Goldsworth Park Health Centre to be Upgraded Image (c) Google Maps
The government is aiming to transform health care, by making the NHS work around the lives of patients - not vice versa.
One of the elements of this change is to create more neighbourhood health care centres across the country, mainly by repurposing and improving existing local NHS buildings, focussing initially on those communities that need them most.
Neighbourhood health centres allow treatment to be shifted from hospitals into communities, delivering easier access to care, leading to improved outcomes for patients and better value for money for the taxpayer. The integrated nature of the facilities will help end the maze of referrals and repeated conversations, treating not just poor health, but the causes of it, too.
It is reported that Woking will be getting a new NHS neighbourhood health centre as part of a £50 million project launched by the Government. Woking is set to be one of the first of 27 towns and cities across the country to receive a neighbourhood health centre, under this scheme. The Goldsworth Park Health Centre is to be expanded, turning it into a one-shop for GPs, nurses, physios, mental health workers and much more.
The Government aims to open all of these 27 neighbourhood centres across the country by 2027 and have pledged to open 250 by 2035.
Although Guildford has access to the Royal Surrey, there is a strong case to complement the Hospital with one or more neighbourhood health care centres in Guildford.
The Royal Surrey has a constrained site serving an increasing local population, and also acts as a centre of excellence over a wide area for Cancer Treatment. Waiting times which are coming down, but more slowly than the national average. The Hospital is full all day, every day. There is no slack in the system.
Guildford has several outdated GP practice premises; many of which even the local NHS health commissioners acknowledges are not fit for purpose. Currently, for many patients, there is nowhere for them to go to be treated in the community, often for treatments which really don’t need hospital care.
Moving simpler treatments, diagnostics and routine tests into neighbourhood centres, joining up GP and community services would bring accessible care closer to many people’s homes, avoiding unnecessary and sometimes challenging journeys to hospital.
Guildford at a summary level in national health statistics is a healthy town. But there are parts of it which most urgently require extra investment to deal with people with greater health needs. Life expectancy, as a measure of health status, varies considerably - up to nine years between local council wards. Some of these localities have been recognised as amongst Surrey’s most deprived areas.
If Guildford is to benefit from the NHS neighbourhood health programme, it requires action now to identify potential sites, especially important as the Council are working on a new local plan, and a strong case must be made to get the necessary investment from the NHS.
It is disappointing that there appears to be no obvious work underway to provide facilities in Guildford. A site worth considering is the existing Jarvis Centre in North Guildford that has plenty of space for expansion and rebuilding.
Jarvis Centre (c) Google Maps
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