An £8 million pioneering health hub built to benefit thousands of patients in west Hull has been hailed as a beacon of future primary care services.
The newly completed state-of-the-art West Hull Health Hub replaces the existing Springhead Medical Centre, which has operated at full capacity from dated facilities for almost seven decades.
An anticipated increase in patient numbers and huge challenges to integrate services in the right location saw the practice limited to just GP services without scope for expansion at the current premises.
Now, West Hull Health Hub has been handed over to development partner Citycare by Sewell Construction, ready for tenants Modality Partnership (Hull) to move in.
It will integrate services under one roof within the community with the aim of limiting the need for hospital admission or care.
The new two-storey building has 32 clinical rooms, including GP and nurse consulting rooms, treatment rooms, clinical support areas and office accommodation, as well as a reception and waiting area, a wheelchair accessible lift, baby changing area and buggy parking, a pharmacy and adjacent car park.
West Hull Health Hub opened to patients at the end of 2021 and the building adds to Citycare’s existing portfolio of 13 other state-of-the-art health centres delivered across the city in partnership with NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and primary care providers.
The new health hub is part of Modality Partnership Hull Division which has a total of more than 60,000 patients across four sites in the city. Modality Partnership also works in collaboration with four other practices in Hull as part of a Primary Care Network (PCN).
Citycare Chief Executive Tim Wigglesworth said: “PCNs, of which Modality Partnership is one, now deliver a much increased range of services than traditionally provided in the past. This extends beyond simply just seeing a GP and will see an increase in staff to support the delivery of those services.
“As a result, they need the flexible space to be able to deliver those services and the building has been designed to operate in that way in a 21st century setting. West Hull Health Hub addresses the current need and anticipates that future demand.
“Primary care is the foundation of health delivery and where the majority of activity takes place on a daily basis. It needs to be at the heart of the community and that’s what West Hull Health Hub will help to achieve.
“The new facilities are fantastic for patients in this part of the city, which has been historically underserved.”
Erica Daley, Chief Operating Officer at NHS Hull CCG, said: “The new West Hull Health Hub is a much-welcomed and long-awaited development for the west of the city, which will provide first class premises for a range of clinical services for patients of the Modality Partnership.
“Everyone involved in this important development is looking forward to the day, now only a few weeks away, when the new building opens, and the first patients start to access services.
“Congratulations to the practice and the team behind the construction of the hub. We’re very proud to have this fantastic new building to add to Hull’s other outstanding healthcare facilities.”