Patients across South East Essex will soon benefit from a range of state-ofthe- art new primary and social care centres after a significant contract was signed forming a new LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) company that will develop up to 11 new health and social care buildings across the region.
The Paddocks scheme plans to bring together five GP practices in high quality facilities with a wide range of community health services such as speech and language services, community nursing services, children’s services, a minor operations suite and community pharmacy.
The project forms part of a plan that will see a number of additional schemes provided across South East Essex over the next 25 years where GPs, community nursing teams, therapists, hospital outreach teams, the voluntary sector and social services will be able to offer a variety of services closer to people’s homes.
Further schemes are being planned across the rest of the South East Essex area over the next five to ten years starting with centres in Shoeburyness, Westcliff, Rayleigh and a centre in West Canvey.
South East Essex LIFT Limited is a public private partnership between South East Essex PCT, Partnerships for Health and gbprimarycare, a consortium of companies led by Assura Property, with Galliford Try Partnerships as lead contractor.
Margaret Hathaway of South East Essex PCT and director of the LIFT project said: “This project represents a significant investment in local health services and we all look forward to the opening. We are committed to developing new types of primary care facilities rather than simply re-providing existing services. Our aim is to develop new and more efficient ways of meeting the health needs of local people.”
