As the start of the summer approaches, we have been reviewing our clinic to see what changes we can make to improve our service. In collaboration with the Wester Hailes Medical Practice we’ve been discussing some herbal products we could sell to give local people more options when accessing the GP. For example we routinely prescribe a pain-relieving cream to our patients, but if we created this to buy over the reception then even patients outwith the herbal clinic would be able to choose to use it without an appointment. This gives local people and the GPs more options. We’re excited to develop this range and get this off the ground.
Outside the building, Rhona one of our co-op members has been busy working in the Healthy Living Centre’s garden. Previously this garden has been used for growing some vegetables for the cafe, and has also laid dormant for a few years. This year we’ve taken it on as a medicinal garden and its looking really vibrant at the moment – full of herbs like Plantain, St John’s Wort, Valerian, Echinacea, Pasque Flower, Rhodiola, Mint, Lemonbalm, Goldenseal, Black Cohosh and others. Some of these such as Pasque Flower, Goldenseal and Black Cohosh are endangered species so we are selecting to grow them to make sure our use of them can be sustainable over the long term.
