New Health Centre opens in Gloucester
06.05.2009
A new Health Centre opened in Gloucester this week providing a range of health promotion and medical services between 8am and 8pm, 7 days a week (including Bank Holidays).
Gloucester Health Access Centre is run by The Gloucester GP Consortium, a group of GPs and practice staff from local surgeries, who gained the contract following a rigorous selection process. NHS Gloucestershire has been working with the Consortium to develop a contract which will support high quality services based on the needs of local people.
The new Health Centre is part of a national programme to develop new GP-led Health Centres across the country and improve both the choice and access to services.
Chief Executive, Jan Stubbings explained:
“We wanted to create a local scheme that actively supports our vision of supporting and promoting healthy lifestyle choices.”
“Whether it’s reducing obesity, promoting mental health and social inclusion or helping people to give up smoking, this is a partnership project which will encourage healthy living and provide services to reflect that.”
The new Centre will initially be based in part of the St Michael’s Branch Surgery (Hadwen Medical Practice), in St Michael’s Square, off Brunswick Road. Other sites within the City Centre are being explored for a permanent base.
Patients do not have to be registered with the Access Centre to use its services. It is open to all residents and visitors in Gloucester and further afield, whichever practice they are registered at.
The service is particularly well suited to meet the needs of those working in the area, visiting the City or who may need to access some healthcare services outside of their own surgery hours. However local patients can register as a patient if they wish.
Available services will include:
- Monitoring of patients with long term conditions, for example asthma, diabetes, heart disease
- Tests to help find out what condition or illness patients may have, for example blood tests
- A walk in service for minor ailments and injuries such as minor cuts, bites and stings, and allergies
- Sexual Health Services, for example contraception advice, Chlamydia screening
- Healthy Lifestyle checks, for example, healthy eating, physical activity, cancer awareness, oral health advice for children
- Help to give up smoking
- Antenatal advice
- Travel vaccinations
- An immunisation service, for example MMR and Flu.
Appointments can be made by calling 01452 336290.
The Gloucester Health Access Centre will complement the current GP services, the Out of Hours GP service, Minor Injury Units and Accident & Emergency in the county and provide local people with an alternative healthcare facility.
Dr John Unwin, local GP and member of The Gloucester GP Consortium said:
“We have been working with NHS Gloucestershire to take a positive approach to developing a local scheme that can contribute to meeting local health needs. It will be a community facility in the centre of the city that will make health care services more accessible to a wider range of people.”
Jan added:
“Overall, patients in the county benefit from good access to GP services. We remain committed to working with local GPs to ensure that the high priority schemes for replacement GP surgeries already approved are also pursued.”
NHS Gloucestershire has already involved local people in developing services at the Centre and is committed to working with The Gloucester GP Consortium to ensure that the views of local people continue to shape the health centre development.
