The value of Friends – published in local Parish Magazines June 2024
The Friends of Wyndham House Surgery (FOWHS) group was formed in 1991 by Frank Varley (his wife Audrey is still one of our patients). The group’s aim was to help the surgery develop and innovate ahead of the NHS curve. Frank would never have believed how successful this has been. Currently the Chair of FOWHS is Mike Shipton who many of you will have met as one of our ‘Bertie’ medicine delivery volunteers. He works with the group of Trustees to ensure the FOWHS funds are put to good use. The Friends run the Bertie service that currently delivers regularly to patients who have difficulty getting to the surgery to pick up their prescriptions. The cost of ‘Bertie’ herself (now in her second version), all the maintenance and petrol are supported by FOWHS. We owe our volunteer drivers an enormous thank you for their time doing the deliveries. FOWHS are very generous in their funding of medical equipment that is beyond what is expected for NHS GPs. Over the last few years they have bought the surgery a MESI-M machine, ambulatory blood pressure monitors and INR devices; each of these have freed up a very large number of nurse appointments. They have also provided GPs with additional dermatoscopes, to optimise our assessment of pigmented skin lesions, and we are currently looking at a new improved remote heart rhythm monitoring device that will help us identify patients who have palpitations that need further investigation. FOWHS also support the large variety of groups that operate within our villages: the Memory Café, the Film Club, Qi Gong, Keep Fit classes, Balance Classes, Seated Yoga, Carers group, Menopause group, New Parents support group, SCENE magazine plus facilitate Jean Povey’s Digital Social Prescribing work and Jan Hebditch’s Palliative Care liaison support role.
Alongside the FOWHS we have also recently revived our Patient Participation Group (PPG) under the Chairmanship of Martin Holt. This group fulfils the honest appraisal, critical friend role. The group could be considered a ‘patient partner’ to the surgery advising the practice and upwards to NHS Devon on the patient perspective. All registered patients are welcome to join: contact Martin via reception or email wyndhamhousepatientsgroup@gmail.com
Supporting friends is normal but this is different to providing care for them. The two are not mutually exclusive however it is important that those who are doing caring work, especially if friend or family, are identified and helped in what is a very difficult and tiring role. FOWHS run a monthly lunch club for carers and the surgery is currently updating our list of patients who are carers. If you are a carer, please contact us to check we have your details. We use this to ensure all carers are provided with as much information as possible from local agencies who can support you.
As a surgery we are enormously grateful to the FOWHS and those stepping forward to help Martin with the PPG. If you would like to get involved with any of the above groups please get in touch via reception or email via our website and we will forward your details on.
Anthony O’Brien
Wyndham House Surgery