Patient Guide to Services

It’s Your Practice: A patient guide to GP services has been put together by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) for patients. 

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.

Apple and StethoscopeIt is split into several sections including:

  • General Practice explained
  • Choosing the right practice for you
  • Registering with a GP practice
  • Seeing your GP – all appointments are via telephone triage at this time.  A GP will confirm whether you need to be seen in a face-2-face appointment and will make this for you.
  • 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.

Practice Guide to Services (this link will open in a new window - popups must be allowed)



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