Marjon to deliver major health clinics across the South West

Released: 24.05.18

Plymouth Marjon University have been awarded £159,000 over three years from Livewell South West to deliver Wellness Leg Ulcer Clinics throughout Devon and Cornwall. This was achieved through the hard work of Associate Professor, Dr Saul Bloxham and recent Sports Therapy graduate, Sam Vaughan. Together with their teams, they ran a year long pilot of the Wellness Clinics, designed to promote healing and blood flow through nutrition, mindfulness and lifestyle guidance which saw an 80% increase in healing rates.

Saul told us that, "This award is a fantastic achievement for all the hardworking staff and students at both the university and Livewell South West. Our pilot year was incredibly successful, demonstrating an 80% increase in healing rates for patients and with this award, we can continue to deliver our programme for a further three years for the benefit of thousands of patients in the region."

Sam, who became involved with the clinics during his final year placement continues, "Not only do the clinics treat our patients but they help to prevent relapse. We saw an incredibly high number of commitment to the classes with patients continually returning to the clinics even after they were healed! It was a social occasion for some patients."

The clinics will be treating 1200 patients across the South West and, if successful, they have the opportunity to extend their contract after the three-year grant. Sam and Saul's work has also been nominated for an HSJ (Health Service Journal) award and they will be presenting their research findings at the International Society for Physical Activity and Health Congress (ISPAH) in London during October.