It’s Your Practice: A patient guide to GP services has been put together by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) for patients.
Non-urgent advice:
This guide has been produced as part of the RCGP’s aim to build stronger relationships between you and your doctors and encourage the involvement and inclusion of you in your own care.
The guide provides helpful information on all aspects of using GP services: from finding and choosing a practice and how to get the most out of a GP consultation to accessing health records and understanding patients’ rights and responsibilities.
It is split into several sections including:
General Practice explained
Choosing the right practice for you
Registering with a GP practice
Seeing your GP – consultations
Seeing your GP – the next steps
After your GP consultation
Your health record
Your rights and responsibilities as a patient
Get involved with your practice
The publication is part of a push by the NHS as a whole to encourage you to understand how you can get the most out of primary care – which also includes how you can become more involved in monitoring your own health.