• Please arrive 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.
• If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, the doctor or nurse may no longer be able to see you without delaying other patients.
• Depending on the circumstances, you may be asked to reschedule your appointment.
• Occasionally, appointments may run late because a doctor or nurse is dealing with a medical emergency or a patient who requires additional care.
• We appreciate your patience and understanding when delays occur.

Appointments may be cancelled by telephone or by email. Where possible, we encourage patients to cancel by email, as our telephone lines can be very busy during the day. Email cancellation is often the quickest and easiest way to let us know that you no longer require your appointment.

info@newstreetmedicalcentre.ie     or        rooskey@newstreetmedicalcentre.ie

• If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, the doctor or nurse may no longer be able to see you without delaying other patients.
• Depending on the circumstances, you may be asked to reschedule your appointment.
• Occasionally, appointments may run late because a doctor or nurse is dealing with a medical emergency or a patient who requires additional care.
• We appreciate your patience and understanding when delays occur.

Did Not Attend (DNA) Policy

Appointments are a valuable and limited resource. When a patient fails to attend an appointment without cancelling it, that appointment cannot usually be offered to another patient who may be waiting for medical care.

This is recorded as a Did Not Attend (DNA).

We understand that occasionally circumstances arise which make it impossible to attend an appointment. If you cannot attend your appointment, please contact the Practice as early as possible so that the appointment can be offered to another patient.

Appointments may be cancelled by telephone or by email. Where possible, we encourage patients to cancel by email, as our telephone lines can be very busy during the day. Email cancellation is often the quickest and easiest way to let us know that you no longer require your appointment.

info@newstreetmedicalcentre.ie     or        rooskey@newstreetmedicalcentre.ie

On-the-Day / Acute Appointments

On-the-day appointments are reserved for patients who require medical attention that day and are a particularly limited resource.

If you are given an ON–THE–DAY  appointment and fail to attend without cancelling, a  €60.00  Did Not Attend fee will be charged.

This charge reflects the fact that an acute appointment was specifically allocated to you and, without adequate notice of cancellation, could not be offered to another patient who may have required medical care that day.

Where a patient repeatedly fails to attend appointments without cancelling:

• The missed appointments will be recorded.
• The patient may be contacted or issued with a warning regarding repeated non-attendance.
• A missed appointment charge of €30 will be applied for repeated DNAs where applicable.
• The Practice may review how future appointments are booked for that patient.
• Repeat DNA’s will result in being removed from the practice.

The purpose of this policy is not to penalise genuine mistakes or emergencies. It is to reduce repeated non-attendance and ensure appointments remain available for patients who need them.

Respect & Zero Tolerance Policy

New Street Medical Centre operates a Zero Tolerance Policy towards violence, aggression, threatening behaviour and abuse.

Our doctors, nurses, administrative staff are entitled to work in a safe environment and to be treated with dignity and respect. We will not tolerate:

• Threatening or intimidating behaviour.
• Physical aggression or violence.
• Shouting aggressively at staff or other patients.
• Abusive, insulting or threatening language.
• Swearing directed at a member of staff.
• Harassment or discriminatory comments.
• Deliberate damage to Practice property.
• Abusive or threatening telephone calls, emails, messages or online communications.
• Behaviour which causes staff or other patients to feel threatened or unsafe.

Where inappropriate behaviour occurs, the Practice may:

• End a telephone call or consultation.
• Ask the person to leave the premises where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
• Issue a formal warning.
• Record the incident in accordance with Practice procedures.
• Contact An Garda Síochána where threats, violence or other serious behaviour occurs.
• Review whether the doctor-patient relationship can safely continue.

Serious or repeated incidents may result in your removal from the practice, subject to our professional obligations regarding patient safety and continuity of care.

Respect works both ways. Our staff will treat patients with courtesy and dignity, and we ask that our staff are treated in the same manner

New Street Medical Centre is a busy GP practice with a team of doctors and nurses working together to provide care to our patients.

When you register with New Street Medical Centre, you are registering as a patient of the Practice rather than with a specific individual doctor.

Although you may usually see a particular GP, and your Medical Card or GP Visit Card may be associated with a named GP, your day-to-day medical care within New Street Medical Centre will be provided by any appropriately qualified GP working within the Practice.

While we will always try to accommodate a request to see a particular doctor where possible, we cannot guarantee that you will see the same doctor at every appointment. Appointment availability will depend on factors such as doctors’ working days, annual leave, illness and training commitments .

All doctors working within the Practice have access to your relevant medical record and clinical history, allowing your care to continue safely when you are seen by a different doctor.

For routine or non-urgent appointments, you are welcome to request a particular doctor. However, this may result in a longer waiting time for an appointment.

For urgent medical problems, you may be offered an appointment with the first doctor available on that day.

By joining New Street Medical Centre, patients acknowledge that their care is provided by the Practice’s clinical team as a whole and is not exclusively assigned to any individual GP.

Please inform the Practice if there is any change to your:

• Home address, including Eircode
• Mobile or telephone number.
• Email address.
• Medical Card or GP Visit Card details.
• Next-of-kin or emergency contact information where relevant.

Please allow 48 hours when requesting repeat prescriptions.

Repeat prescriptions are issued at the discretion of the treating GP and, where clinically appropriate, you may be asked to attend for a review before a further prescription can be issued.

Urgent prescription requests should be avoided wherever possible by requesting medication before your existing supply runs out.

Privacy and Confidentiality

We take the privacy and confidentiality of our patients seriously.

Personal and medical information is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and GDPR requirements.

Information will only be shared where there is an appropriate clinical, legal or statutory basis for doing so.

Patients may request access to their medical records in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

We ask everyone attending the Practice to treat our staff, clinicians and other patients with courtesy and respect.

We recognise that illness and healthcare concerns can be stressful. However, frustration or dissatisfaction does not justify abusive, threatening or intimidating behaviour.

We ask patients to work with us so that we can maintain a safe and respectful environment for everyone.

We welcome feedback about our services.

If you have a concern, we encourage you to raise it with us so that we have an opportunity to address the matter.

Formal complaints should be submitted to the Practice Manager, preferably in writing or by email, and will be handled in accordance with our Practice Complaints Procedure.

At New Street Medical Centre, we care about your health and your experience as a patient of our Practice.

We will aim to provide care that is safe, professional, respectful and appropriate to your medical needs.

In return, we ask our patients to respect our staff, our appointment system and the needs of the many other patients who depend on the Practice.

When you attend New Street Medical Centre, you are being cared for by a Practice team – not simply by one individual doctor.

Working together allows us to provide the best and most timely care possible for everyone.

Thank you for your cooperation and for choosing New Street Medical Centre.

By registering with and continuing to use the services of New Street Medical Centre and Rooskey Medical Practice, patients are expected to respect these Practice Policies.

These policies are designed to protect patients and staff and to help us use our available appointments and healthcare resources fairly and effectively.

The Practice reserves the right to review and update these policies when required.

Patients are responsible for ensuring that applicable consultation fees and other charges are paid.

Where payment is required, the Practice may request payment in advance of an appointment.

Additional fees may apply for services that are not covered by the Medical Card/GP Visit Card or other HSE schemes.

Patients with outstanding balances may be asked to clear their account before booking further routine private services.