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Patient Communication Policy
The Practice communicates with patients and third parties in multiple ways.
Our reception staff may use a triage system to assess the urgency of your needs and concerns.
It is a policy of this Practice that requests for repeat prescriptions, referrals, medical certificate and completion of medical paperwork are done through an appointment.
To minimise the disruption to the doctor, phone calls from patients requesting to speak to the doctor will not be put through at the time of the call. A secure message will be sent to the doctor, who will advise the reception staff how to proceed.
When correspondence is received from other healthcare providers, it is directly imported into the patient’s file and then sent through to the doctor to review. This includes results, emails and specialist letters. If the addressed doctor is not available and the correspondence is urgent, another doctor will review and action as necessary.
We communicate with patients in the following ways:
Face to face – this can be via consultation with your doctor or practice nurse or interactions with other staff members.
Telephone – Patients are able to contact the Practice via telephone between the hours of 8am – 6.00 pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am – 12 pm Saturday.
Fax – Faxes received that are related to a patient are imported directly into the patient’s file.
Email – email is not a secure form of communication. If you choose to contact the surgery via email, you are providing consent for our staff to reply to you via email.
Whilst we make every effort to keep your information secure it is important for patients to be aware of the risks associated with electronic communication, in that the information could potentially be compromised and accessed by someone other than the intended recipient.
We endeavour to reply to all emails within 1 business day. Our emails are checked on a regular basis, however they are not constantly monitored. If you have an issue that requires urgent attention we ask that you contact the Practice via telephone.
SMS – SMS messages are sent to remind patients of scheduled appointments, health reminders and recalls. Please make sure you update the Practice if there is a change to your mobile number. Please let us know if you would like to opt out from receiving SMS messages.
Post – for patients who have opted out of SMS, a letter may be sent regarding reminders or recalls.
Website – Our website is updated regularly and contains the Practice contact details, location, opening hours and information regarding fees and services offered. Our after-hours doctor service details are also available, as is online booking for the practitioners during office hours.