GP Practices in Wales: A Guide for Older People.
The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales’ latest information a full guide is available here – ctmuhb.nhs.wales/about-us/ctm2030-community-hub/ctm2030-assets/gp-practices-in-wales-a-guide-for-older-people/
The guide provides information on older people’s rights and what they can expect in terms of services and support from their GP practice, as well as details of organisations that can help older people experiencing difficulties.
GP practices in Wales must:
- Provide services for people who have health conditions from
which they are expected to recover, chronic disease
management and general management of terminally ill
patients. - Provide services at times that are appropriate to meet the
reasonable needs of patients. - Ensure that people can access GP services effectively offline
and online. - Ensure that patients can access services throughout core
hours in an emergency. - Have their ‘main premises’ doors open and staff on site
between 8.30am and 6.00pm. - Provide a recorded greeting in English and Welsh on the
telephone. - Tell you if there is a charge for a service.
- Consider people’s experiences of accessing and using their
services and take proportionate action to address any
equality issues. - Capture, record, highlight and share your communication
needs if you are living with sensory loss. - Ensure that any new signs and notices about NHS services
are bilingual; in English and Welsh.
There are also several things that GP practices should
be doing to help meet people’s needs. This good practice
includes:
- Offering a mixture of remote (telephone or video), face to
face, urgent, on the day and pre-bookable appointments,
determined by the practice in discussion with patients. - Treating an online request in the same way as a telephone
request. - Offering you an appropriate consultation when you first
contact your practice, based on an assessment of your
clinical need. - Providing a telephone service that fully meets patients’ needs.
- Considering your experience of accessing them online and by
telephone. - Asking your preferred language and making a record of it.
- Recording the fact that you are caring for someone else.
