PHOTO OPORTUNITY

When: Tuesday 24th February, 2009
Where: West Walk, Yate shopping centre
When: 1.15pm
Who: Chief Executive Penny Harris, NHS South Gloucestershire;
Councillor Sheila Cook, executive member for children and young people; and,
Nick Aslett, Head of Locality Services, South Gloucestershire Council.

Residents to be kept posted on developments at Yate health and children’s service centre

A giant thermometer is being unveiled today on the hoardings of the new health and integrated children’s centre at Yate to keep local people up to date with its progress.

The unveiling of the thermometer marks the halfway point from when the new state of the art building was started to it’s opening later this autumn.

Demolition of the old West Walk surgery took place in May last year and the first foundations were set in July 2008.

THE new £12million centre will include a range of health and family services. There will be a children’s hub within the health centre, including a SureStart centre which offers stay and play sessions, a Connexions drop-in office, youth clinics, maternity services and access to health visitors.

The health centre will house GP surgeries, an x-ray facility, treatment rooms, podiatry clinic and a minor injuries unit as well as a range of outpatient clinics. A Boots pharmacy will also be open on site.

Penny Harris, Chief Executive of NHS South Gloucestershire, said: “The new centre is really beginning to take shape and we wanted to let the residents of Yate see how it is progressing. By working with the Council we can offer a huge range of services all under one roof to ensure people can access what they need locally.”.

Nick Aslett, Head of Locality Services, Yate, South Gloucestershire Council, added : “The New Centre will give us all a great opportunity to ensure that the services we provide to the children, young people and families of the Yate Locality are well co-ordinated and easy to access. We will continue to seek the views of local communities to ensure their needs are met by this great new facility.”

Councillor Sheila Cook, executive member for children and young people, said: “The new centre has now reached the halfway point and the thermometer is a great way of demonstrating how it will continue to develop. We’ve been working in partnership with the PCT on the centre which will offer a wide-range of services for people in the area.”

For more information contact Sue Pratt, communications manager at NHS South Gloucestershire, Tel: 0117 330 2499 (mobile: 07502 184 701).

Notes to Editors

The plans for Yate will mean that some services, such as outpatients will be transferred from the major hospitals to the new build centre when it opens in 2009. It is estimated that this will mean around 34,000 outpatient appointments will be held locally rather than at the major hospitals.

The new centre in Yate is part of a network of community hospitals and centres being developed throughout South Gloucestershire, Bristol and North Somerset as part of the Bristol Health Services Plan. A new specialist major hospital is being developed for Southmead.

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