The New GP Patient Access Charter

You and Your General Practice Charter (YYGP) has been developed to help patients understand what to expect from their general practice and how they can get the best from their GP team. YYGP also enables patient to provide feedback or raise concerns with their GP Practice, Healthwatch or the Integrated Care Board (ICB). 

What the Charter means for you
The charter is designed to make it easier, fairer and clearer to get the care you need. 

When and how can you contact your general practice?

Your general practice is open from 8.00am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. 

Throughout these hours you, or your carer on your behalf, can:

• Visit the practice
• Call them
• Go online using the practice’s website or the NHS App.

You can choose the way you contact your practice based on what is best for you. All options must treat people fairly, with reasonable adjustments for those who need extra help, and cannot refuse registration for reasons such as immigration status or lack of a fixed address.

Some practices may have longer hours or may ask that you contact them via phone or in person for urgent queries.

What happens when you contact your practice to request an appointment?

However you contact your GP, you may be asked to give your practice some details so that they can assess what is best for you based on your clinical need. The practice team will consider your request for an appointment or medical advice and tell you within one working day what will happen next.

This could be:

• An appointment
• A phone call
• A text message responding to your query
• Advice to go to a pharmacy or another NHS service.

Your practice will decide what is best for you based on your clinical need.

Patients have the right to request a preferred clinician, and to raise concerns via the practice manager, the Integrated Care Board (ICB), or Healthwatch.

Transparency

Each GP practice will publish its Patient Charter on its website, so you know:

• How requests are handled
• What response times to expect
• What to do if things go wrong

What your practice expects from you

Patients are encouraged to be on time, be prepared and avoid wasted appointments by cancelling early. All patients are expected to behave in a respectful manner towards NHS staff. 

Better joined-up care

With your consent, other NHS services can view parts of your GP record through a secure system called GP Connect. This means you won’t have to repeat your story every time you see a new professional.

The charter aims to:

• Reduce the “8 am phone rush” for appointments
• Give patients more choice in how to access care
• Make GP services more transparent and consistent
• Support better coordination between NHS services

Read the full You and Your GP Charter

Demand on GP services is high — the charter doesn’t create more appointments, but it should make it clearer and fairer to get one. Not everyone is comfortable with digital tools — that’s why phone and in-person access remain available.

You can give feedback through Healthwatch Bedford Borough or your GP practice on how well the new service is working for you.