Wyndham House Surgery

The surgery remained open throughout the treacherous weather due to the tremendous efforts of our fantastic staff.  On Friday 2nd March when roads in and out of Silverton were only passable in 4 x 4 vehicles Drs Catherine Burkill and Dr Jeff Solman along with Jenny Plastow kept the doors open, the prescriptions flowing and patients seen.  Jeff stayed at The Silverton Inn for a couple of nights until he was transported out by a Devon Doctors Land Rover on the Saturday morning to go and help them in Honiton.  He is one of many unsung heros during the unprecedented conditions. A massive thank you to all including our patients who used the surgery and emergency services during this period with sense and respect for the difficulties everyone was facing.

Bertie ‘the bridge’ – Parish Magazine article March 2018

The closure of Thorverton Bridge for two weeks in January made us all aware of just how distant patients can be if easy communication links are broken. Suddenly 20 minute visits were taking up to 90 minutes of a GP day as we made the long journey via Cowley Bridge. The District Nurses had to restructure their whole team working: dividing at 9am into two deployable units for each side of the bridge. Occasionally they arranged to rendezvous on foot in the middle of the bridge (as if in a spy thriller) to exchange dressings.

The feeling of being cut off is unsettling and this worked both ways for patients, doctors and nurses during this time. It reminded us at the surgery that this problem is a daily experience for all those patients who are housebound, no matter where they live. It highlighted the difficulties of not being able to jump in a car to carry out an errant whether it be for a pint of milk or to pick up a prescription or simply pop in to see a friend. It is essential to maximize the utility of such trips when they become so valuable. Those who are fit and mobile always have the option of going out again but also take for granted the huge social benefits that these journeys provide. We were all very happy to see the bridge reopened.

‘Bertie’ our prescription delivery service was in its element during this period. Our volunteer drivers rose to the challenge and the temporary loss of the bridge was overcome with panache. However this also reminded us once again that Bertie is a lot more than a drug delivery system. The service has now been running for 12 years and is funded by The Friends of Wyndham House. There are on average 300 patients receiving regular delivery of their medication with 1200 prescriptions being delivered every month. Jan Topham coordinates the service and is always on the look out for new volunteer drivers. If you are able to spare a morning every few weeks to help run the Bertie Service it would be an offer gratefully received not just by those housebound patients who directly benefit but by the whole community. Everyone is now in no doubt that the bridge to Thorverton is an essential part of our communication infrastructure. Likewise on a daily basis at the surgery we see communications about patients via Bertie helping doctors, nurses, reception and dispensary staff provide them more effective care and so also freeing up time for other patients as well. Good communication links are a benefit to everyone and we are in no doubt that Bertie is an invaluable bridge between the surgery and our frailer patients.

Anthony O’Brien

What money cannot buy – Parish magazine article Feb 2018

Despite the daily news reports of NHS failures at the beginning of the year the reality, certainly in the South West, is that it does a very impressive job most of the time in most of the places. Good news rarely makes the news and there are dangers of trumpeting success in such an uncontrollable environment. However we should recognize and praise our local hospitals for coping so well with the recent Flu outbreak. This is an example of forward planning, a coordinated high standard of hospital and community care together the excellence of Devon GPs. However pride comes before a fall so everyone will be quietly getting on with doing their jobs in the hope we will soon see winter pressures subsiding whilst all knowing that there is always the possibility of a sharp turn in the other direction. The balance of supply and demand is always precarious in a system that is driven with efficiency as one of its core values.

There are calls from all parts of the system for the Government to give the NHS more money. The fundamental question is what this money will be used for. Whilst more doctors and nurses are required they cannot be produced from thin air and what the NHS immediately needs, more than anything else, is carers to provide more support for patients at home. Currently the system is struggling to find these employees. One immediate option would be for the politicians to relax local budgeting rules, look at healthcare investment over 5 years or longer and hopefully enable carers to be paid at a higher rate so making the job more attractive.

Of course the most important and unsung heroes of the NHS are not the employees but the voluntary carers who work 24/7 looking after their relatives. I come across amazing care provided by families on a daily basis. It is going to be more and more essential to offer these carers on-going support. In the near future The Friends of Wyndham House will be setting up a Carers Support Group in Silverton hopefully with regular meetings at The Lamb Inn. Keep a look out for the adverts, come along if you are carer and, if not, see if you can maybe help to ensure someone who looks after their relative next door or across the road could be freed up to have a break to make the meeting. These are the people who are not employed, do not get paid, do not shout about what they do, never make the news and yet are one of the cornerstones of the whole system – they need our support and thanks. Without them the NHS would not function.

Anthony O’Brien (Wyndham House Surgery) Feb 2018

Silverton and Exe Valley Seniors

St Mary’s Church Hall Silverton

http://www.sevs.info/

Whist Drives

Alternate Monday Afternoons 2.00 – 4.30pm

Cost £2.50 includes a raffle and refreshments.

Please come along on a Monday afternoon. You will be very welcome.

Coffee Mornings

Usually on the second Tuesday of each month but Afternoon Teas are arranged in July and August.

Coffee Mornings are 10.00-11.30am and Afternoon Teas 2.30 – 4.30pm

Day trips and Holidays for 2018

Please contact Martin Clough on 01392 860971 or email martin.mcassoc@btconnect.com for more information of trips, times and dates and to register for a newsletter.

Senior Citizens Lunch Clubs in 2018

Tuesdays at the Lamb Inn, Silverton

This is a lunch club which is open to all older people at a cost of £4.50 for a delicious two course lunch and a chance to meet up with neighbours and friends.

The lunches are served at 12 noon on the following dates. To book your lunch or find out more details please phone Alan or Jayne Isaac on 01392 860272. If you should need to cancel please let the pub know before lunch on the previous day.

Tuesdays – Cost £4.50, start at 12 noon

Thursday Senior Citizens Lunches at the Lamb Inn

The Lamb Inn also offers senior citizen’s lunches in the bar every Thursday at a cost of £5.00. Please contact the pub as above for further details.

The Thorverton Arms, Thorverton

Senior Citizens Lunch Cost £5.00

These dates are on alternate Tuesdays from The Lamb Inn Lunch Club

Please book in advance with Allison Toogood at The Thorverton Arms on: 01392 860205. All meals start at 12 noon.

Should you need to cancel your lunch at any venue, please phone by 12 noon on the previous day.

The Thorverton Arms Charity Coffee Morning

On the fourth Thursday of each month from 10am -12 noon.

Lunches at The Bridge, Stoke Canon

We are able to offer home cooked lunches on Wednesdays at 12.30pm.

There will be soup in winter and a buffet in summer, with dessert and cheese and biscuits & will cost £5.00

Please book a week in advance by calling Valerie Mills on: 01392 841659

The Bridge Community Centre at Stoke Canon

Bridge Community Centre in Stoke Canon Church on Thursdays at 10.30 to 12

Tea / coffee and biscuits.

Come along and have a chat with friends in convivial surroundings.

If you have any difficulty in getting to the centre please ring 01392 860397 / 841085 and transport can be arranged.

Silverton Room 4U

Silverton Room 4U will be up and running in the New Year. An excellent start to 2018!

We already have foot care, aromatherapy and reflexology practitioners booked in to the treatment room

We hope to have a cafe open for two days a week.

We will be running a full day respite care service for people who are caring for someone with dementia. This will enable people to have time to do the things they are unable to do whilst caring 24/7 for someone with dementia.

We have three computers, they will be available for people to use or learn to use. We also have other activities planned, the dates and times will be published in the New Year when we have a firm opening date.

In the meantime, if anyone would like to make arrangements to use the respite care service, please ring Jenny Roach on 01392 861042 or email jennyroach2@aol.com.

Attached is the programme for Silverton Walk and Talk from October 2017 to March 2018.

silverton oct – mar 2018 FINAL

There is an opportunity early in the New Year for those who would like to experience the multiple health benefits of Tai Chi.  After a successful taster session regular sessions are planned everyMonday afternoon in Silverton Community Hall  – click here for details.

It is with sadness that we inform patients that Doctor Nick Keysell will be leaving us at the end of 2017 to follow a new path of helping to train the GP’s of the future. We wish him all the best in his endeavours.

At the same time we are delighted to announce that Dr Jeff Solman will be joining us at the beginning of 2018. Many will already know Dr Solman as he completed his GP training with us some time ago. We look forward to working with him.

Trench welfare – Parish Magazine article Dec 2017/Jan 2018

My son has just come back from a school visit to the First World War battlefields in Belgium. He learnt about what happened on the first Christmas Day when British and German soldiers along many parts of the battle line left their positions and entered No-mans land together. They played football, shared drinks and socialized. Following this remarkable event unfortunately they then returned to their trenches and recommenced the fighting.

Despite the disappointing ending, the story is a mark of the power and opportunities that Christmas brings. It is a time when we can all reach out, change engrained behaviours, look to foster new friendships and/or patch up older relationships where required. There is now a lot of evidence about the enormous health benefits of using coordinated social networks in communities. The knowledge that someone is there and can be approached if needed is very powerful. Our Bertie delivery service is a great link between the surgery and our less mobile patients. As well as delivering medication it also offers that regular contact, a reference point in a patient’s week when they know someone will be knocking on their door – it can be more therapeutic than the actual medication being delivered. The same can be said of good neighbours and strong communities. Knowing that help is only a knock on the door or a quick phone call away relieves a lot of otherwise very understandable anxiety for the vulnerable, the elderly and those living on their own. Often we think we know who these people might be however that is not always the case.

Social events at Christmas give us all the chance to get out of any trenches we might have found ourselves in and hopefully give a leg up to others who find it more difficult to get up and out. The Friends of Wyndham House coordinate a group of volunteers to help reach out to anyone who might benefit from a hand to reintroduce themselves into the community. We are very fortunate in having many social activities on offer in our villages from walking & talking though to knitting and quilting. If during the festive season you think that yourself, a friend or someone you reconnect with might benefit from some help to link them back into some regular social contacts then please contact the Friends via the surgery so we can pass on the details to the coordinator.

Wyndham House wishes everyone a happy, peaceful and sociable Christmas.

Anthony O’Brien, GP Wyndham House Surgery Dec 2017