21 April 2008
Patients across south west Hampshire will soon benefit from a range of state-of-the-art health care facilities following the establishment of South West Hampshire Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) Ltd.
The new company is a public private partnership between local NHS trusts and other public sector stakeholders, which has been formed with the aim of delivering better access to extended services from better buildings and closer to home.
South West Hampshire LIFT Ltd is owned by Southampton City and Hampshire PCTs, Community Health Partnerships and gbprimarycare, a consortium of companies led by Assura LIFT Holdings, with Geoffrey Osbourne as lead contractor.
Initially two schemes are to be developed, the first being a new Primary Care Delivery Centre which is to be built on the Western Community Hospital site and is designed to give better access to a greater range of health services with extended opening hours.
Some of the services that will be available include an NHS Walk-in Centre, GP services, GPs with special interests, physiotherapy, musculoskeletal clinics and space for advice sessions such as healthy eating and smoking cessation.
The second scheme will see a long-awaited replacement for the existing adult mental health in-patient unit on the Royal South Hants Hospital site in Southampton. The new facility will provide a safe and secure therapeutic environment, designed to enhance high quality care.
The Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment service will continue to be co-located with the inpatient facility to provide support within the community. The facility will provide 50 inpatient beds, a 10 bed psychiatric intensive care unit, an electro-convulsive therapy suite, and support and therapy services.
Construction will commence on both sites this month, with completion planned for November 2009 and May 2010 for the Primary Care Delivery Centre and Adult Mental Health Unit respectively.
Commenting on the project, Elaine Siew, managing director of Assura LIFT holdings said: “This is a landmark LIFT, being the first to include a £25m Mental Health Unit. The design teams have produced exciting and innovative designs for both buildings which will provide a first class environment for both mental health and primary care.
“We are delighted with the way the partners in the LIFT have worked together to meet a challenging timescale and we look forward to working together to deliver this development and more in the future which will improve the health care facilities for so many people in south west Hampshire.”
Kevin Liles, director of corporate services and business operations at Southampton City PCT said: “This is the start of a very exciting period for the improvement of health care facilities across the region.
“This announcement marks two years of intensive work by the LIFT project team, and those involved in the subsequent comprehensive evaluation process. We look forward to successfully creating contemporary buildings to deliver our increasingly modern and efficient health services.”
Andy Clapper, acting chief executive for Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the new Adult Mental Health Unit is going ahead. The people of Southampton have waited a long time for this facility and we are so grateful that, with the agreement on the LIFT financial close, construction will be starting on site within days.”
Inger Hebden, director of capital planning for Hampshire PCT, said: “This marks the beginning of a new relationship that offers the potential for new and improved health facilities. It also provides potential for stronger partnership working across the public sector and to provide more integrated services for local people.”
ENDS
Press enquiries regarding Assura Group and Assura Property to:
Andrew McKeon, AJM Public Relations.
Tel: 01423 734 560; Mobile: 07802 484 155
Louise Bathersby, Assura Group.
Tel: 020 7107 3830
Notes to editors:
NHS LIFT is about improving health and social care services in England by providing modern, fully maintained buildings which can deliver more services in community settings. The aim is to treat people in comfortable, welcoming environments closer to their homes.
gbprimarycare is one of the most successful and experienced LIFT consortia in the country. Assura, which is a 90 percent shareholder, is currently involved in six LIFT companies with an investment value of over £170m. To date 13 new LIFT primary care centres have been completed and a further five are under development including the two SW Hants developments. Its consortium partner in South West Hampshire is the building contractor Geoffrey Osborne Ltd and the architects are Murphy Philipps Architects and Greenhill Jenner.
