Since June the Friends of Savernake Hospital and the Community (the Friends) have supported a number of grant applications from Kennet and Avon Medical Partnership (the merger of Marlborough Medical Practice and Pewsey Surgery).
In late June the Friends approved a grant of just over £1,360 for the purchase of a new INR machine. INR machines are used for patients on anti-coagulation therapy. There are many patients of the Kennet and Avon Medical Partnership (KAMP) that benefit from regular INR testing to verify the correct dosage of warfarin they should be receiving.
The Friends have also covered the purchase of a refurbished ECG machine costing over £600, as well as a new 3-section electric couch costing £718 for patients requiring leg ulcer dressings.
A further £3,000 has been provided by the Friends to assist with other costs in improving and sustaining primary care in the KAMP practice area. One of those costs has been the £18,000 renewal and improvement of the practice communication system with a digital system for which KAMP had already raised £12,000 before the Friends provided their £3,000 grant.
KAMP currently service 18,000 patients, and the upgraded telephone system is regarded as highly important for patients. The fully digitised telephone system further joins Marlborough and Pewsey surgeries together and provides a more patient-friendly experience when patients telephone KAMP.
In May 2017, Dr Anna Collins of KAMP attended the Friends’ AGM and explained the increasing stresses put on medical practices nationally. She described the steps taken by the Marlborough and Pewsey surgeries – including merger – to implement measures identified at a national level as being necessary to ensure GP practices remained sustainable.
Dr Collins explained that merger had not been an easy task, and indeed there had been many meetings. However, from the GPs’ perspective they now had the benefit of 10 doctors across two sites, together with experienced locums. Sharing urgent work meant being able to free up routine appointments. Also, advanced nurse practitioners had started unaccompanied visits, again freeing up GPs further.
Dr Collins conceded that some patients had had to choose whether timing or location of appointments was more important. However, one advantage of the merger was that Pewsey surgery was now opening earlier two mornings each week.
More generally, as well as greater efficiencies giving the doctors some breathing space and support from a wider cohort of colleagues, the arrangements were helping to protect and preserve primary care in rural communities services by Marlborough and Pewsey.
