New £16 million care centre opens in Trowbridge
It will see more local services provided for a growing population
A new 16 million pound integrated care centre opens in Trowbridge this morning, meaning more people can access care closer to home.
The state-of-the-art building replaces the old community hospital and will see services relocated to the new facility, alongside some additional services.
Caroline Holmes, Place Director for Wiltshire for Banes, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), said there will now be 35 services provided at the facility, up from the 32 care programmes available previously.
This includes the minor injuries unit and specialist clinics that are provided by the HCRG Care Group and the RUH Hospital in Bath.
She explained why the new site was needed: "The community hospital has been there for a long time and it's been brilliant in Trowbridge, but it has served its purpose now.
"We need to make sure that people in Trowbridge have access to modern NHS facilities and the opportunity to access more services in the community."
The centre will also have improved parking facilities to ensure people attending appointments can park, with active measures being installed to prevent people not visiting the centre taking spaces unnecessarily.
Caroline added that it will help meet the needs of Trowbridge's growing population, as well as reducing the need to travel to Bath for some appointments, which is a key part of the 10-year-plan for the NHS.
She said: "It really talks about providing care closer into people's communities, into their local neighbourhoods, closer to where they live and designed around their local needs as well, so it's tailored to what they need.
"We're currently working up those plans at the moment across the whole of Wiltshire. But the integrated care centre at Trowbridge is just a great example of where we're able to already start to offer an expansion of those services closer to where people live."
With the 10-year-plan aiming to deliver more care closer to home, the ICB is taking steps to develop neighbourhood health plans.
These will see GP's work alongside community services and specialist teams to provide advice and support with the aim of ensuring people with complex needs get support locally.