Newton Heath Health Centre sees major expansion

Works aimed at expanding access to health services at Newton Heath Health Centre have recently completed. The project is the first phase of a wider programme of works at Newton Heath to increase clinical capacity, which sits in a rapidly expanding part of Manchester.  The need for additional space at the Health Centre was made even more urgent when a local GP practice moved to the site after vacating its nearby premises earlier this year.

Manchester Health and Care Commissioning (MHCC) and Manchester Local Care Organisation (MLCO) have been working with the facility’s landlord and project manager, NHS Property Services (NHSPS) for over a year to identify potential solutions to address the demand for additional space. The works on site involved reconfiguring existing space to better accommodate the growing demand for services.  In delivering this additional capacity, two further clinical rooms were created, existing clinical rooms were refurbished and a reception area for the new GP tenant was constructed.

Owing to COVID pressures on the Health Centre, its tenants and NHSPS worked side by side to deliver a project programme that would cause minimum disruption to the healthcare services being delivered there.  Contractors worked outside the Health Centre’s working hours to ensure that clinical services were not affected.

The works, in which NHSPS has invested £162,000, will provide increased capacity to meet the needs of the growing population in the area as well an ever-growing part of Manchester.

MHCC was able to provide additional investment to enable the GP Practice to be the first in Greater Manchester to fully digitize its ‘Lloyd George’ patient records and remove them from site, freeing up additional valuable clinical space. This investment enabled the Health Centre to be a key asset in the fight against Covid-19 by becoming one of Manchester’s 8 Covid-19 Community Vaccination Hubs. 

Daniel Burdett, Regional Partnership Director at NHS Property Services, said:

“We are delighted to have been able to deliver the expansion works to Newton Heath Health Centre, and to have accommodated the new GP tenant that recently moved to the facility. We hope that the works will help increase healthcare capacity at the site, and with the refurbishment of the clinical rooms, provide an enhanced environment for local people to receive high quality care in.”