The NHS has published a GP surgery patient charter so that all surgeries offer a minimum standard of access. The full, generic, charter is available here.
We would like to take this opportunity to inform our patients how we at Kingston Health Centre aim to deliver a patient centered service that meets the needs of our population in line with the patient charter. We would also like to suggest ways in which you, as our patient, can help us continue to provide a high quality service.
When and how can you contact us?
- Our core hours are 08:00-18:30 Monday – Friday. During this time our phone lines are open, our emails are monitored and our contact us form is available.
- We provide extended hours appointments up until 20:00 Monday – Friday and host a Saturday Enhanced Access service 09:00-17:30.
- We would like you to get in touch using our contact us form. If you are unable to use the contact us form, our reception team will support you in taking information from you and passing this over to the most appropriate person. This can be via the phone or in person.
Out of Hours or Emergencies
When the practice is closed, and you require urgent help;
- For serious or life-threatening emergencies go straight to Accident & Emergency or call 999
- For all other urgent help for your physical or mental health, that cannot wait until we reopen, please call 111. They will be able to appropriately triage you & signpost you/book you into an appropriate service.
What happens when you contact us to request an appointment
You will have requested an appointment either via our contact us form or provided information to our reception team, who will have passed this over to our trained GP assistants. The more information you can provide us with, the better we are able to assess what care is best for you based on your needs. We aim to review all of our received forms within 1 hour. Each medical request form is reviewed by a GP. No admin team member is making a clinical decision. We will contact you with the following outcomes;
- The GP will give you a call on the same day
- The GP will respond to your query via text message on the same day
- You will be offered a same day face to face appointment if clinically appropriate
- You will be offered a suitable appointment with the best (or preferred) clinician to deal with your concerns , this may be in a few days’ time depending on availability.
- You will be advised to book in with a specialist at the practice (women’s health/dermatology)
- You will be advised to book an appointment for a procedure (blood test etc)
- You may be asked to send across a photo of your clinical issue to help our GPs with their diagnosis/decision making.
- You may be advised that your issue is more appropriate to be dealt with by our local pharmacist
- You may be advised to attend Accident & Emergency or Teddington Walk in Centre if further investigation is required that cannot be carried out within the practice – for example further testing via x ray, intravenous antibiotics, tests not available to us within GP. We aim to communicate why we feel this is the most appropriate outcome for you.
How we may contact you
Our GP assistants will review your preferences for contact, and we will attempt to send a text message/call you
Ways in which our patients can help us
We are very proud of the access and responsiveness to our patients and aim to continue to deliver a high-quality service, however, there are ways in which patients can help us to be able to successfully manage the general practice demand.
- Provide us with detailed information – the more information we have, the better the outcome. It is very difficult to properly assess urgency with limited information. It is also very difficult to ensure patients see the right person, first time. We will contact you to provide more information, but it does slow down the process if we need to do this.
- Consider timings of your request – We strive to manage all of our demand by ensuring we have enough capacity in each team to review and process incoming forms. However, we do experience ‘peak times’ on our form, for example Monday is by far our busiest day with around 500 forms received. We also receive a large number of forms between 08:00-09;00. We would like our patients to consider whether your request needs to be sent during a peak time when communication is likely to be slower due to volume, or whether your request could be sent outside of these times.
- Unwell babies & children – we often need to see unwell babies and children face to face on the same day. Please try to contact us as early in the day as you can so we can offer an appointment in a timely manner. Please also try to communicate with us if your child is at school so we do not offer you an appointment you will not be able to attend.
- Keep your phone close by – our team is very responsive, and we would like to be able to communicate/update you via text or phone call in a timely way.
- If you have a preferred GP – let us know – We are a large practice with many GPs working within our team. You may prefer to only see a certain GP or a GP of the same sex, informing us of your preference helps us to give you your first choice.
- Cancel your appointment if needed – If you no longer need your appointment or cannot make it then please let us know as soon as you can so we can offer your appointment to another patient. It helps to keep the surgery running efficiently.
- Talk to us if you are unhappy with an outcome – we aim to provide a high-quality service, and constructive feedback helps improve our services. We take all patients requests into consideration when offering appointments, but if you have a concern, please speak to us. Our receptionists are really good at feeding back to our GP assistant team.
