Patient Information

Mission and Vision Statement

Mission Statement:

To create a warm, safe, and caring environment, where our trusted and fully qualified professionals can provide high quality health care services to our community.

Our Vision:

We aim to provide our patients with the highest quality of patient care in a safe and welcoming environment; putting their welfare at the centre of all that we do.
We endeavour to continue to invest in our staff – diversifying and developing skillsets and knowledge base, to ensure that the practice offers a highly skilled and resilient workforce to meet the needs of our patients and community.
We aim to promote best medical practice, shared expertise, and encourage the use of new technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our administration processes, patient contact and clinical activity.
We aim to contribute to the enhancement of medical knowledge and develop a further understanding and treatment of disease by collaborating with medical researchers and proactive engagement in research projects.
We aim to be innovative, adaptable, and responsive to the requirements of our local population and encourage a hub that promotes a healthier and safer community.
We endeavour to listen to our patients by seeking their views and ideas through various methods to encourage further improvement in our services – we can achieve more together!

Our Core Values:

We are caring:

We put our patients at the centre of all that we do. We actively listen, notice, and respond. We respect and value our patients and staff. We are inclusive to all and do not discriminate. We thrive to create an environment that is open and transparent with consistent communication.

We are inclusive:

Diversity enhances innovation, improves performance, and enables general practice to be adaptable and resilient. By championing diversity, we enable our team to reflect and serve the need of our diverse patient population. We are committed to creating an inclusive society, where everyone can succeed, receive the healthcare services appropriate to them and live well.

We are empowering:

Our clinicians share information and knowledge with our patients to enable them to confidently participate in their own care and make informed decisions regarding their health. We believe that by educating our patients and explaining their healthcare effectively, will empower our patients to improve their self-care and prevent further illness. We use various mediums of communication to ensure that our patients always have access to useful and relevant healthcare information.

We are Professional:

We strive to achieve a high level of professional medical care for our patients and our community. Our staff (Clinical and Non-Clinical) undergo regular training to ensure we are compliant to NHS guidelines, and we strive to maintain this. Our workforce is who we rely on to reach success, and therefore we will continue to invest in our staff to ensure that our patients get the best care possible.

Healthwatch

Healthwatch was created by the Health and Social Care Act, 2012.

Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire is the local consumer champion promoting choice and influencing the provision of high quality health, social care and wellbeing services for all across Central Bedfordshire.

They are:

Independent- They are independent and you can speak to them in confidence.
The voice of local people- They will listen to you and respond.
Professional- They can speak on your behalf to help improve and drive up the quality of health and social care services and where appropriate put you in touch with other professional services that can help.

Website: https://healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk/

Telephone: 0300 303 8554

Email: info@healthwatch-centralbedfordshire.org.uk

Our NHS Rainbow Badges

Have you seen our NHS Rainbow Badges?

Originally launched in the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, the NHS Rainbow Badges were implemented to promote a message of inclusion!

It is an important initiative that the practice wanted to be a part of- so now we are!

LGBTQIA+ patients face inequalities in their experience of NHS healthcare.

Wearing these badges enables us to proudly show that we offer open, non-judgemental and inclusive care for patients and their families who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Our staff members want you know that you can talk to us, as we will always be a friendly ear.

If you ever need the support of external services, our staff will always signpost you so you can receive the advice and care you need.

The practice is always here to listen.

We are a Safe Surgery

Every individual living in the UK is entitled to register and consult with a General Practitioner (GP). This enables the NHS to prevent and treat illness earlier, improving health and well- being for all.

The practice is pleased to announce that we have officially declared that we are a Safe Surgery.

This means that a lack of identification or proof of address, immigration status or language does not prevent a patients registration with us.

We are a Safe Surgery for all!

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Patient’s rights

Eastgate Surgery are dedicated to providing our patients with outstanding healthcare services. We have a large, diverse and experienced team who work together in order to meet the needs of our patients.

At all times, practice staff at Eastgate Surgery will:

Treat all patients with courtesy and respect.
Consult patients at all times regarding the care and attention that they will receive.
Promote privacy and confidentiality, ensuring all details disclosed to staff are treated with the upmost sensitivity.
Try to enable you to see a clinician of your choice, subject to staff availability.
Ensure our telephone system provides the details of out of hours services should the surgery be closed.
Endeavour to have any repeat prescription requests processed within 2 working days. Should there be any reason that your prescription cannot be fulfilled, you will be notified accordingly.
Provide up to date information on the services the surgery provides to our patients by way of leaflets, posters and social media updates

Patient’s responsibilities

With these rights come responsibilities for our patients. Practice staff would therefore kindly request that you:

Treat all practice staff, both clinical and administrative, with the same respect that you wish to be treated with.
Arrive in plenty of time for your appointment. Patients who arrive more than 10 minutes late may not be seen and advised to rebook the appointment.
Appointments are in a extremely high demand. Unattended appointments waste valuable clinician time as well as prevent other patients receiving the urgent treatment they need. If you wish to cancel your appointment, please telephone the practice at your earliest convenience or send us a message via our Online Forms
Obtain self care advice from your local pharmacist for any minor illnesses or use NHS online.
Ensure you follow up with any test results or investigations organised for you.
Request your repeat prescriptions in plenty of time, allowing for our 48 hour processing window. If you wish to know more information about ordering your prescription, please visit our Repeat Prescriptions page.
Understand that an appointment is for one person only. When another member of your family needs to consult with a clinician, another appointment must be organised.
Notify the surgery should you have any change in personal details as soon as possible. Such changes may occur when you marry, divorce, move home or change your telephone number. You can do this online by visiting our Update your details page.
Attend the surgery if you are able to. Home visits should be medically justifiable and not requested for convenience. For more information, please see our Home Visits page.
Read all practice leaflets or information that we provide you with. They are there to help you improve upon your health and well- being or enable you to use our services. If you need a more accessible form of these leaflets, please let us know.
Patient suggestions, ideas, or comments of complaint are important to practice staff as they enable the team to further improve service provision. Give us your feedback or your views by sending us an email: eastgatesurgery@nhs.net.