Site chosen for new £18m care centre in Morpeth
Nov 18 2009 by David Black, The Journal
MAJOR changes to health services in a Northumberland town have come a step closer with the identification of a site for a new £18m primary care centre to serve thousands of people.
The former old people’s home at The Mount on the outskirts of Morpeth has been earmarked as the location for the NHS care centre – which will combine GP surgery facilities with outpatient and diagnostic services.
It will re-provide a range of services currently based at the 80-year-old Morpeth Cottage Hospital, which has been awaiting closure since its future was put under review more than three years ago.
Some services, such as stroke beds, have already been transferred to Wansbeck General Hospital, but others remain at Morpeth Cottage pending the building of the new centre.
The new facility was agreed following extensive public consultation in 2007, which asked how local health services could be improved for people living in the town and the surrounding area.
It will provide new, modern premises for Morpeth’s Greystoke and Gas House Lane GP surgeries – the latter of which has been based at the Cottage Hospital since the town’s devastating floods in September last year – as well as offering integrated working opportunities for patients and staff at the town’s Wellway GP surgery. In addition, the centre will provide diagnostics testing such as X-rays, ultra sound and MRI scans and other tests – reducing the need to go to hospital – and a 12-day renal dialysis unit.
Now the Northumberland Care Trust, after working in partnership with Morpeth Cottage Hospital operator Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, is inviting local people to come along and view architect’s plans for the facility.
The Mount residential home was closed by the county council in 2007 as part of changes to adult social services. The new NHS centre will be built on the site subject to the purchase of the land and the usual local authority planning process.
Lyn Dixon, executive director of service modernisation for NHS North of Tyne, said: “We are pleased we are now in a position to announce a location and share plans for this new NHS centre.
“It will encourage closer working between different health services and result in many benefits for people living in Morpeth and the surrounding area.”
People can view the plans at drop-in sessions to be held at Morpeth Methodist Church, Howard Terrace on Monday November 30 and Tuesday December 1, both from 3pm to 7pm.
It is hoped that construction work will start in April next year, with the new centre opening in the summer of 2011. Other services to be provided at the centre include physiotherapy, podiatry, dental services, a pharmacy, speech and language therapy and treatment rooms for GPs to carry out minor procedures.
