The strategic aims of the Practice are to:

• Provide a high standard of clinical care and service delivery for patients
• Maximise profitability in order to develop services, reward staff, maintain the practice environment and optimise partner income
• Develop and maintain a competent and efficient staff team

We keep up to date using skills and knowledge acquired within and outside of the practice to good effect, working as a team to increase patient awareness and understanding of their illness, educating and promoting healthier lifestyles. New ideas are discussed freely at practice meetings and implemented for the good of the patient and the practice where appropriate.

Practice History

The Practice can trace its history back to the mid 19th century. The last 30 years have seen many changes, including the move to the present premises in 1985 and, following a period of great stability there have been inevitable changes to the partnership, precipitated by the retirements of longer standing partners. Prior to moving to the new premises in Bassett Road in 1985, the partners worked from an older building in central Leighton Buzzard. There were 5 whole time equivalent GPs, plus a female retainee, providing clinical care for 13,500 registered patients and 1,000 RAF personnel.

With backing from the FHSA the present premises were planned around six whole time equivalent GPs and the team moved in March 1985 to Bassett Road. By 1993 the Practice had 7 doctors and a Trainee. The premises were extended in the same year and two more consulting rooms were added. In 1997 the Practice became a fund holding practice.


Where are We Now?

There has been a long history of training in the practice and Dr John Henderson is the current GP Trainer working with the Aylesbury Scheme.
 
The Practice now has 6 Partners, (5½ full-time equivalents) 2 part time salaried doctors and a full time GP registrar. The surgery is one of the largest in town with a list size of 12,500 patients. Following the closure of the local RAF Headquarters, the RAF retains us to provide care for those personnel remaining at Stanbridge.

The Surgery is a modern purpose built building with ample car parking and good facilities for people with disabilities. All clinical areas and most of the administration are on the ground floor. All the GPs and the registrar have their own consulting rooms and the clinic room provides space for nurse run clinics (e.g. Diabetes, Asthma and CHD) and for District Nurses, Health Visitors, Midwives and other attached staff also use this room. The Practice Nurses have a suite of 4 rooms, which include a dedicated minor surgery area. This treatment area is well equipped with an ECG machine, defibrillator, full resuscitation kit, nebulisers, vacuum autoclave and cryo-cautery equipment. On the first floor there is a staff kitchen and a large common room housing a well-stocked library. This room also accommodates in-house training, and a range of outside meetings and social activities.

All offices and consulting rooms have desktop computers with access to NHS Net and the Internet. The Practice is paper light scans all correspondence and has been linked for pathology since the summer of 2003 .

The Practice is computerised, using Torex Synergy software, with networked PCs used by all the doctors and staff. These are also linked to the “Frontdesk” computerised appointments system. All IOS claims are submitted electronically, the practice has pathlinks with Stoke Mandeville Hospital and all correspondence is scanned onto computer using “Docman” software.

A degree of expansion and refurbishment has taken place in the Practice, but the increase in workload, and staff members has now exceeded the floor space available. The Practice has looked at extending both the administrative and clinical areas but this is not practical on the current site. The practice is therefore exploring the possibility of moving elsewhere in the town to new premises, adequate for the demands of 21st century general practice.

The patient list size is 12,500 patients with an annual turnover of approximately 1,000 patients. The Practice covers a 6-7 mile radius from Bassett Road and provides care for patients in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The patient population comprises approximately 700 under 5s, 950 over 75s with the majority of the list aged between 16 and 65 years.