18 September 2008
Assura Macclesfield LLP has secured a groundbreaking contract, in partnership with Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, to expand urology services for people in Macclesfield.
The expanded service will add a wider range of diagnostic services to the consultation offering it currently provides at the Waters Green Medical Centre, which houses all the town’s GP surgeries.
It will also provide a urology consultant, a GP with Special Interest (GPwSI) in urology, plus specialist nurses to treat local patients.
The service builds upon the already successful collaboration between Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and East Cheshire NHS Trust for the provision of urology services for local patients.
Commenting on the improved service, Dr Chris Burke, chief executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This is a groundbreaking arrangement that enables us to expand the urology service for the people of Macclesfield on their doorstep and without the need for people to go to hospital in the first instance.
"We look forward to continue working with Assura on this and future projects."
Local GP and chair of Assura Macclesfield LLP, Dr Gill Plant said: "By working with the Trust's doctors and nurses we will not only be able to improve patient choice and convenience, as well reduce waiting times, but also ensure that the care provided is of the highest clinical standard and is joined up with local hospital services."
Ivor Nichols, aged 81, of Macclesfield, is one of the patients to have benefited from the improved service.
Suffering from a long-term prostate problem, Mr Nichols was fully assessed and had a full range of tests carried out at his very first appointment.
"It’s great to have this done and dusted in just one visit, on my doorstep, and without the bother of having to go to hospital," he said.
"The facilities are great and there was no wait. I have nothing but praise for the service I have received."
Mr Paddy O’Reilly, from Stepping Hill Hospital who is the centre’s consultant urologist, added: "Mr Nichols was assessed and had his tests done on the same day which wouldn’t have happened before.
"It was identified that he needed new medication and will now not need to come back until his follow-up check-up in six months."
The Assura Health and Wellness Centre, one of the first of its type in the country, is a specially designed facility adjacent to the Waters Green Medical Centre. It has been designed to enable the provision of a range of NHS clinical services close to patients’ homes and in the community, in line with the Government’s strategy to see services delivered on a local level in modern primary care centres.
ENDS
Notes:
Press enquiries regarding Assura Group to:
Andrew McKeon, AJM Public Relations.
Tel: 01423 734 560; Mobile: 07802 484 155
Louise Bathersby, Assura Group.
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