints about the service we provide. Please contact our Practice Manager in the first instance.
• Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service, treatment and care that is available in general practice under the NHS. We will try to deal swiftly and efficiently with any problems that may occur.

Patients should endeavour to ensure that:-

• They should use the doctor’s time, and the service provided wisely, respecting the time and finance involved in running The National Health Service.
• They make allowances for delays or difficulties that may occur due to lack of NHS finance or excessive workload.
• They treat doctors and staff alike with the same courtesy and respect that they expect to receive themselves.
• They make allowances for the fact that both doctors and staff require time off for holidays and training and may not be immediately available when required.
• They attend promptly for appointments and if they are unable to keep an appointment, the practice should be informed as soon as possible, to avoid a waste of valuable patient time.
• When advice only is appropriate, they should not expect a prescription when consulting the doctors.
• They only ask for a home visit when it is absolutely necessary, realising that the doctor can usually give a more efficient consultation in the surgery.

We place a high value on confidentiality, which is maintained and respected by all the team. Please ask if you wish to discuss something more privately with a member of staff.

Smoking Policy

Purpose
This policy has been developed to protect all employees, service users, customers and visitors from exposure to second-hand smoke and to assist compliance with the Health Act 2006.

Exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. Ventilation or separating smokers and non-smokers within the same airspace does not completely stop potentially dangerous exposure.

Policy
It is the policy of Stannary Surgery that all our workplaces are smoke free, and all employees have a right to work in a smoke free environment. The policy shall come into effect on Sunday 1st July 2007. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed and substantially enclosed premises in the workplace. This includes company vehicles. This policy applies to all employees, consultants, customers or members and visitors.

July 2008
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