News:

Cancelling your Appointment

Please telephone as soon as possible if you have to cancel your appointment.

Appointments are often in short supply so please ring and let us know if you cannot attend so that we can offer the appointment to somebody else.

If the surgery is closed and you need to cancel an appointment for the following day please use the link at the bottom of the homepage

Missed Appointments

In August 224 appointments were missed by patients who failed to turn up and did not cancel their appointment in advance.

Confidentiality
Patient Rights
PALS
Complaints
Training

Patients have the following rights:

  1. To receive health care on the basis of clinical need regardless of ability to pay
  2. To be registered with a doctors' practice
  3. To receive emergency medical care at anytime through their GP, the emergency ambulance service or the hospital accident and emergency department
  4. To be referred to a consultant acceptable to them, when their GP feels it is necessary, and to ask for a second opinion if they and their GP feel this is desirable
  5. To be given a clear explanation of any treatment proposed, including any risks and any alternatives, before they agree to the proposed treatment
  6. To have access to their health records and to know those working for the NHS will, by law, keep their contents confidential
  7. To choose whether or not they wish to take part in medical research or medical student training.

In addition to these standards, the Riverside Surgery will aim to provide the following:

  • Suitable premises
  • Privacy
  • Facilities for patients and children, and all types of disabled patients
  • All practice staff will have name badges
  • Patients may telephone for results between the hours of 2.00pm and 5.00pm, any weekday afternoon
  • Health promotion programmes, including asthma and diabetes, will be available within the practice, when required (see the Clinics and Services page)
  • A doctor will be available on call 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, through the emergency line: 01386 40121
  • To be offered an appointment on the same day for URGENT problems
  • To be offered an appointment within one week, with the doctor they are registered with
  • We will endeavour to see patients within fifteen minutes of their appointment time. However, emergencies and/or patients requiring a longer consultation will occasionally lead to delays
  • Telephone advice will be available from any member of the Practice team, through one of the Personal Assistants, at a suitable time.

Patient Responsibilities

We provide general medical services for over 13,300 patients and our receptionists receive over 800 telephone calls a day. To enable the system to work as efficiently as possible for all our patients, we would ask you to observe the following guidelines:

  1. Be polite to our staff at all times. Verbal or physical abuse will not be tolerated and is likely to lead to the patient being removed from our list
  2. Use the appointment system reasonably and fairly to the benefit of all. Please do not ask for an emergency appointment when an appointment within twenty-four or forty-eight hours would suffice. Please endeavour to attend the surgery rather than request a home visit. It is always possible for a patient to go straight into an examination room rather than sit in the waiting room You only have to mention it to the receptionist. Remember, three or four patients can be seen in the surgery in the time that it takes to do one home visit.
  3. If you are unable to keep your appointment please cancel as soon as possible so someone else can take your place.
  4. If you feel a home visit is necessary, please make the request before 10.30am. The doctors have to cover most of the outlying villages. Patients who make late requests are unlikely to be seen until later in the day. Emergency visits will of course, be dealt with by the duty doctor.