Patient hopes rise after LIFT visit

Patients from Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale have given the thumbs-up to plans for new health centres in the area after visiting a similar project which opened last year in Burnley.
 
Members of the Patients’ Council, an independent group of local people living with long-term health conditions, went to see how patients have benefited since St Peter’s Health and Leisure Centre opened in Burnley town centre in March 2006. 
 
The £28M centre provides health and social care services on four floors and comes complete with its own community gym, swimming pool and café.  By bringing together GPs, community health teams, mental health and related services such as physiotherapy, podiatry and social care, it aims to provide better and more easily accessible patient care. 
 
As well as looking at the services available at St Peter’s, Patients’ Council members also quizzed Burnley health bosses on practical arrangements such as parking rates, access to appointments, transport, disabled accessibility and appropriate patient services signage.
 
And they were convinced that similar schemes being developed by Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust would be of enormous benefit to local people.
 
Although they will not be exactly like St Peter’s, the new health centres planned for Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale will bring together health professionals from different disciplines, along with social workers, so that they can all work together to care for each patient.  Each centre will provide services specifically designed to meet the needs of the patients it serves.
 
Patients’ Council member Barbara Allen, from Rochdale, said: “It is great having all the primary care services under one roof.  You have the GPs, pharmacists, dentists, and practice nurses all working together in one place.  It makes life a lot easier for the patient because you can tie in your GP visits with a trip to see the health promotion specialists to get lifestyle advice.  The centre is bright, airy and clean – all health centres should be like this.”
 
Elizabeth Lynskey, a Patients’ Council member from Middleton, said: “It’s hard not to be impressed.  I now have high hopes for the new centres soon to be built across Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.  I love the concept of combining health treatment with improving a patient’s fitness and there is a real sense of health and wellbeing that is promoted throughout the centre.  I think for the centres to be successful locally, the public need to take ownership of the buildings and be proud of them.”
 
The Patients’ Council whom have previously visited Darwen and Bacup LIFT Centres is confident that, although the services provided will vary depending on the needs of local people, the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale health centres will mirror Burnley’s high standards.  The first new health centre planned for this area is a purpose-built development in Deeplish, next to Rochdale train station.  Significant renovations and improvements are also underway at Alkrington Clinic in Middleton.  It is expected that both centres will be completed next year.
 
The centres have the potential to contain:

• GP practices from the area
• Pharmacy and opticians
• Dentists
• Speech and language therapy, podiatry, audiology, physiotherapy and other allied health services
• Space for community activities and voluntary groups.

They will/could also offer some services currently only available in hospital, such as X-rays, diagnostic tests and scans, and some outpatient clinics.