GP PRACTICES in Selby say they have been helping to change patients' lives with a new approach to managing their health.

Selby Town Primary Care Network has been taking part in a 20-week Population Health Management project to develop support for patients aged 50-64 with moderate hypertension and frailty.

Martin Bissell, of Barlby, a patient with Posterngate Surgery who has shed two stones in weight since being invited to take part in the new programme, says it may have saved his life, fearing he would otherwise have been dead in two years.

He said he hoped losing weight would mean he could have an operation on a tear in his knee but he was already reaping the benefits of his new approach, exercising in the swimming pool at Selby Leisure Centre most days in tandem with dietary changes – including fish for breakfast – to ensure the pounds were dropping off.

Frailty Care Coordinator Montana Baldwin said:"This project is all about improving population health and the improvements that we've seen already have made all the work very worthwhile."