The NHS has announced the 200th new health centre to be built under the Government's NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme.
Brierley Hill Health & Social Care Centre in Dudley is the milestone project and work will now begin to construct a building that will allow more diagnostic and treatment work to be undertaken outside hospital and closer to patients homes.
The £21.4 million centre will be a four-storey development which will house three local GP practices, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropody, dental, speech and language therapy and psychology and counselling services. It will also enable more work to be undertaken outside the hospital, such as diagnostics and out-patient clinics. Facilities for older people and the physical disability teams of the local authority's Social Services Department will be based there alongside the Brierley Hill district housing team.
Health Minister Andy Burnham said: "The 200th NHS LIFT scheme highlights the continued investment in super-surgeries round the country, which are delivering real benefits for patients.
"These purpose-built facilities, where GPs are located on the same site as other much-needed healthcare services, such as physiotherapist, counsellors and chiropodists, are more convenient for the local communities they serve. Older people and those with long-term conditions particularly benefit, as the facilities offer more care closer to home.
There are now 125 LIFT facilities open to patients with the remaining 75 currently under construction. The combined capital value of these totals more than £1.1 billion.
LIFT schemes are aimed at improving community health services in some of the country's poorest and most deprived areas.
