SCA Group

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."

A pioneering service providing much-needed NHS dentistry to 47,000 patients in Hampshire has a new director.

Samantha Smith (pictured right) has been appointed Director of Dentistry at Trafalgar Dental Services, which has clinics at Holbury in the New Forest, Gosport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Trafalgar 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 dental services for the NHS.  As a not-for-profit organisation, it supplements its income by offering dentistry to private patients as well.

Trafalgar is part of SCA Group, a social enterprise health and social care provider that aims to deliver high quality services to local communities.  As a social enterprise, SCA reinvests all its surpluses into improving services for clients.

Samantha, who lives in New Milton, said she was delighted to take up her new appointment at such an exciting time for Trafalgar Dentistry.

"Trafalgar Dentistry is going from strength to strength and we have a new purpose-built laboratory servicing our practices.  We always aim to provide high standards of clinical governance and staff training and we now have a new specialist Dental Board to oversee our work," she said.

"Our aim is to meet all our targets and to provide the best possible service for all our patients.  We also hope to be able to share our expertise with other providers around the country so that more patients can have access to NHS dentistry through the social enterprise route.

"All of our practices have now passed their three-yearly PCT inspection, apart from one that has not yet been open for three years, so we are very pleased to be given this recognition and endorsement.

"The next stage of our development will be to work towards being accepted on to the British Dental Association Best Practice Scheme. This is a quality assurance process which recognises outstanding practices."

Trafalgar employs 14 dentists, 14 dental nurses, 11 receptionists, five practice managers, one dental services manager and one clinical governance officer, as well as a director, two laboratory technicians and one laboratory assistant.