Your rights and responsibilities

You have a right to expect a high standard of medical care from our practice and we will try at all times to provide the very best care possible within the resources available.

You have the right to an interpreter if you need one. Please ask the receptionist to organise this. For a face to face consultation you will need to give at least one week's notice. Telephone consultations with the interpreter can be organised on the day.

In order to help us in this we ask that you take full responsibility for ensuring that you do not abuse the service.  For example it is your responsibility to ensure that you keep medical appointments and follow any medical advice given.

Occasionally the practice/patient relationship will break down completely.  In this situation you may choose to register with a different practice.  To do this you need to take your medical card to the doctor of your choice.  We also have a right to remove you from our list.  This would generally follow a warning that has failed to remedy the situation or when we feel you have been rude or abusive to staff.  We will normally give you a specific reason for the removal. To download our removal policy click here

Violent patients – zero tolerance

The NHS operates a Zero Tolerance Policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has a right to removed violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard staff, patients and any other persons.

Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety.

In this situation we are obliged to notify the patient in writing about their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and circumstances leading to it.  The HSSB is then responsible for providing further medical care for such patients.

Access to patient information

The practice is registered under the data protection act and confidentiality remains our prime concern.  Everyone working within the practice health care team and other health care professionals to whom you are referred for care, has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential, and anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Confidential patient data may also be required for the broader purposes of public health and audit, research, the provision of health care services, teaching and training.  Data disclosed will be kept to the minimum required to serve the purpose and if possible will be anonymised before disclosure. For more information regarding data collection click here

The practice has a publication scheme as required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which is updated regularly.  This is available in hard copy from the practice manager.

You can view your health records or request a copy of them.  There is a charge for this service.

Details of primary medical services in the Derry area can be obtained from:

Health & Social Care Board - West

15 Gransha Park

Derry
BT47 6FN

Tel:  028 7186 0086