NHS England’s You and Your General Practice, commonly referred to as the patient charter, sets out what patients can expect from their GP practice and how patients can help their practice deliver effective care.

With the document reflecting changes to the 2026/27 GP contract, Practice Managers should take the opportunity to review their existing arrangements and ensure that what patients are being told matches how their practice actually operates.

But what does this mean in practice, and what should Practice Managers be checking?

What is the patient charter?

You and Your General Practice is NHS England’s national document explaining the relationship between patients and their GP practice.

It covers how patients can contact their practice, what happens when they request an appointment, the different professionals who may support them, and how they can provide feedback or raise concerns.

It also sets out how patients can help their practice, including attending appointments on time, cancelling appointments they no longer need and ordering repeat medication appropriately.

Practices have been required to publish a link to the NHS England document on their website homepage since 1 October 2025.

What should Practice Managers be aware of?

1. Patients need clear information about contacting the practice

Patients should be able to understand how to contact their practice by telephone, online or in person.

Online consultation systems must be available throughout core hours for the relevant categories of requests, without practices imposing limits on submission volumes.

However, the arrangements for urgent online requests may differ between practices.

What to consider: Does your website clearly explain which requests can be submitted online, when patients should telephone or attend in person, and what happens after a request is received?

2. Urgent and non-urgent requests have different expectations

Requests assessed as clinically urgent must be dealt with on the same day.

For non-urgent requests, patients should receive an appropriate response explaining the next steps by the end of the next working day.

Importantly, an appropriate response does not necessarily mean providing an appointment within that timeframe.

Practices should also avoid asking patients simply to contact them again on another day.

What to consider: Are your reception, care navigation and clinical teams giving patients consistent information about response times and what will happen next?

3. The wording around urgent online requests needs particular attention

There has been concern about whether the patient charter’s wording on urgent online requests could create confusion.

While some practices accept urgent requests online, others direct patients to contact them by telephone or in person.

The important issue is whether patients understand the correct route to use and whether practices have appropriate processes to identify and manage clinical urgency.

What to consider: Could a patient with an urgent problem misunderstand your online consultation instructions or delay seeking help?

4. Feedback and concerns need a clear process

The charter explains how patients can raise concerns or provide feedback, including through the practice, their integrated care board or local Healthwatch.

NHS England’s accompanying practice guidance recommends identifying a nominated person to coordinate feedback and ensuring concerns are followed up appropriately.

Practices should also document feedback and resulting improvements.

What to consider: Can patients easily find out how to raise a concern, and can your practice demonstrate what it has learned from the feedback received?

5. Staff need to understand what patients have been told

Updating patient-facing information is only part of the process.

If the website says one thing but reception staff explain something different, patients may experience confusion and frustration.

What to consider: Have your teams been briefed on the charter, and do your procedures, scripts and patient communications reflect the same arrangements?

What should you do next?

Rather than introducing unnecessary new processes, start by reviewing what your practice already has in place.

Focus on the areas where patient-facing information, operational arrangements and staff understanding may not align.

We’ve developed a downloadable Patient Charter Implementation Checklist to help Practice Managers work through the key areas, allocate responsibilities and record actions. This checklist is available below this guide. This checklist is designed to be completed virtually, so we recommend putting it on one screen with your practice website on the other.

The checklist covers:

• Practice website and patient information
• Online consultations and urgent requests
• Triage and response arrangements
• Staff communication and training
• Feedback, concerns and complaints
• Evidence, assurance and ongoing review

Need support implementing the updated patient charter?

Understanding the requirements is one thing. Finding the time and capacity to review your existing arrangements, identify gaps and implement improvements can be another.

At Locum PM, we work alongside GP practices and primary care organisations to provide practical, hands-on management and operational support.

Whether you need help reviewing patient access arrangements, updating processes, supporting your team or managing wider operational changes, we’re here to help.

You don’t have to tackle it alone. If your practice would benefit from additional support, get in touch with Locum PM to discuss how we can help.

Final thoughts

The patient charter should not simply be another document linked from the practice website.

It provides an opportunity to consider the experience of patients contacting the practice and whether the information they receive is clear, accurate and consistent.

For Practice Managers, the focus should be on ensuring that patients understand how to access care, staff understand their responsibilities and the practice can demonstrate that its arrangements work.

The question is not simply whether your practice has published the charter, but whether your practice is delivering what patients have been told to expect.