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Teddington Memorial Hospital meetings

EventsAfter a very successful recent meeting with local General Practitioners and members of the League of Friends where over 350 people attended, additional meetings and feedback sessions have been arranged to discuss the future of Teddington Memorial Hospital.

One possible future for the hospital involves a Social Enterprise ownership model where the development of services would be decided locally via partnerships with the community and the health and social care services – helping to secure its future as a local GP and community hospital. You can find out about how the investigation into this and other plans are progressing at several up-and-coming dates.

There are two January ‘Drop-In’ dates – informal meetings at Teddington Baptist Church Hall on Monday 16th January. This will be split into two sessions – parents with young families 11am-2pm to discuss services for children at the hospital (any suggestions will be welcome). Then 7:30-9pm for any member of the community to talk about any additional services, clinics etc. If you are short on time you can drop in for a brief spell as these will be informal in nature.

Following on from these sessions a public meeting will be held on February 2nd at the same venue 7-9pm where a presentation on work and progress so far will be made. Opportunities for feedback will also be available – TMH is the community’s hospital and the League of Friends want your involvement.

Although strong assurances have been recently made by NHS bosses that its future more secure than it has ever been (particularly with governments plans to move more patients to hospitals in their communities), the main concern still remains that the proposed creation of a Foundation Trust which may be at risk of a future merger. If you cannot attend any of the meetings you can show your support by adding your name to the online petition.

Recently a group of artists lent their work to the hospital for an exhibition so that patients and staff could enjoy them on site. Richmond Arts Service transported 30 paintings, graphic designs and old photographs (most of local scenes) to the hospital for this special exhibition.

Studies have shown that showing works of art in hospitals can reduce anxiety, stress and depression for patients, as well as staff and visitors! The hospital has run similar schemes involving voluntary visitors to chat to patients and well-behaved bed-side pet visits.

The League of Friends of Teddington Memorial Hospital have a proud record of voluntary service to the hospital and have raised several million pounds since its inception to help improve facilities and equipment.

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