Practice Charter

Your Responsibility To Us
Help Us To Help You

Please let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number. Please do everything you can to keep appointments. Tell us as soon as possible if you cannot. Otherwise, other patients may have to wait longer.

We need help too. Please ask for a home visit by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit the surgery. Please keep your phone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.

Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.

Please read our practice booklet. This will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that you understand the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.

Remember, you are responsible for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it. We ask that you treat the doctors and practice staff with courtesy and respect.

Primary Care Trust

The Northamptonshire Teaching Primary Care Trust can be contacted on 01327 877058 or written to at Drayton Way, Drayton Fields Industrial Estate, Daventry, Northants NN11 5EA.

Your Home Your Health

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that almost 55,000 people died from cold-related illnesses in the 1999/2000 winter.

Britain’s record in respect of excess winter deaths is one of the worst in Europe, worse than many northern European countries with colder climates. Many of these deaths may perhaps have been prevented if action had been taken to improve the living conditions of those in question. If you live in cold, damp houses you are more likely to suffer ill health.

Temperature alone can have serious effects on your health.

Temperature and The Risks

Ensuring your home is adequately heated and well insulated can reduce these risks.

To find out more about what you can do to improve your home contact the Energy Efficiency Officer at your local council. They will be able to give you free, impartial information and advice on making your home a healthy home and any grants available to assist with the cost of installing insulation and upgrading heating systems.

Keeping Active For Your Health

Keeping Active For Your Health is an activity referral scheme which is co-ordinated by Towcester Centre for Leisure. It is an initiative supported by Daventry and South Northants NHS Primary Care Trust, Northamptonshire Council and Serco Leisure.

Patient Confidentiality And Data Protection

We ask you for personal information so that you can receive care and treatment. This information is recorded on computer and we are registered under the Data Protection Act. The practice will ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times by all members of the practice team. However, for the effective functioning of a multi-disciplinary team it is sometimes necessary that medical information about you is shared between members of the practice team.

Complaints Procedure

We always try to provide the best services possible, but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. Our in-house complaints procedure is drawn up to respond to patients' grievances. However, it is not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation. Nevertheless, we hope you will use it to allow us to look into and, if necessary, correct any problems that you have identified, or mistakes that have been made.

If you use this procedure it will not affect your right to complain to the local Primary Care Trust. Please note we have to respect our duty of confidentiality to patients and a patient's consent will be necessary if a complaint is not made by the patient in person. If you wish to make a complaint, please telephone or write to the surgery managers or the practice manager. Full details will be taken and a decision made on how best to undertake the investigation.

Zero Tolerance

We strongly support the NHS policy on zero tolerance. Anyone attending the surgery who abuses the GPs, staff or other patients be it verbally, physically or in any threatening manner whatsoever, will risk removal from the practice list. In extreme cases we may summon the police to remove offenders from the practice premises.

Freedom Of Information - Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available.