Patient Charter

Patient Charter

Your Rights, Our Responsibilities, and How We Work Together


Our Mission

We are committed to empowering our community through compassionate, personalised healthcare. Our practice fosters trust and promotes wellbeing by delivering high-quality medical services with integrity, accessibility, and a patient-centred approach.

 

šŸ”· What You Can Expect from Us

We will aim to:

āœ… Provide Safe, High-Quality Care

  • Deliver care in a safe, professional, and confidential environment.
  • Follow national clinical and safeguarding standards.
  • Involve you in decisions about your treatment and care options.

šŸŒ Ensure Accessible, Modern Digital Services

  • Offer an online consultation system, available during core hours (8amā€“6:30pm), for non-urgent requests, medication queries, and admin support.
  • Allow online appointment booking, prescription requests, and access to your medical record.
  • Enable secure two-way messaging, where appropriate, for communication with the practice.
  • Use GP Connect to share information safely and securely with authorised NHS services, such as pharmacies or hospitals.
  • Provide video consultations where clinically appropriate.

šŸ“ž Offer Clear and Timely Communication

  • Answer calls promptly and ensure information is available on our website and NHS profile.
  • Keep you informed about services, waiting times, and any changes to your care.
  • Explain treatments clearly and support you to make informed decisions.

šŸ•“ Respond Promptly

  • Process all online consultation requests in a timely manner, usually within two working days.
  • Offer urgent same-day assessment if clinically required.
  • Offer non-urgent appointments we aim to be within two weeks or provide alternative appropriate care.

šŸ¤ Treat You with Dignity and Respect

  • Welcome you without discrimination.
  • Respect your rights, privacy, and preferences always.
  • Actively seek and act upon your feedback.

šŸ”· What We Ask of You

Please:

šŸ‘‚ Be Involved and Informed

  • Share accurate and complete information about your health and care history.
  • Ask questions if you donā€™t understand something and be open about your concerns.

šŸ“† Use Services Responsibly

  • Attend booked appointments or cancel them in advance if theyā€™re no longer needed.
  • Use the online consultation system for non-urgent needs during practice hours.
  • Order repeat prescriptions in good time using the NHS App or our website.

šŸ§­ Be Respectful

  • Treat staff and other patients with kindness and respect.
  • Follow the practiceā€™s guidance on communication, behaviour, and safety.

šŸ”· Working Together for Better Care

Together, we can:

  • Promote your health and wellbeing
  • Improve access to services
  • Ensure your voice is heard in how we develop and deliver care

šŸ“„ Feedback and Complaints

We value your feedback and use it to help us improve our services.
Youā€™re welcome to share your thoughts online, speak with our friendly reception team, or use our formal complaints process full details can be found HERE.
Suggestions and Complaints – East Cowes Medical Centre

Infection Prevention and Control Annual Statement

Click here to download and view our IPC Annual Statement.

Change of Patient details

Should a registered patient inform the organisation that they are going to change, or have changed, their address, they are to be instructed to visit theĀ NHS AppĀ 

You can also visit the surgery and bring two forms of ID to confirm the changes.

Veteransā€™ Health

We are an Armed Forces veteran friendly accredited GP practice.

The team at Esplanade Surgery are proud to be an accredited Veteran Friendly GP practice and to support our veteran community.

As a Veteran Friendly GP Practice we:

  • have a clinical lead for veteran health Dr Cambridge, who is supported by the whole practice to improve veteran health services ask patients ā€˜Have you served in the Armed Forces?ā€™ to help identify veteran patients and code them on our system
  • support veteran patients to access dedicated health services
  • undertake regular training and development to meet the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant and better understand the needs of veteran patients

If youā€™re a veteran patient, please let us know that you have served so that we can make sure that we understand your health needs.

A University of Chester study revealed that the Veteran Friendly Accreditation programme, which is run by the Royal College of General Practitioners in partnership with NHS England, leads to better healthcare.

To find out more about the veteran friendly practices accreditation scheme, visitĀ www.rcgp.org.uk/veterans

Isle of Wight clinical commissioning group / NHS England / IW County Council

Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group
Building A, The APEX
St. Cross Business Park
Newport, Isle of Wight
PO30 5XW

Tel: IOW 552 064
www.Isleofwightccg.nhs.uk

NHS England
South East Regional Team
Oakley Road
Southampton
SO16 4GX

Tel: 023 80296914
www.nhs.uk/services

Isle of Wight County Council
Customer Service Centre
County Hall, High Street
Newport, Isle of Wight
PO30 1UD

Tel: IOW 821 000
www.iwight.com

Patient Responsibilities Statement

Patient Rights & Responsibilities

Users of the National Health Service have rights. The following explains what they are. They fall into three main categories.

Legislated Rights

Rights that have been written into law by means of Parliamentary Acts or Bills. (For example, UK GDPR and DPA 2018). As a patient of the NHS you have 7 rights.

  • You are entitled to receive health care on the basis of clinical need, regardless of your income.
  • You are entitled to be registered with a Medical practice. You are entitled to change your practice at any time. You do not have to give a reason for your decision.
  • You are legally entitled to accept or refuse treatment as you see fit. This includes examinations, tests, diagnostic procedures, medication, operations, etc.
  • You can refuse to be involved in research trials. If you do not agree to be involved in research trials, you can withdraw at any time.
  • You are entitled to equal treatment regardless of race, gender, age or disability.
  • You have a right to information on GP practices in your area and the services they provide. All practices must provide an information leaflet.
  • You have a right to confidentiality. Personal information about your health is confidential and should only be disclosed to those who need that information to provide you with effective treatment, you can consent to share with other individuals outside of the NHS

Access to your Health Records.

You have a legal entitlement to see a copy of the records held about you. All records stored on computer can be accessed. If you wish to see your records you should apply in to the practice for a Subject Access Request.

Guideline Rights

  • You are entitled to have reasonable access to high quality service and facilities.
  • You are entitled to information on what is wrong with you and the treatment options available. Ask questions. You should be given truthful, clear answers.
  • You are entitled to ask for a second opinion on your diagnosis or treatment.
  • You can ask to have someone with you (friend, relative, interpreter) at any time. You may find this beneficial, particularly if you are asking questions or need moral support.

Human Rights

It is your right to be treated as a human being by another human being and as they would wish to be treated themselves, i.e. with dignity, politeness, respect and consideration. These may not necessarily be covered legally or even be contained in guidelines, but human rights will come into many of the areas mentioned above and are certainly just as important.

Consent

A doctor, nurse, or anyone else looking after your health, has to have your agreement before they can examine or treat you. This policy applies to both children and adults. Your consent will be sought before any of your information is shared with any individual not connected with your direct health care.

Ā 

Patient Responsibilities

Patients, too, have certain responsibilities:

  • Keeping appointments:Ā Ā Please try to arrive on time. If you are unable to attend an appointment, please inform the clinic or surgery in good time. Address. If you move house, change address or telephone number, or the postcode is changed, please inform your GP practice or outpatient clinic.
  • Treat all healthcare staff in a reasonable, courteous manner.
  • Use emergency services in a responsible manner. Please use the out-of-hours services for emergencies only and not for routine care.
  • Take care with medicines. Medicines are for one person only and should not be shared. Keep them safely away from children and in the original container. Take any unwanted medicines to a chemist for safe disposal.

Patient Responsibilities Statement

Patient Rights & Responsibilities

Users of the National Health Service have rights. The following explains what they are. They fall into three main categories.

Legislated Rights

Rights that have been written into law by means of Parliamentary Acts or Bills. (For example, UK GDPR and DPA 2018 ). As a patient of the NHS you have 7 rights.

  • You are entitled to receive health care on the basis of clinical need, regardless of your income.
  • You are entitled to be registered with a Medical practice. You are entitled to change your practice at any time. You do not have to give a reason for your decision.
  • You are legally entitled to accept or refuse treatment as you see fit. This includes examinations, tests, diagnostic procedures, medication, operations, etc.
  • You can refuse to be involved in research trials. If you do not agree to be involved in research trials, you can withdraw at any time.
  • You are entitled to equal treatment regardless of race, gender, age or disability.
  • You have a right to information on GP practices in your area and the services they provide. All practices must provide an information leaflet.
  • You have a right to confidentiality. Personal information about your health is confidential and should only be disclosed to those who need that information to provide you with effective treatment, you can consent to share with other individuals outside of the NHS

Access to your Health Records.

You have a legal entitlement to see a copy of the records held about you. All records stored on computer can be accessed. If you wish to see your records you should apply in to the practice for a Subject Access Request.

Guideline Rights

  • You are entitled to have reasonable access to high quality service and facilities.
  • You are entitled to information on what is wrong with you and the treatment options available. Ask questions. You should be given truthful, clear answers.
  • You are entitled to ask for a second opinion on your diagnosis or treatment.
  • You can ask to have someone with you (friend, relative, interpreter) at any time. You may find this beneficial, particularly if you are asking questions or need moral support.

Human Rights

It is your right to be treated as a human being by another human being and as they would wish to be treated themselves, i.e. with dignity, politeness, respect and consideration. These may not necessarily be covered legally or even be contained in guidelines, but human rights will come into many of the areas mentioned above and are certainly just as important.

Consent

A doctor, nurse, or anyone else looking after your health, has to have your agreement before they can examine or treat you. This policy applies to both children and adults. Your consent will be sought before any of your information is shared with any individual not connected with your direct health care.

Ā 

Patient Responsibilities

Patients, too, have certain responsibilities:

  • Keeping appointments:Ā Ā Please try to arrive on time. If you are unable to attend an appointment, please inform the clinic or surgery in good time. Address. If you move house, change address or telephone number, or the postcode is changed, please inform your GP practice or outpatient clinic.
  • Treat all healthcare staff in a reasonable, courteous manner.
  • Use emergency services in a responsible manner. Please use the out-of-hours services for emergencies only and not for routine care.
  • Take care with medicines. Medicines are for one person only and should not be shared. Keep them safely away from children and in the original container. Take any unwanted medicines to a chemist for safe disposal.

Website Accessibility Statement

General

Practice365 strives to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities. Practice365 has invested a significant amount of resources to help ensure that its websites are made easier to use and more accessible for people with disabilities, with the strong belief that every person has the right to live with dignity, equality, comfort and independence.

This accessibility statement applies to websites hosted by Practice365.co.uk.

Accessibility on Practice365

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

Weā€™ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNetĀ has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software

Enabling the Accessibility Menu

Disclaimer

Practice365 continues its efforts to constantly improve the accessibility of its site and services in the belief that it is our collective moral obligation to allow seamless, accessible and unhindered use also for those of us with disabilities.

Here For You

If you are experiencing difficulty with any content on Practice365 website, widget, any of its services or require assistance with any part of our site or software, please contact us during normal business hours as detailed below and we will be happy to assist.

Contacting Us

If you wish to report a problem, have any questions or need assistance, please email us atĀ hello@iatropartners.co.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ā€˜accessibility regulationsā€™). If youā€™re not happy with how we respond to your complaint,Ā contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). If you are based in Northern Ireland, please reefer to Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) instead of the EASS and EHRC.

Named Accountable GP

All patients registered with East Cowes Surgery have been allocated a named accountable GP.

From 1st April 2015 we are required by the Government, under the terms of the latest GP Contract, to allocate all patients a named accountable GP.Ā This is purely an administrative exercise in order that patients can have a named responsible GP.Ā This does not mean that they will be the only GP who will provide care to the patient. Patients are free to choose to see any GP in the Practice in line with current arrangements. If their preferred choice of GP is not available, an alternative will be offered.

The new contract requires the named accountable GP to be responsible for the co-ordination of all appropriate services required under the contract and ensure they are delivered to each patient where required. However, this does not mean that they will be the only GP or clinician who will provide care to that patient. These responsibilities will be carried out within the opening hours of the Practice and do not change the way you currently access care outside these hours. The allocation has been done for all existing patients, and all newly registered patients will be given a named accountable GP on registration.

Please be aware that you may still see any GP of your choiceĀ at the surgery and do not have to see your named accountable GP, nor does this mean that you will only be offered appointments with your named GP.

If you have not already been informed of the name of your accountable GP, please ask the receptionist when you are next in the surgery.

Zero Tolerance Policy

Violent / Abusive Patients

This Practice has a zero tolerance policy with regards to violent or abusive patients. If an incident occurs, the Practice will telephone the Police and that patient may be removed from the Practice list.