• Five neighbourhood health centres in the North West named as part of 27 across the country aimed at bringing care closer to home – backed by up to £50 million
• Communities across the region will benefit from more one-stop-shop health services on their doorstep
• Government has pledged to rollout 250 centres across the country as part of its landmark 10 Year Health Plan boosting access to healthcare, cutting waiting lists and tackling inequalities

THOUSANDS of patients across the North West will benefit from improved healthcare on their doorstep, as the government rolls out funding for the first 27 neighbourhood health centres – bringing more services into the community, with five named in the region.

Once completed, patients will immediately be able to access a greater range of health services from these centres – all under one roof and closer to their homes – including include urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services.  In time, centres will also include wider services like debt advice, employment and family support and other voluntary sector support and will be open 12 hours a day, six days a week.

The five North West centres named as part of the announcement are Alfred Barrow Health Centre in Barrow-in-Furness, Fingerpost Health Centre in St Helens, Fleetwood Health and Wellbeing Centre in Fleetwood, Barbara Castle Way Health Centre in Blackburn and Radcliffe Primary Care Centre in Radcliffe.

The 27 centres announced are all based in areas with higher levels of deprivation and are set to be fully open by 2027.  They are the first of 50 neighbourhood health centres backed by a total of £200 million in government investment to upgrade existing buildings. In total the government has pledged to open 250 by 2036, with the first 120 open by 2030.

Neighbourhood health services will benefit patients by providing end-to-end care and tailored support, looking beyond the condition at wider causes of health issues to the specific individual, helping avoid unnecessary trips to hospital, prevent complications and end the frustration of being passed around the system. This will have particular benefits for people with complex conditions, such as those at the end of their lives.

A range of services under one roof will mean more conditions can be treated swiftly locally – allowing people to talk through their health conditions as well as their lifestyle and quality of life and any other relevant contributing factors, enabling a rapid referral to the appropriate care and support where this is needed.

Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said: “This government is transforming healthcare, so the NHS works around the lives of patients – not vice versa.

“We’re rolling out neighbourhood health centres across the country by repurposing and improving local buildings, first targeting the communities that need them most. These one-stop-shops will help end the maze of referrals and repeated conversations, treating not just poor health but the causes of it too.

“As we rebuild our NHS, our mission is to shift more healthcare into the community, while delivering easier access to care, improved outcomes for patients and better value for money for the taxpayer.”

Claire Fuller, NHS England’s national medical director, said: “Neighbourhood health centres will make it easier for people, particularly working-class communities, to access more joined up care closer to home.

“By bringing GP services together with a wider range of tailored support, we can help people to get the right care more quickly, close to home, while avoiding unnecessary trips to hospital.”

• Barbara Castle Way Health Centre in Blackburn already hosts three GP practices, physiotherapy, dental, podiatry and outpatients, delivering around 48,000 extra appointments per year.
• Further investment pledged of just over £1.5m will transform a significant part of the first floor as well as the ground floor, providing the right environment for mental health, social care, and a reconfiguration and realignment of some community services, with additional services planned projecting significant savings for NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).
• Fleetwood Health and Wellbeing Centre already contains 21 GP consultancy rooms, 2 GP treatment rooms, mental health services, adult social care services, children services,  an urgent treatment centre treating minor injuries and a pharmacy. The investment of £125,000 will be used to create new clinical rooms on the first floor.
• Fingerpost Health Centre already contains 13 GP consultancy rooms, 5 GP treatment rooms, adult social care services, an urgent treatment centre treating minor injuries, and other community services. The £200,000 investment pledged will allow for the creation of significant additional clinical capacity, linked to the Millennium Centre, a registered charity providing NHS services as well as a range of services to support the local community.
• The Alfred Barrow Health Centre is currently used to deliver primary care and community services provided by three busy GP practices with growing patient lists and limited space. The space is also currently shared by the local community trusts delivering community care, as well as BAE Systems. The £7.7m investment pledged will support extensive repurposing of underutilised areas in addition to the creation of additional clinical space through the reconfiguration of the currently underused areas that will allow for the future delivery of minor operations on site as well as extended primary care and community services.
• Radcliffe Primary Care Centre hosts two GP practices and delivers a broad range of health and wellbeing services through statutory, community and voluntary providers. The £2.74m investment pledged will be used to convert currently disused clinical areas into multi use rooms to support outreach, diagnostics, and other community health services.  Contributing to the implementation of “live well in Radcliffe” by connecting public services and voluntary sector services in Radcliffe in a way that supports as many residents as possible.

Dr Linda Charles-Ozuzu, Regional Director of Commissioning at NHS England in the North West, is leading the development of Neighbourhood Health in the region.  She said:

“We are delighted that five centres in our region have received funding as part of the first wave of neighbourhood health centres.

“Neighbourhood health centres have real potential to transform care and we are working with colleagues from across health and care to design them around our communities who rely on them the most. That means working in genuine partnership with local communities to understand what support will make the biggest difference.”

At the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced plans for 250 new neighbourhood health centres across England, in a bid to cut waiting lists, transform how people access healthcare and bring the NHS closer to where people live.

Neighbourhood health will redesign and join up existing health and care services, which are often fractured and a maze of referrals for patients.

Existing NHS estates will be repurposed, rapidly refurbished and transformed to offer more services and more appointments, maximising value for money and the taxpayer while cutting the time it takes to get the centres up and running for patients.

As part of its landmark 10 Year Health Plan, the government will deliver a fundamental shift from hospital to community, reducing pressure on hospitals and helping to cut waiting lists, while improving access to healthcare where people live.

GP leaders will be pivotal in shaping and delivering these new services and will be supported to deliver it with two new contracts from 2026. These will enable them to work over larger areas to deliver neighbourhood health services to the community.

 ENDS