PLANS FOR NEW HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE RESOURCE CENTRE FOR NORTH OF BOROUGH REACH KEY STAGE

Plans for an integrated health and social care Resource Centre in the north of Caerphilly County Borough have moved a step closer with the appointment of the developer that will design and build the new facility.

The Resource Centre, which it is hoped will be built on the Lawn Industrial Estate by the developer, Primary Asset Ltd, is designed to address the particular needs of communities in the north of the borough and is being developed in partnership by Caerphilly Teaching Local Health Board, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust. A community forum, made up of local residents, organisations, councillors and healthcare professionals, has been involved in the planning, ensuring a local say on the facilities offered.

Scheduled to open in 2011, the Centre will complement the range of healthcare services that will be provided by the new hospital, Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr.

Facilities planned for the Resource Centre include GP services, a dental practice, optometry suite and social services day care. Specific minor injuries treatment services will also be provided.

The Centre will also act as a base for health and social care staff working in the north of the borough who provide care to a wide range of clients including children, older people and people receiving mental health support. It will also house 12 inpatient beds, two of which will be used for palliative care.

Colleen Bright, Director of Strategic Planning and Modernisation for Caerphilly Teaching Local Health Board, said that the new Resource Centre would bring a number of different services together in one building. “This is effectively a satellite of the new hospital and the services to be provided have been debated and agreed, through the community forum, by the people that will ultimately be using them. It’s an exciting time for healthcare in Caerphilly County Borough as we are working to expand the range of treatment and care services available locally through the building of modern facilities such as the new hospital and now the Resource Centre for the north,” she said.

“The appointment of a developer marks a significant milestone and completes the first stage in a two-stage approval process. We can now move forward in designing the building before submitting proposals, with final costings, to the Welsh Assembly Government later this year.”