The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.
What Happens when you are referred by a GP to see a specialist?
The General Practice Forward View made a commitment to improving the current interface between hospitals and general practice to provide more seamless care for patients and to reduce the number of occasions where patients are sent back to their GP unnecessarily following a hospital appointment. The aim is to improve patients’ experience of care, whilst also freeing up GP time. In order to achieve this, new measures have been introduced into the NHS Standard Contract and a system-wide national working group has been established to drive action for improvement.