NHS health hub to open next month

An £11m health hub in a Derbyshire town is due to open on 23 September.

Newholme Health Centre, in Bakewell, will include an ambulance station and provide NHS outpatient services like physiotherapy and audiology.

It has been built on the site of a former ambulance station and the neighbouring Newholme Hospital, which is due to be decommissioned.

Jim Austin, from Derbyshire Community Health Services (DCHS) NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are very excited about opening up the facility.

"It's great that the citizens of Derbyshire will get the very latest technology and environment for treatment."

The hub will also provide children's services, complex wound care, muscular and skeletal services, and various other clinics.

Services which are still running at the old Newholme Hospital will move to the new centre when it opens.

Mr Austin said: "In essence, the services provided won't be any different from the old site, but they're in a much more suitable setting.

"Given that the old hospital was over 100 years old... moving to the new building will ensure all our physicians and patients are in the very best setting meeting all the latest environmental stances as well.

"It's a much more suitable building than the one we've had to leave."

The health centre is a joint development by DCHS and East Midlands Ambulance Services NHS Trust (EMAS).

Craig Whyles, divisional director for Derbyshire at EMAS, said: “It is a really exciting moment to see the last few years of hard work come together in the opening of Newholme Health Centre.

“The new building and its modern facilities will be such an improvement on our old ambulance station and by physically sharing a space together, it will undoubtedly build on our relationships and understanding of one another’s organisations."

The Department of Health and Social Care awarded the project £8.58m in funding in December 2018 as part of the government’s Sustainability and Transformation Partnership drive.

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