Practice Charter Standards 
Rights And Responsibilities Of Patients
• Do what you can to look after your own health and follow advice on a healthy
lifestyle.
• Care for yourself when appropriate. You can, for example, treat yourself at home for
common ailments such as coughs, colds and sore throats.
• Listen carefully to advice on your treatment and medication.
• Keep your appointment. If you need to cancel it, advise reception.
Complaints
We always try to provide the best services possible, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. The following information explains our in-house complaints procedure, drawn up to respond to patient grievances. Our practice procedure is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. We hope you will use the complaints procedure 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 will not affect your right to complain to the Primary Care Trust, NHS Kirklees.
Please note that we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. If you wish to make a complaint, please telephone or write to our practice manager. Full details will be taken and a decision made on how best to undertake the investigation.
We believe it is important to deal with complaints swiftly, so you will be offered an appointment for a meeting to discuss the details within seven days. Occasionally it may take longer but we will keep you informed throughout. We will try to address your concerns, provide you with an explanation and discuss any action that may be needed.
Please note that many different health professionals work from the surgery and not all of them are employed by our practice. If there is a query about any member of staff employed by this practice then the person to contact is the practice manager.
Confidentiality
All our doctors and staff will maintain patient confidentiality at all times. We consider this to be of the utmost importance and everyone here works according to the guidelines issued to them at the commencement of their duties with the practice; they also sign a declaration of confidentiality. Whilst they all have access to your medical records, you can be assured that no information will be shared with any outside agency without your prior consent. If a patient indicates that they wish to speak in confidence to a staff member, then we will do our best to comply with that request.
Violent Patients
The practice supports the Government's NHS Zero Tolerance campaign. Violence and abuse is a growing concern. GPs and their staff have the right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. Patients resorting to violence on the practice premises will be reported to the police and struck off the GP's list. We ask that all patients treat GPs and practice staff properly, without violence or abuse.
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