Work has started on the internal reconfiguration of Canvey Primary Care Centre (PCC) on Canvey Island in Essex ‘to provide multiple health and wellbeing services’, bringing care closer to home for local residents.
The project’s first phase includes outpatient clinics, space for a new X-ray machine, and two accessible changing areas on the ground floor. This is a key priority for NHS Mid and South Essex – the new body responsible for most local healthcare – and Castle Point Borough Council. X-ray equipment previously based at the NHS Outpatient Centre in Long Road, Canvey, had reached the end of its useful life, so upgraded equipment and facilities were required.
NHS Mid and South Essex, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Community Health Partnerships and LIFTCo, Prydium, have all worked in partnership to make the project happen, with gbpartnerships providing management services provider expertise.
The two-storey, 2,955 m2 Canvey Primary Care Centre opened in 2009 to provide modern, flexible facilities for the local community. Currently the centre is home to three GP surgery teams on the first floor, plus physiotherapy, podiatry, ultrasound, leg ulcer, and dermatology services. The building is at the centre of Canvey, putting it within 30 minutes by public transport for anyone living on the Island.
The Canvey Primary Care Centre is a two-storey modern cream and aqua rendered building with large metal windows. The £981,000 outpatients and X-ray project is the beginning of a three-stage programme to develop a health and care hub for all Canvey residents. It will offer more local services to improve people’s health outcomes, especially older people. The PCC says it will do this through putting ‘out of hospital care’ at the heart of the local community, and make greater collaboration between services possible. This will include simpler referral for diagnostic testing and a smoother patient journey through the health and care system. In turn, this should improve access to health and care, reducing waiting lists.
The second phase of the PCC programme will improve facilities for the GP teams on the first floor, and the third will create a health and care hub delivered by NHS and Castle Point Borough Council teams. The PCC says the hub will allow services to move in from the Long Road Clinic to a building that is fit for purpose, make better use of NHS premises in the area, and free up local authority assets for regeneration work.
The NHS Mid and South Essex Estates Strategy identifies Canvey PCC as a priority site for investment in line with policies set out in the ‘NHS Long Term Plan’.
NHS Mid and South Essex Estates lead, Kerry Harding, said: “The opportunity to make sure Canvey residents can access as many services as possible without having to rely on lengthy journeys off the island is a key part of bringing these services together in the primary care centre. We’re keen to make progress with our phased plans so that the NHS and our partners can offer joined-up services on a single site fit for the future.”
Elaine Siew, Pyridium director and gbpartnerships CEO, commented: “This is a really positive step towards maximising capacity and helping the local community to access services closer to home.”
