The government has announced plans to revamp and introduce a wave of new community hospitals and super-surgeries to help boost local care services, setting aside £132 million to pay for the approved projects.
Facilities in areas around the country are to be refurbished or built from scratch under plans to improve primary care and outpatient services outside of large hospitals, on which the Department of Health announced in 2006 that it would spend a breath-taking £750 million over the next five years.
Those picked to receive a makeover are: Malvern Community Hospital (£19.3m); Horsea, Beverley and Driffield Community Hospitals in the East Riding area (£20m); Selby Community Hospital (£7m); Moreton and Bourton Community Hospitals in the North Cotswolds (£13.2 million); Keynsham Park Hospital in Bath and North Somerset (£5 m); St Mary’s in Portsmouth (£17.1m); and Berkeley Vale in Gloucestershire (£6.4m); St Charles in Kensington, London (£3.7m).
In addition, £3 million is being sunk into the development of a new, locally-tailored health centre in Hartlepool, housing both GP services and a walk-in clinic for patients with minor injuries and illnesses, which may help reduce some of the pressure on already-stretched accident and emergency departments and push care closer into the community.
“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,” said Health Minister Ben Bradshaw, commenting on the plans.
