Work underway on seven-day health centre (From Halesowen News)

Work underway on seven-day Worcester health centre

10:40pm Tuesday 5th May 2009 in News By James Connell

THIS is the first glimpse inside a new state-of-the-art GP-led health centre being opened in Worcester.

Farrier House, in Farrier Street, will have 25,000 square feet of former office space adapted to house a medical centre.

The building, which is already fully refurbished, is owned by Stannery Solutions and is scheduled to open as a GP-led health centre in August.

The centre will have a staff of between 18 and 20 people, including doctors and nurses and will be open 8am to 8pm, 365 days a year.

The contract to run the centre in conjunction with Worcestershire Primary Care Trust has already been signed by Elgar Healthcare, a consortium of local GPs.

The ground floor of the four-storey building will be used for the medical centre while other community-based medical services will be based in the floors above.

Dr Alan Thompson, director and company secretary, said: “The area where the health centre is going to be is currently undergoing a full refurbishment so there will be lots of partitions to create consulting rooms, a waiting room and offices.

“It will be quite unrecognisable from that picture when finished. The entrance to the health centre will also be to the left hand side of the frontage.”

The development of the centre is the result of a report by Health Minister Lord Darzi calling for a locally-led, patient-centred and clinically driven NHS.

One of the proposals included a new GP-led health centre in each PCT area and Elgar was deemed the best candidate in Worcestershire after the contract was put out to tender.

The centre will have parking for 25 people and the building is protected by 24-hour CCTV.

Patients will not have to register at the centre and can still use their family GP at other times.