The Talk Wellbeing Hub in Maylord Orchards, Hereford has closed, with effect from Friday 6 December. However, outreach activities across Herefordshire will remain as pop-up clinics will continue to be offered around the county.

The Talk Wellbeing Service was first launched in June 2023 as an outreach prevention programme to support good health and wellbeing in communities across the county. 

The Talk Wellbeing Hub at Maylord Orchards in Hereford was added in February 2024 as a pilot to test the concept of ‘Health on the High Street’. It aimed to understand if the flexibility of an easily accessible, drop-in service would remove some of the barriers people experience in accessing healthcare. 

Since February, a range of services have been offered at the Hub alongside space allocated for colleagues from other organisations to work and increase their availability. For example, we have welcomed Herefordshire Mind, the school nursing team, the Samaritans, Hereford Dementia Group, Carer Links, Turning Point and the Healthy Lifestyles team, to name but a few.

Feedback from patients, staff and colleagues in partner organisations has been hugely positive. We know that 75% of people calling into the Hub were passers-by and partner organisations have welcomed the opportunity to raise their profile at no additional cost to them. We believe that ‘Health on the High Street’ has a role in the future.

However, we have been unable to identify sufficient funding to keep this service running beyond December and as a result the Hub has had to close.

Nisha Sankey, Director of Integrated Community Services at Taurus says:

“Whilst we recognise this will be disappointing news for users of the service and our partners, we are pleased that funding has been identified to continue with the Talk Wellbeing outreach approach for the foreseeable future.

“This service will continue to offer ‘pop-up’ services across the county, including within agricultural settings, homeless services, community cafes and refugee centres.

“Members of the public can also continue to receive a free health check at the Community Health Hub located within Nelson House, Whitecross Road by calling 01432 262684 (Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm) or emailing thl.talkwellbeing@nhs.net.

"In addition, we will be working to bring health checks to key employer locations in the county and delivering the new DWP funded scheme to help local people with health related barriers to employment to start, stay and succeed at work."

Further details of the Talk Wellbeing service, including dates of forthcoming pop-up clinics, can be found via the Herefordshire General Practice webpage.