SCA Group

Patients may have been surprised to find the Tooth Fairy and other colourful characters waiting to treat them at the Trafalgar dental clinics in Hampshire this month.

But it was all in a good cause.  Dental nurses, receptionists and dentists at Trafalgar's not-for-profit clinics in the New Forest, Southampton, Gosport and Portsmouth dressed up for a day to raise money for new equipment for people with dementia.

All five Trafalgar clinics in Hampshire, which offer NHS dental care on behalf of local PCTs, held a ‘name the teddy bear' competition and together raised £431.

The money will go towards activity and sports equipment for dementia patients visiting the Fenwick2 Health and Well-being Centre in Lyndhurst.

Fenwick2 runs a pioneering early dementia assessment service, where patients and their carers can attend for 12 weeks to obtain support from care services, community nurses, voluntary groups and mental health services for their condition.

"We got some funny looks from patients, but it was good fun and well worth it for the amount of money we raised," said Samantha Smith, Head of Trafalgar Dentistry. 

Trafalgar provides NHS dentistry for 47,000 patients in Hampshire. It set a national trend by offering much-needed NHS dentistry in areas where no NHS dentists were available or where there were long waiting lists.

It is contracted by NHS Hampshire and Portsmouth and Southampton PCTs to provide NHS dental services and supplements its income by offering dentistry to private patients as well. 

Both Trafalgar and Fenwick2 are run by social enterprise health and social care provider SCA Group, based in Southampton, which reinvests any surpluses it makes into improving services for the community.
                                                                                                          

An exercise scheme for people recovering from heart disease and ill health is going from strength to strength.

The Healthy Horizons programme at Fenwick2 Health and Wellbeing Centre in Lyndhurst has been so successful that many people are staying on once the programme has been completed.

The New Forest District Council Scheme runs for 20 weeks at a time for people referred by their GP. It allows people with medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, chest complaints, heart problems, depression, stress or those recovering from operations to exercise in the Fenwick2 gym at a subsidised cost.

NFDC gym instructor, Lottie Kirwin, puts the users through their paces on the cardiovascular equipment and supervises floor exercises to build up fitness, mobility and a return to better health. The scheme is also available at NFDC's leisure centres.

Peter Thomas, from Woodlands, said Healthy Horizons has helped him recover from a triple heart bypass operation. "The exercise is supervised so it gives you the confidence to find out what you can manage. It has enabled me to tackle things like gardening and DIY that I otherwise might not have been able to do. It has been very worthwhile," he said.

Joan Williams, from Lyndhurst, has chest problems. "I've carried on with the class because it has really helped my breathing and joint problems. Now I can go out cycling and walking in the Forest - it has been excellent."

Lottie said the classes can be reassuring as well as of benefit to health.   "Once you've had a heart attack or a health problem you are scared of having another one and afraid of what exercise might do. You can sometimes become more introverted as a result. Supervised exercise sessions with Healthy Horizons give people the confidence to keep up their fitness levels, improve their sense of well-being and to be more outgoing."