Natural England

HRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are to officially open a pioneering £4 million integrated health centre in the Mid Devon town of Cullompton.

Their Royal Highnesses will visit Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health on September 12 2008.

The project is in the vanguard of modern healthcare offering NHS services alongside those provided by independent complementary practitioners.

“This is a fantastic day for the centre. We are really looking forward to the visit,” said Wendy Evans, strategic manager for College Surgery Partnership, which initiated the project.

During the visit, The Prince and The Duchess will see at first-hand the excellent work that the College Surgery Practice and Devon Primary Care Trust are doing to tackle health issues in the area.

Their Royal Highnesses will meet staff, GPs and complementary therapists, be shown the Herbal Man physic garden – a garden of healing herbs formed into the in the shape of man – and will also meet local sculptor Nicholas Dimbleby who will talk about his specially-commissioned sculpture, The Green Man.

The Prince and The Duchess will be introduced to members of the practice’s patient group who provide a range of services themselves – including a library where people can learn about both conventional and complementary approaches to healthcare.

Wendy Evans said the centre provided a “one stop shop” for patients.

“We feel it’s important patients have the choice of a variety of treatment approaches and our aim is, wherever possible, to both prevent patients becoming ill and help them to treat themselves at an early stage,” she said.

Dr Michael Dixon, a GP at College Surgery Partnership, said: “Our aim is to treat mind, body and soul – to offer good holistic personal care but in a modern context, where maintaining good health is taken as seriously as disease – and where patients and frontline clinicians lead the process.”

The centre is also participating in an innovative pilot initiative being funded by Natural England.

Ruth Tucker, a health facilitator at the centre, promotes the natural environment for therapy and treatment.

She works with patients to overcome perceived barriers to exercise by setting individual goals and signposting patients to walking schemes or other physical activity in the area, part of Natural England’s national Walking the Way to Health Initiative.

The health centre, which opened to the public for the first time earlier this year, has 19 consulting rooms, a pharmacy and a small organic fruit and vegetable garden, emphasising the importance of healthy eating. There are also plans for a health food café.

The project was led by the College Surgery Practice and was intended to demonstrate how general practice can extend its ability to treat patients and improve their health.

The surgery is based on the ground floor where a number of rooms are let to independent complementary therapists.

Independent healthcare provider Clinovia also runs “hospital at home services” from the centre, including blood transfusions.

Devon Primary Care Trust helped to fund the building of the centre and provides a range of community services with Devon County Council on the first floor to provide seamless health and social care for people in the town.

Paramedics and emergency care practitioners* from South Western Ambulance Services NHS Trust are also stationed at the centre and provide support for the surgery’s same day urgent care service.

Rebecca Harriott, deputy chief executive of Devon Primary Care Trust, said she welcomed the benefits of bringing NHS services together under one roof.

“Working together to improve health is in the vanguard of national NHS policy and we are pleased to be supporting its development here in the heart of rural Devon,” she said. “We very much hope that this new centre brings about continuing healthcare improvements in the area for many years to come.”

For more information, or media interviews, please contact Nick Pearson or Paul Hopkins on 01392 356 953.