Stourbridge Health and Social Care Centre
John Corbett Drive, Stourbridge, West Midlands. DY8 4JB
The plans for Stourbridge include a new purpose-designed locality-based Health and Social Care Centre, to serve a locality population of 55,139. The Centre will provide a base for locality clinics where a population greater than GP practice level is required, such as community nursing and long-term conditions clinics, physiotherapy, chiropody and dental services. This will include the relocation and expansion of the health services currently housed in Westhill Clinic, Stourbridge. The Centre will also provide a new base for the joint health and social care team for Learning Disabilities and for DSPCT’s Locality management support team, together with reprovision of an up-to-date surgery for the Audnam Lodge GP practice including growth for the increasing population of Stourbridge. New modernised services under the Primary and Community Services Development Plan are also being developed as more NHS funding is channelled into community-based services.
In addition, the new Health Centre will accommodate the local six-partner practice GP surgery (Three Villages Medical Practice) currently at Audnam Lodge. This replaces an old converted lodge house, which does not meet statutory standards, nor is it capable of being extended or adapted to deliver modern, expanded primary care service under the new GMS contract and future PbC developments.
The Centre is planned to be the new base for the Community Learning Disabilities Team covering the south of the Borough, moving them from their over-crowded current location in Gate Lodge (also on the Corbett Site) into new accommodation in the proposed Centre. This supports joint working with the local GPs and clinical service providers. The accommodation needs have been expanded to co-locate the Halesowen team to extend further joint integrated working within the south of the Borough.
The new Centre will be built on the site of the existing Corbett Hospital after the services currently provided there have transferred to Russells Hall Hospital, and the new Acute Diagnostic and Treatment Centre is open.
The Centre Replaces existing outdated and cramped facilities dispersed within the Stourbridge locality:
- The backlog maintenance of the current Westhill Clinic, Gate Lodge, Audnam Lodge and their current locality offices on Ridge Hill equates to £57,200 and these properties do not meet Statutory standards such as DDA compliance, Health and Safety, Infection Control and current accommodation size specifications.
- The site of Westhill Clinic does not allow the expansion of primary care service developments because the site is land-locked by a residential development. Due to recent adjacent developments it can no longer provide adequate parking for either parapetic staff or patients attending the clinics. Two of the three nursing teams based there have had to be relocated to alternative sites in order to continue working as a result of inadequate accommodation and parking.
- The new scheme brings together three community nursing teams, allowing joint working and better skill mix to improve delivery, both in and out of hours for the locality.
- The improved accommodation will enable an extended range of nursing clinics supporting coronary heart diseases, diabetes, asthma and other chronic conditions. Dudley has developed a model of care for people with Long Term conditions and this is described in the SSDP.
- The new facility at Stourbridge will provide nurses with the opportunity to deliver Expert Patients programmes and Health Promotion events at Tier 1, to empower patients to take opportunity for their self care. Furthermore, the Assertive Case Managers who are case managing patients at Tier 3, will be able to run specialist locality clinics focusing on the more complex conditions.
- Health visitors will be able to extend health promotion sessions and keep fit clubs both in and out of hours in the enhanced accommodation.
- Heart failure diagnostic and maintenance clinics can be delivered to the locality from the enhanced accommodation.
- Phlebotomy and anti-coagulation clinics will enable local residents to attend the locality health centre, rather than attending the over-crowded clinics at the acute hospital in the centre of Dudley.
- More appropriate accommodation is being provided for the leg ulcer clinics.
- The Scheme will enable the introduction of Lymphedema clinics as a new service to the locality.
- Development of appropriate accommodation for minor operations will enable GPs within the locality access to safe modern purpose-built facilities that meet Infection Control standards, which can be booked for the delivery of minor operations for their clinics.
- It is planned to introduce a GP with Specialist Interest in minor surgery during 2006/07. This is funded within the Enhanced Services floor and the Scheme provides this accommodation for the Stourbridge locality.
- The Councils Development Plan proposed a new housing estate of some 250 houses on the old Corbett Hospital site, adjacent to this new Health and Social Care Centre. This regeneration of a brown-field site will require additional services for the population and have been planned accordingly with the local council and GPs.
- The Scheme enables the expansion of the local GP practice and supports direct referral to co-located primary care services.
- It is proposed to include simple diagnostic and treatment services, namely non-obstetric ultrasound, echo-cardiographs, counselling services, speech and language therapy, chiropody, dental and the orthopaedic triage service. The orthopaedic triage service will facilitate the implementation of choice at the point of referral to secondary care in orthopaedics (a national target for December 2005) with all orthopaedic referrals triaged by extended scope practitioners/physiotherapists through the implementation of a clinical assessment centre. This supports the commitment to develop primary care led services reducing the demand on secondary care releasing resources for re-investment in primary care development. The remaining planned diagnostics services are to be scoped, agreed and funded through a diagnostics pathways review to be completed by 2005/06.
- The co-location of a Pharmacy provides opportunity for joint and integrated medicines management, and the independent Pharmacy allows patients to obtain their medicines on site.
- The new accommodation provides more appropriate accommodation for the Community Dental Service, which in 2005, has converted to a Personal Dental Service Contract. Under this arrangement in the new accommodation, improved access for NHS dental care will be provided for patients who are unable to access services through general dental practices.
- Currently the local GP with Special Interest in Dermatology operates clinics only from the Halesowen locality. This scheme enables the provision of such clinics from an additional locality, thus improving services and access to the local population.
