Love Melksham column

Spa Medical Centre

This week my celebration of Melksham comes from the smart, clean waiting room of Spa Medical Centre.

Circumstances this week have meant that I needed a top-up of a particular prescription, which has brought me back, through the nourishing green canopy of trees off Snowberry Lane, to the brilliant centre of health and wellness that is Spa Medical Centre.

Every time I’m here, I am filled with gratitude and awe that there is a building in Melksham full of equipment, medicine and skilful professionals who work quietly and patiently to address every medical misadventure they are presented with.

I am one of those people who don’t want to make a fuss, to take up people’s time or be a drain on the NHS, so I often walk out of the surgery in surprised and grateful tears, reminded that nurses, doctors and pharmacists all think my health and wellbeing is worth their time, their gentle advice and their meticulously prescribed and checked packets of pills.

Accessing support is so easy, with the online e-consult service. You just type in your symptoms, upload photos, if relevant, of the rash, bruise or blemish of concern and wait for a call. Usually, when I submit one of these, the call from a helpful receptionist comes within minutes, the appointment with a doctor at the surgery is scheduled for later that day and after a brief knowledgeable chat, perhaps the familiar Velcro squeeze of a blood pressure test, the cold metallic contact of the stethoscope and some reassuring smiles from the doctor, I walk home gratefully clutching a paper bag of suitably soothing pharmaceutical solutions.

As well as dealing with ailments, the surgery also offers all the preventative screenings, jabs, tests and checks (which they will remind you of several times until you show up), plus holiday vaccinations, physiotherapy, counselling and extra support for ex-forces patients.

Our excellent NHS gives us two GP practices in Melksham, with Giffords Surgery on Spa Road, staffed with an equally diligent and attentive team, and both stocked with all the potions, pills and procedures to protect our health and give us another reason to love Melksham.

Miriam Zaccarelli