Why do we have a Patient Charter, and what is it?

Life Diagnostic Services aims to provide good quality services for all of our patients. We work to a set of principles which are set out in our patient charter. Our goals are to provide:

• Efficient, accessible and responsive services at all times
• Standards of excellence in the delivery of all our services
• Continuous improvement in what we do
• Affordable Health Care
• To be a pillar in our local community delivering care where it is needed most

The Charter sets out the standards of patient service you can expect from us when contacting Life Diagnostic Services by telephone, by letter, by e-mail, through our website, or in person. If you feel that we are falling short of these high standards, please let us know.

 

The Charter

Standards of Patient Service you can expect 

At all times, we will:

• Treat you fairly and with respect
• Be positive and helpful. Meeting the needs of our patients is our number one priority, and where we cannot help directly, we will refer you, where possible, to other services or organisations.
• Offer a friendly and polite service and be sensitive to your needs.
• Deal with your letters, phone calls and visits to our offices promptly.
• Provide easy-to-understand information and keep you up to date about services we provide.
• Deal with your feedback positively and quickly.
• Keep your details confidential.
• Make sure our staff have the skills they need to do their jobs properly and considerately.
• Inform you if your appointment time is delayed by more than 20 minutes.
• Offer an urgent, same day appointment if required.
• Offer the opportunity to a book an appointment with a clinician of your choice; although you may have to wait longer for this type of appointment.
• Allow access to your health records subject to any limitation in the law and to know that those working in the practice are under a legal duty to keep the contents confidential.

Customer Service Charter

 Our staff will:

• Behave professionally and politely
• Dress smartly
• Wear a name badge or tell you who they are
• Show you a form of identification when they visit your home

 Our reception areas will:

• Be accessible and welcoming
• Be tidy, clean and safe
• Have useful information on display

 Our clinical team will:

• Offer you a high standard of clinical care
• Be accessible and welcoming
• Answer questions about your health, illness and treatment
• Offer information to you on steps you can take to promote good health and avoid illness
• Prescribe drugs and medicines when necessary, and explain possible side effects of treatment
• Refer you to a consultant if appropriate
• Offer home visits for those too ill or infirm to at-tend the surgery (please phone the surgery to book visit by 11am where possible).

What the Staff should reasonably expect from you

•  We ask that you treat all staff with courtesy and respect at all times
• The clinical team has instructed the reception team to ask certain questions so that they may deal with your request in accordance with the organisation policies
• If you cannot keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible.
• Please arrive on time and if we are running late, please do not blame the reception team
• Please let us know if you change any of your personal details or address
• Accept any invitation for screening issued by the LDS Medical Services.
• Ensure your children are vaccinated and immunised
• You are ultimately responsible for your own health and that of your family. Please help us to help you.

 Abuse of staff

 The Organisation has a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of any of its staff.

Complaints, comments and compliments 

We want to hear from you if you have a complaint, or wish to make a comment or compliment. 

We will:

• Welcome all feedback, including complaints, and deal with it positively
• Try to sort complaints out informally and as soon as possible
• Display guidelines on customer-feedback (which include our complaints procedure) in our reception area and on the Practice website
• Tell you, when we get your complaint, if we need to deal with it under separate procedures
• Send all feedback to: Director of Clinical Governance, LDS Medical Centre, Cnr Greenfield St/L Takawira Avenue, Masvingo

Data protection 

If you request access to your personal medical information we will respond within 40 calendar days. Please put requests in writing for the attention of the Director of Clinical Governance if you would like copies of your records. You may be asked to provide ID to confirm your identity and there will be a charge for both paper and electronic records as set out by the Life Diagnostic Services Board of Directors.  

When reviewing or changing the facilities & services we provide

 We will:

• Provide information to our patient community in a variety of ways depending on the circumstance.
• This may be either be via email, posters, text messages, newsletters and website www.ldsmedicalcentre.com.

When sending us an email

 We will:

• Reply within three working days when you e-mail our customer enquiry e-mail address through our web-site (if we cannot give you a full reply within three working days, we will let you know when you can expect a full reply)
• Make sure we use language that is easy to read and understand.
• Let you knowwho is dealing with your enquiry.

When contacting us by telephone

 We will:

• Answer the phone politely. 
• Give you our name when we answer
• Offer to help to take a message if the person you need to speak to is not available or arrange for the person to ring you back
• Return your phone calls within two working days.  

When writing to us

We will:

• Aim to give you a full response to your letters within 10 working days
• Send an acknowledgment for all letters that we receive within 5 working days
• Let you know when you can expect a full reply if we cannot reply within 10 working days
• Make sure we use language that is easy to read and understand
• Tell you in our letters who is dealing with your enquiry