100 signatures reached
To: The NHS
Save our Local Clinic
Reinstate our local clinic.
Why is this important?
We have a local clinic which used to be used for all sorts of things such as physiotherapy, baby clinic, many other uses but most importantly as a warfarin clinic. Warfarin patients are overwhelmingly at the older end of the spectrum and can find it more difficult to get about. The new arrangement is in the next village, Kippax, has insufficient parking and can only be accessed by bus for some people. The excuse is that our building is unfit for purpose (it has been neglected for years but is still sound) and necessitates additional travel by the professionals.
We started the campaign for Norma & Joyce.
Norma is 90, 91 in December a very independent lady who doesn't like to ask for help. Her husband Charlie 88 was starting with dementia had a fall in October last year & fractured his hip. They will have been married 70 years in December & for the first time in 69 years it meant they were apart for over five weeks whilst he was in hospital & rehabilitation.
Up until recently Norma was attending the warfarin clinic every two weeks sometimes weekly.
With Charlie having dementia Norma can't be trailing to Kippax on the bus risking being away from home for long periods of time. When she attended the warfarin clinic at Garforth she would get the bus to Main Street then walk to the Clinic, she was in & out within 10 minutes.
Two friends now take it in turns to take her to Kippax although Norma wouldn't ask. Friends have to make sure they ask Norma when her appointments are so she isn't away from home too long.
Joyce unfortunately was taken off her warfarin & had massive stroke & died but when she was attending Garforth clinic she could make her own way there. When the warfarin clinic moved to Kippax Joyce became stressed & her levels became erratic & difficult to control. Her daughter used to have to take time off work to take her or if she wasn't able to our Neighbourhood Elders' Team would arrange for transport.
Elderly people shouldn't have to be made to feel the way Joyce was made to feel.
The NHS claims to want to keep people in their own homes & as independent as possible yet is taking away one of the major means for them remaining independent. Having a clinic in Garforth meant elderly & disabled people could be independent by attending under their own steam.
Many could go on scooters or use walkers & take a steady walk, they can't walk to Kippax.
Another lady has epilepsy and attended Garforth Clinic for physiotherapy & in the past counselling. Many people in Garforth know her & know if she has a seizure she will come round & be fine but, when she's out of the area, ambulances have been called & she's ended up being taken to A & E when there's no need.
She wasn't even offered Kippax when she was referred for her most recent physiotherapy yet we had been told we could access the same services as Garforth Clinic had offered. They offered her Meanwood, Middleton, Pudsey, Whetherby & Wharfedale, right across the other side of Leeds, a large, busy city.
We've had people attending Kippax who've been turned away as they cannot cope with the number of patients.
One patient attended physiotherapy, checked in with the receptionist half an hour prior to her appointment, waited over an hour, then was told the physiotherapist wasn't there.
These are only a small sample of the disruption, stress and inconvenience caused by this ill thought out decision. We have fought it but feel powerless in the face of such a huge organisation making a corporate decision with finance seeming to be the driving factor, not the wellbeing of the users of the service.
We started the campaign for Norma & Joyce.
Norma is 90, 91 in December a very independent lady who doesn't like to ask for help. Her husband Charlie 88 was starting with dementia had a fall in October last year & fractured his hip. They will have been married 70 years in December & for the first time in 69 years it meant they were apart for over five weeks whilst he was in hospital & rehabilitation.
Up until recently Norma was attending the warfarin clinic every two weeks sometimes weekly.
With Charlie having dementia Norma can't be trailing to Kippax on the bus risking being away from home for long periods of time. When she attended the warfarin clinic at Garforth she would get the bus to Main Street then walk to the Clinic, she was in & out within 10 minutes.
Two friends now take it in turns to take her to Kippax although Norma wouldn't ask. Friends have to make sure they ask Norma when her appointments are so she isn't away from home too long.
Joyce unfortunately was taken off her warfarin & had massive stroke & died but when she was attending Garforth clinic she could make her own way there. When the warfarin clinic moved to Kippax Joyce became stressed & her levels became erratic & difficult to control. Her daughter used to have to take time off work to take her or if she wasn't able to our Neighbourhood Elders' Team would arrange for transport.
Elderly people shouldn't have to be made to feel the way Joyce was made to feel.
The NHS claims to want to keep people in their own homes & as independent as possible yet is taking away one of the major means for them remaining independent. Having a clinic in Garforth meant elderly & disabled people could be independent by attending under their own steam.
Many could go on scooters or use walkers & take a steady walk, they can't walk to Kippax.
Another lady has epilepsy and attended Garforth Clinic for physiotherapy & in the past counselling. Many people in Garforth know her & know if she has a seizure she will come round & be fine but, when she's out of the area, ambulances have been called & she's ended up being taken to A & E when there's no need.
She wasn't even offered Kippax when she was referred for her most recent physiotherapy yet we had been told we could access the same services as Garforth Clinic had offered. They offered her Meanwood, Middleton, Pudsey, Whetherby & Wharfedale, right across the other side of Leeds, a large, busy city.
We've had people attending Kippax who've been turned away as they cannot cope with the number of patients.
One patient attended physiotherapy, checked in with the receptionist half an hour prior to her appointment, waited over an hour, then was told the physiotherapist wasn't there.
These are only a small sample of the disruption, stress and inconvenience caused by this ill thought out decision. We have fought it but feel powerless in the face of such a huge organisation making a corporate decision with finance seeming to be the driving factor, not the wellbeing of the users of the service.
