General Practice Access Short Life Working Group: access principles - easy read

The Principles for Access to General Practice - Easy Read version

The main principles

General Practice is a place where General Practitioners (GPs), nurses and other medical professionals, treat sick people. This is your doctor surgery.

Access is fair and inclusive. Care should be person-centred and based on what matters to you.

You should have some choice about how you access services.

Services should be friendly, kind and understanding.

They should help to get the right care from right person.

Additional principles

You should be supported to improve your own health and wellbeing by:

• Better understanding your own health.

• Using online services such as NHS Inform.

• Accessing other services such as Opticians or Dentists.

General Practices can see people who have urgent needs.

How to contact General Practice teams should be clear and accessible.

Receptionists should help you to find the best service to meet their needs.

You might be cared for by different teams in the practice. This is called multi-disciplinary team, for example a Nurse practicioner or physiotherapist.

You should understand and trust the different teams. This might mean less people needing to see a doctor.

People with complex needs should receive ongoing care from trusted healthcare staff.

General Practice should not only focus on symptoms of illness. They should treat you as a person. They should listen to your life experiences.

You should have a positive and trusting relationship with your General Practice team. Practices should welcome and listen to feedback from people accessing care.

General Practices will use digital services to meet people’s needs. They should support people who struggle with technology.