Address:  West Byfleet Health Centre,  Madeira Road,   West Byfleet,   KT14 6DH
Telephone:  01932 358646

Who we are

The Friends of West Byfleet Health Centre is a registered charity formed at the suggestion of the senior partners of the three practices. It is run by an independent body of Trustees to raise funds to provide enhanced patient care beyond the resources of the National Health Service.

Our charitable objective

'to make possible higher levels of care for the patients of West Byfleet Health Centre by raising funds to purchase medical equipment, services and facilities for the centre which fall outside the resources of the National Health Service'.

To do this we seek your help

Here are some of the improvements we have provided so far:

• Installation of Baby Changing Units.
• Provision of Syringe Drivers for the District Nurses to lend to terminally ill patients.
• New minor operating theatre, fitted out with bed, lamp and other equipment.
• The Busenhart Morgan-Evans Foundation has generously provided a new ultra-sound machine together with probes to allow the Health Centre to continue echo-cardiographic examinations. Further probes have also been provided for visiting consultant radiologists to carry out abdominal and pelvic examinations thus avoiding the delay and inconvenience of patient referral to St. Peter’s. The Friend’s have agreed to cover the cost of some of the visiting consultant’s fees.

How you can help

Regular Gift Aid Income is needed to enable us to meet recurring costs arising from capital expenditure and to provide improved health facilities and support not available within the scope of the NHS.

Will you please consider becoming a ‘Friend’ by supporting our charity with a donation, or better still, regular payments by Banker’s Order. Any sum will be gratefully received. Please help.

To become a Friend of West Byfleet Health Centre or to make a donation, you can download our form, fill it in and send it to the address specified on the form.

You can ask at the Centre for a leaflet containing all the above information about the Friends; alternatively, you can download our leaflet (in PDF format).

Implications for the Friends of Proposed Changes to the NHS

A message from the Trustees

The purpose of The Friends of West Byfleet Health Centre is, in the words of our mission statement, “to make possible higher levels of care for the patients of West Byfleet Health Centre by raising funds to purchase medical equipment, services and facilities for the centre which fall outside the resources of the National Health Service”.

The government’s proposed changes to NHS funding and structure, if implemented, will lead to some changes at a local level which may affect the way in which some equipment purchased by the Friends is used.  In particular, the West Byfleet practices will become part of a wider consortium of practices covering the Woking area, and it is likely that more medical services will be provided through community clinics open to patients of all practices in the consortium. This means that, if the West Byfleet practices run such a wider community clinic, any equipment donated by the Friends which is used in that clinic would benefit a number of patients over and above those of the Health Centre.

The trustees have considered what these proposed changes might mean for the work of the Friends, and have concluded that they should not affect the way in which the charity operates. It would be open to us to restrict the use to which our donations are put, so that only patients of the health centre can benefit. However, the charity’s Memorandum of Association makes clear that, while the primary purpose is “to relieve sickness amongst the patients of West Byfleet Health Centre”, this does not limit the wider purpose “to relieve sickness generally”. Moreover, even if a clinic is not exclusively for the benefit of West Byfleet Health Centre patients, it is still a clear benefit to them (indeed we understand that West Byfleet Health Centre patients will have priority at any community clinic run by the West Byfleet practices). We are therefore satisfied that it will be a proper use of the charity’s funds to donate equipment to the Health Centre which might be used in any community clinics run by the West Byfleet practices.

We should make clear that the proposed community clinics will be an extra service, offering patients a local alternative to a hospital visit for certain treatments, and will not replace the normal surgeries and other activities at the Health Centre, which we expect to continue to be the primary recipients of equipment donated by the Friends. However, we have set out the position so that our supporters are aware of the potential for their donations to be used to support the extended services.

EQUIPMENT PURCHASED FROM DONATIONS TO FRIENDS