Nursing staff are taking a wound clinic into the community as part of a new Leg Club in the Rhondda.
The Lindsay Leg Club Foundation supports leg clubs around the UK with the aim of providing community-based treatment, and care for people of all age groups who suffer with leg-related problems.
The first leg club in the Cwm Taf University Health Board area has been started in Waun Wen Community Centre, Trebanog, as a prime example of a community initiative led by volunteers that helps people to stay well and support each other.
Instead of travelling to a hospital clinic for an appointment to have wounds cleaned and dressed, members of the club are able to go along to the community centre every Wednesday morning.
Nurses are on hand to provide treatment and advice but the club is run by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who organise fundraising events to pay for the room, refreshments and any other equipment that may be required.
Medical staff work to best-practice guidelines to provide the high standard of care in a social and friendly setting.
No appointments are required and the members can drop in to chat over a cup of tea or coffee while awaiting their treatment.
The initiative is part of the Cwm Taf #YourLocalTeam campaign to highlight the range of services now available in the community.
Leg Club member Margaret Davies said:
“I think it’s lovely. I think the community is lovely. I think the volunteers are marvellous, so welcoming, and the staff are lovely. I can’t speak too highly about them.”
Her daughter Cheryl Howells said: “Down here it’s like a family. You come in here, there’s so many that’s welcoming. You’re well seen to, you have a nice cuppa while you’re waiting. Everything about it is just lovely here.”
Duncan Randall, another club member, added: “It’s really informal. You can come along any time between 9.30 and 12.30. There’s no set time, so no rush to get to an appointment. And you can have a good chat and a good cup of tea.”
The chair of the voluntary committee Coun. Margaret Tegg said: “The club is run on a voluntary basis and we have got a committee.
“The aim is to make this more of a social event instead of a clinical event, bringing people into the community with the aim of combating, in some cases, loneliness or isolation. It’s going pretty well and numbers are growing and as chair I am proud to be involved in it.”
Melissa Duffy, Wound Clinic Team Leader, said: “The Leg Club is currently in Waun Wen Community Centre and is open to members from 9.30 until 12.30 every Wednesday morning. Anyone with lower limb problems is able to attend whether that’s for treatment or advice.”
Rhondda GP David Miller, locality clinical director, said: “I am tremendously grateful to the volunteers without whose contribution there would not be a leg club.”
The aim is to open more leg clubs across Cwm Taf over the next few years, he said.
The Leg Club would welcome new volunteers with enthusiasm and energy to join them in helping to create a welcoming atmosphere.
Anyone interested in volunteering at the Waun Wen Lindsay Leg Club, please contact Caitlin Jacob, Primary Care Development Manager at [email protected]
More information on Lindsay’s Leg Clubs can be found at www.legclub.org
