Media Release
11 June 2009 

NHS South Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire Council and North Bristol NHS Trust have been awarded nearly £6 million to create three “hubs” for children and young people within South Gloucestershire. The hubs will house a range of NHS and council services aimed at children and young people all located together in one place.

The money has been awarded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families as part of a dedicated fund of £200 million to support the “co-location” of services aimed at children. Here in South Gloucestershire, the three partners will provide services in three hubs in Yate, Kingswood and Severnvale.

“This is fantastic news. It is vital that we work together to make our services as accessible as possible. By working together with the Council and providers we can ensure that the residents of South Gloucestershire are able to access the services they need as conveniently as possible. We had a vision of providing a children’s hub in three locations in South Gloucestershire. This funding means this will now become a reality,” said Dr Chris Payne, Director of Public Health for South Gloucestershire.

Councillor Sheila Cook, executive member for children and young people at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “This is excellent news for South Gloucestershire. This project will to bring a range of vital services for children and young people and their families together under one roof, making it much easier to get advice, help and care when it is needed.”

The Council is leading on the development of the Kingswood and Severnvale hubs, and NHS South Gloucestershire on the Yate one.

Plans for a children’s hub in Yate are well advanced. NHS South Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire Council are creating a children’s hub in the new £12.5 million community health centre that is due to open in autumn this year. In addition to offering outpatient appointments to save people from having to travel to hospital, a minor injuries service, x-rays and other diagnostic tests, the centre will also feature an integrated children’s centre, which will provide targeted advice, information and support to young people and their families. The centre will enable the local authority and Connexions staff to work closely with health colleagues to provide information, advice and target support to children, young people and their families.

Similarly, in Kingswood and Severnvale, the children’s hubs will bring together different council and health service teams to provide targeted advice, information and support to young people and their families. The Kinswood hub will also provide children’s audiology and sexual health services and the Severnvale hub will also include the community children’s health disability team.

“This will be a real boost for the people of South Gloucestershire. At present the services that will be located in the hubs are located in up to ten separate locations around South Gloucestershire. Arranging them together will provide information, advice and support for children, young people and their families and swift access to more specialist services if this is needed,” said Penny Harris.

The children’s hub in Yate is due to open in the autumn of this year. Building is due to start on the centre in Kingswood in May 2010 and on the centre in Severnvale a month later in June 2010. The Kingswood and Severnvale centres are due to open in May 2011 and June 2011 respectively.

For more information please contact Fiona Reid or Sue Pratt on 0117 330 2451/2499 from NHS South Gloucestershire or Ryan Skeets on 01454 86 3891 from South Gloucestershire Council.

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