What to expect from your GP: new NHS GP charter published

News - 9 September 2025

As part of GP contract changes for 2025/26, all GP practices in Milton Keynes have to deliver a number of changes to the way they run their service. 

Over the summer, NHS England (NHSE) published the new and mandatory GP patient charter. The charter is called 'You and Your General Practice' and outlines what you should expect from your GP practice. 

What is 'You and Your General Practice'?

This is a new charter introduced as part of the GP contract for 2025-26. The Government said the new charter would ‘improve transparency for patients’ on what patients can expect from surgeries in relation to appointment booking and customer service generally.

What does the charter say?

The charter explains:

  • When and how you can contact your GP surgery.
  • How your GP surgery should deal with your appointment requests.
  • Patients might be offered appointments with professionals other than GPs.
  • Registration rules – including not needing to give an address or show ID.
  • How people should be treated by staff.
  • That patients who need to raise concerns about their care, or want to give feedback can contact their local Healthwatch. The Charter emphasises our independence and impartiality.  
  • Expectations of patients, including what to do if you need to cancel an appointment.

Key points for patients 

You must must be able to contact your practice by phone, online or by walking in, and these three options must equally available for patients. 

From 1 October 2025, GP practices will need to keep their online consultation form open for the duration of core hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries and admin requests - so no shutting down the online appointment/query online form by 11am. 

By 1 October 2025, practices will be also have to make sure that:

  • Patients have read-only access to their care records.
  • Community pharmacists can send consultation summaries into the GP practice workflow – which will reduce administrative burden for GP teams.

Is the Charter accessible for everyone?

The charter does not mention the Accessible Information Standard, but states ‘if you need extra help like longer appointments, a quiet space, wheelchair access, or information in a different format, tell your practice and they will try to help.'

There is no Easy Read of BSL version.

You can download the Charter in 20 community languages. 

Read the full NHS GP patient charter 

 

 

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