About the Surgery

About Us

The first known incumbent of this Practice was Dr. Paddicombe who set up in clinical practice in approximately 1880. He was joined by Dr. Edward Smith Senior in 1900 and Dr. Smith Senior took over the Practice and moved to No. 31 London Road, St. Albans in 1906.

Further Doctors joined and left the Practice and locations moved to Bricket Road in 1922 and to Russell Avenue in 1969. In 1990 the practice moved premises from Russell Avenue to The Lodge Surgery (the previous premises used as the Porters' Lodge having been updated and extended) in Normandy Road, St. Albans. The Highfield Surgery site was opened in 2006 to offer services to the residents of the newly developed site that had previously been Hill End Hospital. In 2018 The Lodge and Redbourn Practices agreed to merge and form The Lodge Health Partnership serving the residents of St. Albans and Redbourn and adjacent villages and offering a full range of medical services from 3 sites.

The team delivering flu and covid vaccinations

LHP at St Albans Parkrun

A bake off for staff

Celebrating Dr Bevis 30 years at the LHP

Our sites

Our surgery, The Lodge Health Partnership, has three sites.

• The Lodge Surgery
• Highfield Surgery
• Redbourn Health Centre

See addresses, contact details and get directions

Values and Mission Statement

Our mission statement is that ‘we aim to work together effectively to enhance the health and wellbeing of our communities' and we are passionate about this. We are proud to have good relationships with nearby GP Practices, the two care homes we provide care for, and our Patient Participation Group. We are part of a Primary Care Network called HaLo with the Harvey House Group.

Our values are:

• Quality
• Helpful and empathetic attitude
• Making things easier
• Communication

We have just under 20,000 patients, including older people, families, children, and those with long-term conditions or poor mental health. We aim to give everyone fair care. We have a special purple star for helping those with learning disabilities and an award for helping veterans.

We are always looking for new ways to improve. For example, we started group consultations to help more women with menopause. We also use digital patient triage to make sure appointments are used well. We are a training practice, helping GP Registrars and trainee Nurses, and we hold regular educational sessions for our staff.

Our Team

Our team is led by seven GP Partners and two Practice Managers. Dr. Bevis has been with us for over 30 years! We also have salaried GPs, nurses, physiotherapists, social prescribers, mental health workers and pharmacists. Our receptionists, management staff, secretaries, and admin team work hard to keep everything running smoothly. We make sure the Lodge is a great place to work, with regular wellbeing activities for our staff.

Meet our staff members

Teaching Practice

We are an approved Training Practice in the East of England Deanery. We teach qualified doctors training to be GP specialists. These doctors will have an experienced GP trainer who can provide advice or supervise during consultations, as necessary.

We also teach trainee nurses from the University of Hertfordshire, who are full supervised by our experienced nursing team.

Practice Charter

The NHS has limited funds, and we must use them wisely to care for our large number of patients. We believe in treating everyone fairly and equally. Our patients have equal rights to our services, which are prioritised by medical need.

We expect our patients and staff to always treat each other with respect. We respect patients' rights to confidentiality and access to their personal information. We follow all laws and regulations.

Offer of Service

Our passion is to serve our patients. We always strive to do our best for everybody. NHS services are under extreme pressure all across the country, and we are no exception. We have to treat patients equitably.

We work hard to provide the best access we can but can't always guarantee a quick routine appointment due to demand. Appointments are scheduled at 10 to 15-minute intervals. Multiple problems may need more appointments. We offer telephone appointments where appropriate. Emergency appointments are for urgent medical needs only. Minor illnesses can often be handled by a pharmacist or self-care.

Home visits are for those who are genuinely housebound or too ill to travel. One home visit means fewer patients seen in the surgery. We strive to provide a good call handling service, but there may be peak times with wait times.

We must use our resources wisely. Urgent medical needs like suspected cancer are processed quickly. Routine referrals may take longer. We prioritise clinical care but will help with social needs like sick notes and housing letters. Non-NHS services may incur a reasonable charge.