Annual review 2006 - The Prince of Wales

HEALTH
BRISTOL’S WELLSPRING HEALTHY
LIVING CENTRE
Every two years, The Prince of Wales’s
Foundation for Integrated Health makes awards
to organisations delivering integrated health
services that meet the needs of their local
community. In January 2006, its Award for
Good Practice went to The Wellspring Healthy
Living Centre in Bristol.
The inner city health centre was designed and
planned by local residents who had called for
a more holistic approach to healthcare that
took into consideration the specifi c local health
demands of the community. Home to many of
the area’s existing services – including GPs and
nurses, a pharmacy, a podiatrist, and alcohol
and drugs support services – the centre offers
traditional healthcare as well as art and craft
classes, massage, acupuncture, homeopathy,
shiatsu and aromatherapy.
Sian Delahaye from Community at Heart, the
project which funded the Wellspring Centre,
said she was delighted that The Prince had
visited the centre to present the award, which
will bring a grant of £2,500 for the creation
of an Older Person’s Project. She said: “It is
brilliant that he’s come here. This area of the
city has been neglected for so long that it is
fantastic that it is getting recognition for the
right reasons.”
The Prince of Wales has long been involved with a
wide variety of healthcare organisations which he helps
with personal support, funding and regular visits to
hospitals and hospices. He has also long advocated an
integrated approach to healthcare. This means placing
an emphasis on prevention and on tackling the social and
environmental causes of ill-health, as well as using proven
complementary therapies alongside conventional medicine.
ABOVE
The Duchess meets fundraiser Jean
Bishop during a visit to the Healthy
Living Centre run by Age Concern Hull.
Courtesy of Robin Nunn.
In May 2005, His Royal Highness took the opportunity to highlight the benefi ts
of integrated health when he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal
Society of Medicine in recognition of his support for all aspects of healthcare.
In a speech at the presentation of his Fellowship, His Royal Highness said
that the time was right for a shift in the way people viewed healthcare
towards a more integrated approach. In October 2005, a report into the
economic case for integrated healthcare commissioned by The Prince
concluded that greater use of complementary therapies could help to tackle
effectiveness gaps in conventional healthcare. The report was discussed
by general practitioners later in the same month at the inaugural conference
in London of GP Associates, a new network for doctors and other
conventional healthcare practitioners who support an integrated approach.
The network was set up by The Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated
Health, a charity which promotes and supports the provision of integrated
healthcare throughout the UK and encourages better research into,
and regulation of, complementary health practices.
24 | ANNUAL REVIEW 2006