Our Charter

Our Aims

The team at Stapenhill Medical Centre aim to offer you the best possible medical care, and below we set out some of the ways that we try to help you and in which you can help us. We hope that you will understand that it is difficult given the varying patterns of illness and demands on our service to offer a “perfect” service at all times, but we will certainly do our best to help you.

  1. We will respect your privacy and confidentiality at all times.
  2. We will treat you in a courteous and polite manner, both on the telephone and in person.
  3. We will treat you on the basis of your clinical needs, offering the treatment which you require, based on medical grounds regardless of other factors.
  4. We will offer you all the recommended services such as Health Checks, Ante natal care, Cervical screening etc. as per national and local guidelines.
  5. We will deal with your problem quickly and appropriately. This may be with phone call advice, an urgent same-day appointment at the Surgery, or a home visit when absolutely necessary.
  6. We aim to provide non urgent appointments within 2 to 3 working days and to see urgent problems on the day on which they arise. Please note you may be asked to explain to the Receptionists or Doctor why you consider your problem to be urgent so that we can decide on how best to help you promptly.
  7. We will try not to keep you waiting when you attend the Surgery and will attempt to make the Reception area and waiting room a comfortable and welcoming place, treating you with courtesy and respect at all times.
  8. We will arrange repeat prescriptions as previously agreed with the Doctors within 2 working days of receipt of the computer slip. Handwritten or verbal requests will not normally be accepted.
  9. We will attempt to process private work such as Insurance Medicals. Mortgage Insurance forms etc as quickly as possible. However our medical work must take priority. Please note there may be a charge for some aspects of this private work and you will be notified of any fee which will be incurred in advance.
  10. We would be pleased to accept suggestions and constructive criticism. If you have any legitimate worries or concerns, please communicate them to the Doctors or to the Practice Manager and we undertake to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 7 days and to deal with the matter fully as soon as possible.

Our Expectations – what we would like you to do

We are here to help you and would hope to have your co-operation and support to enable things to run as smoothly as possible. You can help us by:

  1. Being polite and respectful to the Practice staff.
  2. Being patient when using the telephone, particularly at busy times, such as Monday mornings. Try to avoid such busy times when possible.
  3. Use the computer printouts for repeat prescriptions and give at least 2 working days’ notice before you need the drugs.
  4. Telephone before 10.00am for a home visit so that the Doctors can plan the home visits after Surgery.
  5. Come to the Surgery by appointment rather than requesting home visits which are time consuming and during which we do not have the facilities available at the Surgery.
  6. The Doctor can see up to 5 patients in the Surgery in the time it takes to make one home visit.
  7. Please try to keep to your appointment time and do not bring along children or relatives to the appointment booked in one person’s name without prior arrangement. If you do this the Doctor will not have the other person’s notes and will not have set aside the time to deal with several problems during one consultation.
  8. Please attend your appointments on time and be aware if you are over 5 minutes late for your appointment you will be asked to rebook.
  9. Please note that each appointment with the Doctor should last approximately 7 minutes. If you have a very complex problem or several separate problems, it would be helpful if you could make a longer appointment or accept that you may have to come back to discuss some of your problems at greater length on a separate appointment.
  10. If you cannot attend your appointment, please let us know so that the slot can be offered to someone else.
  11. For your safety, and to ensure you are directed to the best person to help you, our reception team have been trained to ask for specific information. All our receptionists are bound by strict confidently rules. Please help us to help you.

Please try to be patient with the Receptionists and give them the information they need in order to do their job properly.

Remember that the Receptionists are the agents of the Doctors and you should treat them with the same courtesy and respect that we would expect you to treat the clinical staff in the Practice.

We reserve the right to remove patients from our list with whom the medical relationship has broken down irretrievably or are rude to the staff.