You and Your General Practice: What Patients and Practices Can Expect from Each Other

Posted by: debraspencer2 - Posted on:

From 1 October 2025, NHS England has published updated guidance called You and Your General Practice, setting out what patients can This new NHS guidance sets out what patients can expect from their GP practice—and what GP practices ask of patients in return.

The aim is to strengthen the partnership between patients and their GP practices by outlining clear expectations including:

✅ For patients

  • Attend appointments on time.
  • Come prepared (for example, with a list of current medications).
  • Cancel in advance if you no longer need your appointment, so it can be offered to someone else.

✅ For practices

  • Provide care and support in ways that meet patients’ individual needs, including making reasonable adjustments where required.
  • Offer different ways to access services—such as online, by phone, or face-to-face.
  • Welcome feedback, listen to concerns, and respond appropriately.

The guidance also explains how patients, carers, or representatives can give feedback or raise concerns about their GP practice.

You can read the full document on the NHS England website here 👉 You and Your General Practice (translated versions are available)

At Birchwood, we are pleased to confirm that:

  • Patients can already access services by phone, in person, and online daily between 8am and 6.30pm.
  • All requests are triaged, and patients are informed of the plan for their care.
  • We positively encourage and welcome feedback to improve our services

This means we do not expect our patients to see a change as these standards are already in place at Birchwood.