The Big Saltash Health Conversation

A Community Stakeholder Event was held recently at the China Fleet, hosted by Saltash Health Centre.

Neil Parson, Strategic Business Manager of the Health Centre explained, ‘Times are changing, and so is healthcare in Saltash. It’s time for us to get together as a community to learn what the challenges are and share ideas on how we can work together as community to be healthy and happy in the future - and build a local wellbeing plan!’

The meeting was facilitated by Neil and Dawn Bebe, Strategic Comms Director of Creative England. Dawn lent her expertise free of charge in partnership with the local GP team (also there on their day off) as she felt the event was pioneering a way forward to reimagine a local healthcare system that could rise above modern challenges that threaten to overwhelm it.

Saltash Health Centre has 13,000 patients and a team of just four GPs. There are around 1200 appointments each week. This is now the norm in General Practice. One in Five GPS nationally are approaching retirement and there is a lack of recruitment and retention causing or because of burn out and overwork.

The number of patients with two or more long term conditions is increasing, as is the amount of people living into their 90s. In East Cornwall rates of high blood pressure, cancer, and type two diabetes are all increasing. Obesity in children is higher than average and young people with mental ill health or suspected autism are having to wait well over six months to be seen by services.

However, as Dr Birte Morris stated,

Saltash has a great community spirit of cooperation and resilience which could positively influence the state of health in our town if we considered how we could connect together.

Social Prescribing is already in place in both surgeries in Saltash, run by organisations like Age Concern and Pluss. It is proving that a patient can find a great deal of relief from symptons through non medical treatments, as they are given time to discuss their conditions and helped to access other groups of people that can support them rather than just relying on the GP and hospital care.

Saltash Breathers, a self help group for those suffering from chronic lung conditions is an excellent example. And there are lots of other ways in which becoming more connected to local activity can seriously improve our health.

Saltash Health Centre is taking some bold steps into exploring how a Health Service that includes the lived experience and support of individuals, our friends and communities as the first port of call for our care, backed up by General Practice and the wide body of caring professionals in the community could deliver a much better cushion to support us when we become vulnerable.

We will all need to depend on others one day…. Now’s the time to create the kind of community we will need for tomorrow.

The Big Saltash Health Conversation will continue.