On the buses to collect resident views round Wardleworth and Hamer

A campaign bus will be touring Wardleworth and Hamer to collect the views from local residents as to what the new Health Centre planned for the area should look like.

Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) hopes to talk with as many residents as possible to help shape the community based health centre.

PCT staff as well as representatives from construction companies Eric Wright Group and architects and Nightingale Associates, will be on the bus and discussing their plans to build a multi million pound health centre.

The Bus will be touring during Ramadan on Tuesday 18 and Monday 24 September.

Interpreters will also be on board to translate the opinions of those people who may wish to use them. The bus will be targeting locations such as Cross Field Mill, Kashmir Youth Project, Wardleworth Women’s Welfare Association and Kingsway Retail Park. Staff on the bus will be spreading the word that a new purpose built Health Facility is planned for the area and promoting the benefits it will bring to local patients.

Jo Purcell, Executive Director of Strategy and Partnerships commented: "The new Health Centre proposed for Wardleworth and Hamer is an exciting new development. We hope that local residents will embrace the new state of the art facility which will be a landmark building at the heart of the community which they can be proud of.

"We would like to gather as many views as possible from people visiting the bus and I would encourage local residents to come see what the centre is all about and learn more about health service developments in your area."

Visitors to the bus will be able to talk through design ideas for the building with the architects, examine proposed floor plans and find out what health services may be available closer to home.

The PCT will be collecting everyones' views, which will then be submitted to Design Teams.

The new centre proposed for Wardleworth and Hamer will be built on the site of the former Croft Mill, Belfield Road and will include family doctors, community services including therapies, nursing, pharmacies, opticians and dentists and some health services previously only available in the hospital all under one roof. The new health centre will mean specialist assessment is available speedily, from professionals with the right training, and in the right place. There may not need to be a consultant in a hospital for every health matter.

Jo Purcell, added: "In the future, lots more care will be provided in local and more convenient settings in the community, including the home. People have said that this is what they want as part of the Our Care, Our Health, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services White Paper. Changes in technology and clinical practice are making it safer and more feasible to achieve this.

"Ninety per cent of people’s contacts with the health service already take place outside hospitals. We are aiming to deliver far more health services – safely and effectively – in the community across Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale or in the home."

Building work on the Health Centre in Wardleworth and Hamer is due to start in Spring 2008 and is expected to be completed by Autumn 2009.