UK - New wave of community hospitals and services - old community hospitals get twenty-first century face-lift along with multi-million pound investment in new health centers

Citation

(2007), "UK - New wave of community hospitals and services - old community hospitals get twenty-first century face-lift along with multi-million pound investment in new health centers", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2007.06220eab.002

UK - New wave of community hospitals and services - old community hospitals get twenty-first century face-lift along with multi-million pound investment in new health centers

Europe, Middle East and Africa

UKNew wave of community hospitals and services – old community hospitals get twenty-first century face-lift along with multi-million pound investment in new health centers

Health Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled the nearly £50 million wave of new NHS community hospitals and super-surgeries. Six new health centers, two new community hospitals, and eight refurbished community hospitals will open in towns and cities across the country as part of a major drive to provide NHS patients with more minor operations, medical tests and follow-up care outside of large hospitals.

New community hospitals will be built in Hornsey and Bristol. Outdated hospitals set to be transformed into modern community hospitals are Barking Hospital, Calderdale Royal Hospital, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Holme Valley Memorial Hospital, Laura Mitchell Health Centre in Halifax, Princess Royal Huddersfield, Felixstowe General Hospital and Royal South Hants Hospital.

New health centers in Todmorden and Brighouse in Yorkshire, Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, Hastings, Rotherham, and Teddington will house dozens of GPs, offer walk-in centers for patients with minor injuries and illnesses, and provide other additional services, such as maternity and diagnostic services.

The state-of-the-art facilities will offer a wide range of services, from surgery to stop-smoking services, to match the needs of local patients.

Health Minister Andy Burnham said: “We have made an excellent start to the community hospitals programme, with schemes worth close to £100 million now having received the go-ahead. There will be even more community hospitals and health centers getting the green-light in the coming months as we deliver on our £750 million, five-year programme that will change the face of the NHS.

“These developments represent our commitment to the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS. What this means for patients today is that, in addition to being treated in bright, modern facilities, those in need of NHS treatment will be seen quicker – in 18 weeks or less by the end of 2008.

“We are not just building like-for-like replacements of existing buildings, we are re-thinking the way the NHS provides care so that patients receive better, more convenient services.“

In July 2006, the Department invited Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to bid for £750 million in funding to build a new generation of community hospitals, health centers and polyclinics. The first four successful bids, worth £45 million in total, were announced last December.

Over 625 new one-stop primary care centers have been created since 2001, offering GPs and one or more extended primary care service, such as dentistry, physiotherapy, health visitors, pharmacy, optometry, or social work. This will rise to 750 by the end of 2008. Since 2001, around 3,000 GP surgeries – almost one third of all surgeries – have been substantially refurbished or replaced.

For more information: www.gnn.gov.uk