£30m boost for care and health project
Released: 20 August 2007
A ground-breaking scheme to bring health and social care closer to home for the people of Wolverhampton has been given a £30million boost by the Treasury.
The joint Wolverhampton City Council and Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust project is part of a wider £90million programme of investment across the city to provide community and primary care services for residents, including older people and people with mental health needs.
The £30million endorsement from the Treasury in the form of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits will be matched by a similar investment from the PCT to develop three primary and community care centres and three mental health resource and community health centres.
The six purpose-built facilities are being developed through the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT), a partnership between the public and private sectors.
Wolverhampton City Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults, Geoff Foster, said: “This is great news for the people of Wolverhampton.
“The range of services we will be providing in the new buildings is unprecedented in the city and represents our commitment to providing comprehensive and accessible care, support and health services.
“We are delighted the Treasury has endorsed our vision which will revolutionise the way care is given to local people”, he added.
The primary and community care centres, which will be built at Showell Park at Low Hill, Bilston Urban Village and on the site of West Park Rehabilitation Hospital, will have GPs, community nursing, therapies, social care, day opportunities and information services, plus beds to support people leaving hospital as well as respite care services.
New mental health resource and community health centres at Showell Circus at Low Hill, the Portobello regeneration site and Whitmore Reans Health Centre will house the mental health social work and community nursing teams and offer day opportunities and therapy, consultation and treatment rooms.
PCT Chairman Barry Picken, said: “This is tremendously exciting for Wolverhampton and will make an enormous difference to local care services and how they are delivered to local people and local communities.
“The development of purpose-built community facilities fit for providing care in the 21st century is at the very heart of our joint plans to modernise, improve and integrate health and social care services and to help revitalise areas of deprivation in the city” , he added.
The council’s Chief Officer Older People and Transformation, Brian O’Leary, said: “Now the funding has been agreed the real work starts here. It means we can now go ahead and start to look at the detailed design for the buildings.
“We will continue to talk to local people and staff in discussions about how the services are delivered from these new locations.
“Citizens will have services that are easier to get to thanks to more flexible opening times, with social and primary care services located in the same building alongside advice on healthy lifestyles and leisure activities. The new facilities will also help in the regeneration of their local community”, he added.
Construction of the first site is expected to be completed in 2010 and Brian added: “This project is one of the first of its kind in the country because it involves both a LIFT company and funding through PFI credits to develop the buildings.”
The council has been praised by ministers for its innovative approach in including additional services in the original blueprint for the centres, which form part of a wider £90million programme of investment in 15 schemes to deliver health and social care services across the city over the next five years.
Issued by the press office.