Registered Charity No. 1083476
In 1999 a group of community minded patients got together to set up ‘The Friends of St Chad’s and Chilcompton Surgery’ to form a Patient Participation Group (PPG), but also with the intention of raising money to purchase equipment & other items for the Surgeries for which NHS funding was not currently available.
A PPG is a group of patients, carers and GP practice staff who meet to discuss practice issues and patient experience to improve the service. The purpose of a PPG is to give patients and practice staff a forum in which to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest.
In 2024 the Practice merged with Somerton House Surgery to become, Somer Valley Medical Group, and it made sense for the patient groups from both surgeries to merge, which happened a little later in the year.
The Friends normally meet at St. Chad’s, in the late afternoon, 5/ 6 times a year.
Annual general meetings (AGMs) are in September and are advertised in local press.
Health Forums
The Friends have organised a variety of talks by Consultants and Health Professionals. These are all held locally and admission is free and open to any member of the public – not just our own patients. Events are advertised in the waiting rooms of all 3 surgeries and in the local press. Subjects covered recently have included: Bowel Cancer, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Mental Health, Hip & Knee Surgery, Blood Pressure, Pelvic Physiotherapy and Osteoporosis.
Fund Raising
There is a 200 Club with monthly draws. The names of winners are posted in the waiting rooms, with the patients consent. The cost is £12 per year. Membership forms are available in dispensers at all surgeries. We hold a Christmas Raffle, supported by local traders, which also furthers our objectives.
We take stalls at local events in our area, and sell bric-a-brac to raise funds. In most years we receive unsolicited, but very welcome, donations and bequests.
In recent years, we have raised about £3/4,000 each year, although the months of the pandemic were extremely difficult. All money raised goes to provide items for the benefit of the registered patients. All funds are raised locally.
Purchases
Since we started more than fifty purchases have been made ranging in cost from around £100 to over £2000 each and around £50,000 has been spent in total. Recent examples include:
| 2022 | Doppler | £3,139 |
| 2023 | Refitting of Chilcompton Phlebotomy room (In partnership with the R&MSN Lions Club) | £382 |
| Manual Doppler | £354 | |
| Bedfont No Breath Feno Monitor (asthma) | £1,850 | |
| Vein scanner – mobile | £1,030 | |
| New waiting room screen – St Chads (50%) | £596 | |
| Cycle stand – Chilcompton | £105 | |
| 2 x Paediatric Oximeters | £530 | |
| 3 x Treatment couches | £2,583 | |
| 2024 | Philips Heart Start HS1/On-site Defibrillator | £1,388 |
| Dermatascope | £959 |
Contacting us:
✔ Drop a note into any of our surgeries addressed to ‘The Friends’
✔ We regularly post 200 Club draws on Facebook pages of the MSN & Chilcompton groups – you can respond to those.
✔ If it is more urgent, please ask the surgery for the Chair’s phone number.
