Secretary of State for Health to name new health centre

Health Secretary Alan Johnson MP

Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Health, is to visit the new multimillion pound health centre in the Milkstone and Deeplish area of Rochdale.

The visit celebrates the handover and naming of the centre in the year of the 60th anniversary of the NHS.

John Pierce, Chairman of NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale said: “We are really looking forward to the visit and are proud to be able to show the Secretary of State our impressive modern new health centre.”

The £10million development on Maclure Road will house four GP practices and four dental suites as well as a wide range of services, including some which only used to be available at hospital.

“There are four audiology suites, a physiotherapy service with a fully equipped gymnasium, an opticians, a pharmacy and a café, managed by Rochdale MIND,” said Mr Pierce. “The list of services goes on and on and the great thing about them is that they are all in one place, under one roof, right in the heart of the local community for all Rochdale Borough residents to use.”

The Secretary of State will be announcing the new name for the building, which will be chosen following a recent naming competition.

Rochdale's Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, said he was delighted that the Health Secretary had accepted his invite and agreed to come to Rochdale to see how primary and community care facilities were developing across the town. The new health and social care centres opening in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, he added, were part of significant reforms in the way primary care would be delivered through state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment facilities.

“Millions of pounds are being invested to build brand new health and social care centres across our Borough,” Mr Danczuk said. "This will make a real difference in delivering better health outcomes for Rochdale. By combining so many services all under one roof, these centres really are transforming the quality of healthcare and making it much more accessible.”

Rochdale’s Labour Group leader, Councillor Colin Lambert said: “This represents a lot of hard work from the Labour Group to make sure that health services are being provided in the heart of our communities. From the very first meeting about the LIFT programme in the North West we have a demonstrable record of actively trying to get the best deal for Rochdale.”

Services in the centre include:

• Four GP practices (existing practices)
• Four dental suites (for PCT Community Dental Services and an NHS Dental Practice)
• Pharmacist
• Optician
• Physiotherapy (including fully equipped gymnasium)
• Occupational therapy
• Audiology (with four specialist audiology rooms)
• Speech and language therapy
• Ophthalmology
• Orthoptics
• Podiatry
• Primary Care Mental Health Services
• District nurse treatment rooms
• Sexual Health Services
• Minor operations room
• A child health clinic
• Health Visitors
• Community Café (managed by Rochdale MIND)

The development, which has been designed by Nightingale Architects and built by construction company, the Eric Wright Group, will provide modern and spacious facilities for both patients and staff.

Services will begin to move into the centre over the next couple of months, with the centre being fully operational by the end of the year.