Design and furniture experts are helping keep patients and staff safe at three doctors' surgeries in Cumbria.

Ghyll House Upholstery and Design, based at Mealsgate, near Cockermouth, is working with three GP practices to update waiting rooms with easy-to-clean furniture.

Castlehead Medical Centre in Keswick, Silloth Group Medical Practice, and The Croft Surgery, Kirkbride have all been working with Ghyll House to redesign their patient areas.

Ghyll House general manager Joe McAlpine said: “We are working with all the surgeries to provide cost-effective solutions for them, including specialist fast-acting, effective and durable antimicrobial fabrics and vinyls, proven to be effective against coronavirus.”

Catherine Penrice, practice manager at Castlehead Medical Centre, said the practice took the opportunity of being quieter during lockdown to revamp its waiting area.

Catherine said: “We had been wanting to do it for a while. So while it was quiet and people weren’t coming in we thought let’s crack on and do the work.

“Joe McAlpine at Ghyll House has been brilliant.

"The service has been great.

"They have always come when they said they would and they have done an excellent job.

“They have taken all the seating away and recovered it and refitted it.

"There was some material left over so they even recovered some free-standing chairs as well.

"It all looks really good. They have been great to deal with.”

Castlehead is one of seven GP practices in the Keswick and Solway Primary Care Network with the others in Wigton, Aspatria, Kirkbride, Caldbeck, Dalston and Silloth.

Catherine, who is operations manager for the network, has been so pleased with Ghyll House’s work at Keswick that she’s recommended the business to others in the group.

Ghyll House is now busy recovering seats at the Silloth practice and fitted seating at Kirkbride, which all have an antimicrobial material which is easy to clean as part of the surgeries’ sanitisation programmes to make sure their environments are safe for patients and staff.