Practice Charter

To provide: “the type of care that we would expect for ourselves and our own families.”

The health of you and your family is the most important goal of all of us here at Woolpit Health Centre. But good health can only be achieved when both parties work together towards this common goal.

Written in conjunction with our Patient Participation Group the following charter sets out  how we can achieve this together.

• Practice with the values of traditional family medicine, but in a modern, evidence-based way.
• Provide patient-focused care of the highest possible standards.
• Work with our patients to empower and support them in managing their own health.
• Aim to be a practice that others would wish to follow.

• Treat our patients with respect and care at all times.
• Involve patients in all decisions about their health.
• Not discriminate based on age, race, gender or sexuality.
• Promote healthy lifestyles to reduce preventable disease.
• Keep information about patient’s health confidential.
• Provide as many appointments as we can, with the resources available, from staff with a wide range of skills.
• Keep patients informed and up-to-date.
• Be open and transparent if we make mistakes.
• Be a ‘learning organisation’: developing from feedback.
• Train our staff well, listen to them, learn from them, and involve them in the development of the health centre.
• Aim to continuously incorporate developments in practice through education and training.

• Treat our staff with respect and courtesy at all times.

• Share responsibility with us for their own and their dependant families’ health.
• Actively participate in sharing decisions for example by taking their agreed prescribed medicines, discussing with us if medicines are not working correctly and adjusting their lifestyles as recommended.

• Attend the emergency surgeries only for urgent problems that cannot wait for a routine appointment.
• Attend for routine appointments and long-term condition checks.
• Let us know in good time, if they are unable to attend their appointments.
• Keep their information, such as phone numbers, up-to-date, and inform us of any changes.
• Request their repeat medications at least 72 hours before they run out or join the managed repeat scheme.