“You and Your General Practice”: A New Charter for Patients and GP Practices
- Healthwatch Southend
- Oct 6
- 2 min read
What is it?
You and Your General Practice is a national patient charter developed by NHS England to help patients understand:
What they can expect from their GP practice
How they can get the best support from their GP team
How to provide feedback or raise concerns
It’s designed to be accessible, inclusive, and practical—offering translated versions in over 15 languages including Urdu, Polish, Bengali, and Chinese.
Why It Matters
For patients, You and Your General Practice explains how to:
Contact your practice and request appointments
Understand who may be involved in your care (not just GPs, but nurses, pharmacists, care coordinators, etc.)
Register or change practices
Access fair treatment and reasonable adjustments
Use digital tools and online services effectively
For practices, it provides a framework to ensure consistent standards and transparency. Every GP practice is now required to link to the document on their website, ensuring patients can easily access this information. We checked all the Southend practices' websites and found only one practice had not met the deadline, although it was not always easy to find the links on other websites. We've shared this with the NHS.
Healthwatch Southend’s Role
We are encouraging:
Patients to read the charter and understand their rights and responsibilities
Practices to promote the document, listening to and acting on feedback constructively
Communities to use You and Your General Practice as a prompt for highlighting where there are problems in accessing services
Patients can raise concerns not only with their practice but also directly with Healthwatch Southend or their local NHS Board, ensuring accountability and responsiveness.
As Healthwatch Southend, we’ll continue to monitor how You and Your General Practice is being implemented locally, gather feedback from patients, and work with practices to ensure the charter delivers on its promise.
Share your feedback on general practice in Southend: