The League of Friends
 of Fairford Hospital

League of Friends Update September 2008

Prospect Hospice. The agreement with the Prospect Hospice to provide terminal care support for patients of the Fairford and Lechlade surgeries is funded by the League of Friends at no cost to the patient or their family. The arrangement has been going for 6 months and every report indicates that it is working very well indeed and that the care provided is really needed and appreciated. Not surprisingly, the service is expensive for the League to maintain – this year it will cost £30,000. Please click here if you would like to make a donation to support this work.

State of the Art X-ray Facility at Fairford Hospital. The project to provide state of the art digital X-Ray facilities at Fairford Hospital continues to progress. The League is purchasing the actual equipment at a cost of £70,000 and the Primary Care Trust is funding and undertaking the necessary structural work. The PCT has recently decided that it should enhance the waiting area and changing facilities for the new facility. Whilst it will delay the project by 2 weeks, the League believes that the improvements will be well worth the extra wait. We still expect the new X-Ray facility to open in December and provide much needed support for the Outpatient Clinics and save local people many trips to Cirencester for an X-Ray.

Foot Care Services. The League has reached agreement with the Primary Care Trust to set up a foot care service for those who need it. The service will be funded by the League and will begin as soon as staff are recruited. Recruitment is taking much longer than we had hoped but the service will start as soon as the staff are in place. Full details will be published once it is ready to start.

Physiotherapy. Earlier this year the League has reviewed the free physiotherapy service it has provided in conjunction with the NHS and agreed that the service should continue. The League will ‘buy’ extra physio time in order to reduce the waiting times for local patients and is now hoping to negotiate a 5 year contract for the service.

Fund raising – Christmas Bazaar. The League plans to hold its Christmas Bazaar at the Hospital on the morning of Saturday 6 December. Watch for notices to confirm the date and time. Please help support the League if you can- we may not have any beds in the hospital but this year we have so far spent £53,000 providing support and services to the local community. Some of our activities may not have high visibility nor are they talked about much (eg counseling) but it is clear that the support we provide is really needed. We can only continue to do our work with the generous financial support of the community.