SWINDON Therapy Centre has received two coronavirus fund grants to support hundreds of isolated people who have been unable to get treatment during the lockdown.

The centre in Westmead Drive is only just reopening its doors for oxygen therapy and physiotherapy to members suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions.

Chairman of trustees Tim Culling said two grants from the Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response Fund have been invaluable in keeping its operation going.

The centre has been awarded grants totalling £4,250 from the fund, which has raised more than £1 million and already distributed almost £700,000 to more than 170 groups across the county.

The 37-year-old charity relies on donations and fundraising, as well as a network of volunteers, to pay for its staff and the running costs of its two oxygen chambers, anti-gravity treadmills and specially-adapted gym.

Between March and May 2019, it raised just over £54,000 but between the same period this year it was around £15,000.

Tim said: “We are so grateful for the grants, they have been a Godsend. At the start of lockdown, we had to close our doors what effectively we were saying to people with MS and Parkinson’s and other illnesses was ‘sorry you are on your own now’.

“People with long-term neuro conditions are used to being isolated at the best of times because often their physical condition is so impaired, they find it difficult to get out and about, but this kind of isolation bought all sorts of other challenges.”

The first grant of £2,500 allowed the centre to take its two member support workers out of furlough. “They usually provide physical and emotional support to people when they are in the centre,” said Tim.

“Since then they have been systematically contacting everyone on our books. It meant that people who had been isolated and worried were contacted and reassured.”

He said 17 per cent of people with MS end up in hospital once a year with urinary tract or respiratory tract infection or they suffer mental health problems. “But among our membership of up to 200 people that figure is no more than two per cent because the therapies, treatments and social interactions we provide helped to prevent those three conditions,” he added.

“What we’ve found is that most of the members who have the ability to grin and bear the condition and live with it, still have it. But for a minority we are detecting a deterioration in their mental wellbeing and that will grow over time the longer it goes on.”

To apply for a grant, go to wiltshirecf.org.uk.