The community web site for
Glossop
in the High Peak
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The community web site for
Glossop
in the High Peak
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Health and wealth checks in Glossop surgeries A scheme to give patients more advice about benefits, debt, housing, employment and other issues in Hadfield GP surgeries has proven to be highly popular amongst patients. As a result the project, a joint venture between Tameside & Glossop PCT, Derbyshire County Council, and the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), may now be extended to other surgeries in the Glossop area. The project sees CAB advisors based within surgeries, advising patients and their families about what benefits they are entitled to where appropriate. Financial insecurity affects one family in three, and studies repeatedly show the link between this insecurity and ill health. Furthermore, families facing financial hardship have often presented their financial difficulties to GPs who are not qualified to deal with them. Bringing CAB advisors into a GP surgery environment means giving families in potential difficulty support at a time when they are most accessible to receiving it, claiming benefits of which they may otherwise have been unaware. An earlier pilot scheme in Derbyshire saw the pilot scheme costing £100,00 a year, yet leading to over £1,000,000 in additional benefits going to families that needed it. This in turn will have a highly positive impact on public health in the area. Plans are now in place to extend the scheme from the current surgeries in Hadfield. The CAB is looking for a GP surgery in Glossopdale to partner this development. Dr Lindsay Palmer of Lambgates Surgery in Hadfield said: "This scheme has proven to be invaluable for patients at the surgery. A GP surgery is an environment that people trust, and as such is an ideal place for people to find out about the benefits they need." Steve Minter, district manager of High Peak CAB said: "High Peak CAB has a long history of providing advice in GP surgeries. Everyone is registered with a GP. This unique service gives patients access to free, high quality advice on their doorstep." Derbyshire County Councillor Dave Wilcox welcomed the PCT's forward looking approach and said: "When the county council began funding some initial experiments in my electoral division I was confident that we would see positive results." "We know that some people are reluctant to claim their welfare entitlements, but if a GP is involved they are much more comfortable. I am pleased that something that was previously only available in Hadfield and Gamesley can now be extended to the whole of Glossopdale. A few extra pounds in people's pockets can make a huge difference to their wellbeing." |
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