Our commitment is based on the following assumptions...
1.
You are a person and not just a medical case. So we respect your dignity, listen to what you have to say, and seek to understand your personal and family circumstances and take these fully into account.
2.
All information will remain confidential and will only be accessed by members of the primary care team when necessary for continuing care. Borders Health Board also holds information.
3.
If you request an urgent appointment you will be seen by a doctor on the same day.
4.
We always try to explain what is wrong with you and what we plan to do about it, in a way that you can easily understand. We will explain as fully as we can any proposed treatment, its implications and any alternatives before you make any decision about treatment.
5.
We undertake to make sure you get the best care available from the Health Service. If you need to be referred elsewhere we will arrange this as appropriate, taking account of your wishes where possible.
6.
We are committed to ensuring that when attending a surgery appointment you are not normally kept waiting more than 30 minutes if at all possible. We will give you a timely warning and reason for any delay. You may be offered the opportunity to see another doctor the same day.
(The exception is the "sit and wait" surgery or if you have come to the surgery without an appointment).
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Your help is essential if we are to achieve these aims, as it is only with your help and co-operation that we can make the best use of time available.
- PLEASE be considerate and honest when asking for an urgent appointment at the surgery, a home visit or an out of hours call.
PLEASE do not ask for a home visit if you can possibly come to the surgery (we can see five patients at the surgery in the time it takes to do an average visit). Home visits are for people who are genuinely housebound or
seriously ill. Ask for guidance if you are not sure when it is appropriate to call us out to your home during the day or the night. If you are contacting the surgery by telephone and the doctor is busy, our practice nurse may be able, in some cases, to help you; or a doctor can phone you back if you wish to discuss whether a visit is necessary
- If you cannot keep an appointment, PLEASE let us know promptly so that we can see another person in your place.
- PLEASE tell the receptionist when you arrive for your appointment.
- An appointment is for ONE person; PLEASE do not come along hoping that a second person will also be seen. It places us in a difficult position, either having to refuse your request, and causing ill feeling, or agreeing to it, thus delaying other patients beyond their appointed time.
- You need to understand any treatment you have been prescribed so PLEASE ask if you have any doubts about what you should be doing.