Tens of thousands of patients in England will be able to access urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services under the rollout of neighbourhood health centres
Tens of thousands of patients in England will be able to access urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services under the rollout of neighbourhood health centres.
Ministers are today launching the rollout of the first 27 centres, backed by up to £50million of government funding.
The centres, which will be open to patients next year, include GP services, pharmacies, physiotherapy, blood tests and mental health support. They will also offer wider services like debt advice and employment and family support.
Ministers say the centres will reduce waits for a referral with a GP-led triage system able to send patients to specialists. Appointments will be online or in-person depending on need.
READ MORE: Thousands more Brits to access NHS dentists after major UK rule changeA total of 120 centres will be open by 2030, with a further 130 by 2036. Out of the first 120, 50 will be refurbishments of existing health and care services and 70 will be new. The first 27 centres will be opened in areas with higher levels of deprivation across the country.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock said the local centres will help achieve the government’s welfare goals and get more people into work. He told The Mirror: “We know that so much of a person’s health depends on all kinds of other factors.
“The kind of lifestyle that you have, the kind of food you eat, the kind of housing you have, financial issues which are really affecting your mental health.
“So we want to address that by having social prescribing – people who are in a neighbourhood health centre and are ready to support you with your housing, or maybe it’s access to a job or mental health issues or a young family, with the additional stress of having a baby or toddlers.
“That’s a really important part, I think, of getting that connection between what’s going on in people’s lives more broadly and the specifics of their health and their healthy life expectancy. It’s about putting all of that together.”
He added that it was “always a challenge” resourcing NHS care and that the Government has more to do to tackle workforce shortages.
Full list of 27 new centres:
Summerfield Primary Care Centre
Midlands
Liverpool Road Health Centre
East of England
Stony Stratford Health Centre
East of England
Shefford Health Centre
East of England
Jubilee Gardens Primary Care Centre
London
Hornsey Neighbourhood Health Centre
London
Alexandra Avenue Health and Social Care Centre
London
The Centre Manor Park
London
Erith Health Centre
London
Downham Health & Leisure Centre
London
Stockland Green Primary Care Centre:
Midlands
Oldbury Health Centre
Midlands
Hinckley Health Centre
Midlands
Long Eaton Health Centre
Midlands
The Stone Castle Centre
North East and Yorkshire
Beeston Hill Community Health Centre
North East and Yorkshire
Westbourne Green
North East and Yorkshire
Seaham Primary Care Centre
North East and Yorkshire
Alfred Barrow Health Centre
North West
Fingerpost Health Centre
North West
Fleetwood Health and Wellbeing Centre
North West
Barbara Castle Way
North West
Radcliffe Primary Care Centr e
North West
Goldsworth Park Health Centre
South East
Truro Health Park
South West
Montpelier Health Centre
South West
Charlotte Keel Health Centre
South West
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