Fair Usage Policy

Our practice is proud to offer all patients with the highest quality care and an accessible Primary Care service. On top of an expanded provision of weekday face-to-face, telephone, and tele-video appointments by request, we also offer weekend face-to-face appointments by arrangement with an adjacent Hub practice and weekday evening appointments by telephone with our clinical team. Our access to services has been recently expanded to include online consultations via Patient Triage (the big red button on our website) by which patients can directly contact Admin and Clinical teams. We remain accessible to patients by telephone, as before.

While we thus strive to ensure excellent access to our services, resources are nonetheless limited and once our same-day appointments are fully booked, our Reception team may guide patients to an alternative appropriate service or offer appointments on another day.

Growing demand means it can be challenging to secure appointments at preferred times or frequencies. To ensure fair access for all, we regularly review appointment usage to confirm they are being used appropriately. This includes directing patients to the right healthcare professional for specific issues, e.g., to our partner Community Pharmacists for Pharmacy First conditions and minor ailments that do not require a GP.

We recognize that individual needs vary, and some patients may need more frequent support during periods of declining health. However, we may determine that a patient is overusing our services if they:

• Book significantly more appointments than average compared to other patients with similar conditions (while acknowledging that every patient’s needs are unique).
• Frequently miss appointments without cancelling in advance.
• Cancel appointments within two hours of the scheduled time at an excessive rate.
• Pre-book multiple appointments before the first is attended, or book appointments ‘just in case’ and then cancel or reassign them last minute.

Fortunately, such examples are uncommon, as generally our patients understand the need for fairness and appropriate use of shared and finite NHS clinical resources. If we do identify misuse of the appointment system, we will discuss our concerns and seek a resolution that maintains fair access for all. If an agreement is not reached and a patient under our practice list continues to breach the Fair Usage Policy, we may ask the individual to register with another practice to ensure equitable access for others.

Thank you for helping us maintain a fair and efficient service for all.

Reference: BMA data on general practice pressures