It has a busy first three months of 2017 for the Friends of Savernake Hospital in terms of grant giving. Healthcare related grants provided by the Friends to Savernake Hospital and the local community have included the following.
Great Bedwyn Surgery – blood pressure and measuring station
The new year started with a grant of £1,500 to Great Bedwyn Surgery to assist with the purchase of a blood pressure and weight measuring station. The equipment is aimed at helping to improve the health and wellbeing of patients by encouraging more regular checking of blood pressure and weight.
Marlborough Medical Practice – exit door sensor
A grant of £430 has been provided by the Friends to Marlborough Medical Practice to enable the surgery to install an infrared sensor for patients leaving the waiting room area so that the internal doors will open automatically. This will greatly assist frail, immobile and wheelchair-bound patients as well as those with prams and buggies.
East Kennet GP Surgeries – replacement of essential equipment for the community nurses
In March the Friends provided a grant to the East Kennet GP Surgeries for the urgent purchase of two Coaguchek machines after existing equipment broke and could not be repaired. This equipment – which is used to measure the clotting rate of patients’ blood through a simple finger prick test – will be used daily by the community nurses and will benefit housebound patients throughout the East Kennet area, covering Pewsey, Marlborough, Great Bedwyn, Burbage and Ramsbury.
Burbage Surgery – pledge of £2000
The Friends have also pledged £2000 towards the costs of replacing the current external and internal doors at Burbage surgery with electric sliding doors. The money will be given by the Friends once the remaining amount needed to cover the replacement costs has been raised by the surgery.
Arts Together – Wellbeing Service
The Friends have agreed to a grant of £4250 for Arts Together’s Wellbeing Service in Marlborough and Pewsey.
Since 2000 Arts Together has worked with very frail, isolated older people to counteract the damaging effects of social isolation and extreme loneliness. The aim of Arts Together is to improve members’ health and wellbeing using a variety of professional art projects to provide that all-important stimulation and social interaction.
The Arts Together Wellbeing Service ensures that all members, whatever their disability are able to attend their groups, participate fully in activities and are able to access additional health or social care support if the need arises.
“We provide fully accessible, safe venues, paid carers to help with personal needs, free door to door escorted transport …. (provided by local community transport groups), reminder calls for members with impaired memory, local volunteers and artists …. and a freshly prepared two-course lunch which for many is the only meal eaten in company all week. As very few members have social workers these days, we also help them access health or social support when they need it. In the past, members would stop attending after crises such as hospitalisation, which sapped their confidence. We now stay in touch, refer them to the help they may need and encourage them to return when they feel able.” (Karolyne Fudge-Malik, manager, Arts Together).
St Mary’s Primary School (Marlborough) – sensory equipment
The Friends have also agreed to provide a grant of £4000 to assist with the purchase of equipment for a sensory room for the St Mary’s Primary School Resource Base in its new building. The Resource Bases house up to twenty children up to Year 6 who have a range of Special Educational and Complex Needs. The items to be purchased with the grant will support the mental and physical health of the children, and enhance and encourage the children’s social and communication abilities. They will also assist the teaching staff to deliver the Care Plans suggested by other professionals such as occupational therapists, physiotherapist, the Physical and Sensory Impairment Team, the Social Communication Team, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.
As explained by the school, “The children in the Resource Base classrooms rarely … experience things as we do, due to a range of conditions, such as stress, anxiety, limitation in movement, hearing, behavioural difficulties, cognitive abilities and other barriers to learning. Sensory equipment will give the opportunity to “bridge” these barriers, creating a relaxing and calming environment which will enhance their mental and physical health”.
Head teacher Anne Schwodler, writing to thank the Friends, stated that “the Resource Base staff are very excited and are busy making plans for what will be a fantastic resource for our very needy children”.
A cheque will be handed over to St Mary’s at our AGM on 10 May (see below).
Savernake Hospital Eye Clinic
The eye clinic at Savernake Hospital is now the proud owner of an OCT machine.
Earlier this month, after discussions with Savernake Hospital’s eye consultant Robin Finlay, the Friends purchased a pre-owned – but fully working – OCT machine for £4,900 plus costs as a gift to Savernake Hospital.
An Optical Coherence Tomography – or OCT – machine is an advance piece of technology used for retinal imagery and analysis. It provides highly detailed images of the retina and optic nerve. Brand new, such machines can cost in the region of £50,000.
The machine is seen as securing the ongoing viability of the Savernake Hospital eye clinic which runs once a week.
Great Western Hospital, Swindon has confirmed that it will take responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the machine.
Julian Phillips (Head of Service Head & Neck, Oral, ENT, Ophthalmology and Community Dentistry, GWH) said of the Friends:
“We are all thrilled that your generosity has enabled the Ophthalmology clinic at Savernake Hospital to be fully utilised.
“Thank you very much once again … for making this happen. You should both [Robin Finlay and the Friends] be very proud of your decisiveness, dedication and commitment.”
Special thanks must also go to the auctioneers, Hilditch Group Ltd, who generously reimbursed the Friends the amount of the buyer’s premium (£980 plus VAT). The reimbursed amount will, of course, be applied by the Friends to new grants, as and when they arise.
